One of my favorite parts of Enchantment is where Kawasaki discusses the role of the hero in the world of engagement. Now, to illustrate the point, he uses the example of the firefighters and policemen who strove to save people on 9/11. That kind of heroism is in a world of its own. But in the online world, there are tons of ways to be a hero to someone. It requires very little risk, can benefit you a great deal, and often takes a very small amount of time, too.
To understand how playing the hero online can be good for business, we need to talk about the idea, from the natural world, of imprinting.
On Imprinting
As you may or may not know, there are a lot of species who, when first born, will attach themselves to whomever is around at the time. If a little duckling is rescued by a human, that duckling will assume that the human is its mother. For people who specialize in rescuing animals, this can be a very tricky thing, because an animal imprinting on a human can reduce its ability to function in the natural world, where it belongs.
In the online world, imprinting of a different sort happens. Let me use, well, me as an example, because I’m just darned familiar with myself. When I was still very very new to the online world, a handful of people reached out to me, supported me to unbelievable extents, and introduced me to other people. Those people include Chris Brogan, Maya Paveza, Dawn Westerberg, Suzanne Vara, Stanford Smith, Danny Garcia (@dannybuntu), and Lisa Alexander. You might be thinking, if you come here often, that you see those names cross my pages an awful lot. You’d be right. My online presence imprinted on those people because they took such good care of me when I was still a Twitter duckling. Do they have my loyalty, my admiration, and my respect? Darned right.
What does this have to do with being a hero?
When you are new and flustered in this online world, anyone who reaches a hand out to you feels like a hero. The smallest act of support means worlds to you. You retweeted my post even though the most comments I’ve ever received is 1? Are you kidding? People who support you when you can’t seem to get traction online seem particularly special. They seem like knights in shining armor. I personally will never forget my heroes and why I feel they are heroes. Do you have heroes like that? I bet you do.
Why being a hero is good for business
Let’s say you decide to tweet out a post for a new blogger and offer them some advice on the side. You develop a relationship with them. They appreciate you and feel indebted to you because you impacted them so positively at a time when it was hard to get replies or comments. Now, let’s say a couple of months later you announce that you have an e-book that you are selling. Do you think that person will buy from you, or at the very least help you promote that effort? If they are a fairly typical human being, you’re darned right they will. They want to pay you back for that generous act of time and effort you gave them. They imprinted on you. They’re glad to help.
If you sell a service that this person you helped is looking at, and they are comparing your prices with those of another person, who do you think they will choose? You already spent time and effort helping them out when you had nothing on the line. They would be led to assume that you would be there and available if they had a question or concern about your service, and they are likely to feel inclined to throw some business your way.
If someone needs a product or service that they know you sell, are they more likely to go with a person they call out of the phonebook, or are they more likely to go with that person who they’ve been waiting to pay back for that act of generosity?
I’ve got my guesses. How about you?
How to be a hero
So this all sounds pretty good, right? You’re probably wondering at this point how much you have to do to achieve this status level of online hero, thus receiving all of the potential benefits (in addition to general good feeling). Here are some things that my heroes did for me when I was new. I try to pay these acts forward now that I’ve been around a bit.
-> Introduce a fairly new person on Twitter to people you think they would network well with
-> Consistently visit a new person’s blog post and support it if it’s good (via comments or tweets)
-> When someone asks a question, answer it
-> When someone expresses frustration about blogging or Twitter, try to help them analyze the problem
-> Help the person get to a milestone, whether it’s a number of followers on Twitter or something else
-> Mention the person on Follow Friday. Few things are lonelier when you’re new than Follow Friday
-> Highlight the person in a blog post on your site, or let them guest post on your site
If you’ve been online for awhile, these things all may seem kind of silly and unimportant. When you’re new, they are bright blasts of sunshine. They are the stuff heroes are made of.
Plus, creating joy in someone who new to the online world is just super fun, from my point of view.
So what do you think? Are you ready to be a hero for someone? Have you experienced a hero in your time online? Let’s talk about it!
This is post #29 in the Engagement Series. I surely hope that you find this helpful!
Image by Hanna Zabielska. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ven-
To be mentioned – well it means the world to me. And in such great company. But I must point out how much I have learned from you – and how you’ve inspired me. You are a champion of those who have no champion – your compassion for those who experienced online bullying and most recently those who have suffered in Japan. By keeping these matters in the forefront – it has inspired me and others to do something. You have co-founded one of my favorite chats – #tweetdiner. You have set an example and a high benchmark for regular, high quality writing in your blog posts. You always interact with grace and acceptance and point people to the greater objective. And you do all of this while holding down a demanding day job. No easy feat. You are creative and brave, hardworking and unique, gentle while deliver impact, intelligent and compassionate. It’s good, all good, to have Marge Clayman in my world.
I really don’t know what to say to this. It made me cry when I first read it, but that’s hard to get across in a text box.
Thank you.
Aaah Margie, Margie.I remember when I first started my twitter adventure I saw an avitar of a person with a hat pulled over their ears. RLClayman-Your message was good and clear about tweeting and blogging. At 78 years of age I needed help without making a real pest out of myself. I gained through yours messages. The #tweetdiner and the Enchantment series has moved me so far along. I was so impressed with the guest on #Tweetdiner chats. Perhaps you can do a series on what to do when you hit a plateau.Just like on a diet you need a push when you reach a plateau in weight loss.Keep them coming Margie,
I will write about that idea just for you, Grandma 🙂 You are wonderful. So glad I know you!
What a fantastic blog post. I could not agree more especially with the points you make about helping people out. I have felt warmly welcomed on twitter and it has been a very welcoming place. The world of blogging has also been warm and welcoming.
Already some of my heroes feel like friends as well which is the best of all worlds.
That’s the way it should be too, huh?
Thanks for the comment, Ali 🙂
Well I am not a hero online however I do like to think I am a superhero at home (but that is a different story). You did all the work. I was here to listen and throw out some new ideas. You did all the work. You built up your presence, you helped people and continue to.
In social media so many see a big name and want to be associated with them only because they are a big name. If CB is my friend he will carry me along. Ok, tell me what you know about him. Tell me why you would want to be friends with him IRL. Would you want to be friends with him if he was broker than broke and could barely feed his family? Probably not. so in social media, we look to latch on to someone that we hardly know. Why? They are popular and we will become popular immediately. We know this not to be true. When we reach out to people that are new, who are struggling, we ourselves are giving them an opportunity to learn about us and also us learn about them. If I met ya at a baseball game, we would be friends. I met ya on line and we are friends. No doubt about that.
I look at it this way, if there is a new kid in school, there are some that take their hand and help them along. If they have to try and push their way into the in crowd, they are not going to get very far. Online is not very different. You keep doing what you are doing and helping people as that part of social media has been pushed aside by many who are trying to get in the pants of the big players.
haha! You worked it in! 🙂
You are wonderful, but of course you know that. And you ARE a hero to me. So there.
Thanks for your wonderful thumbprint, as always 🙂