Are you merely networking or are you leading? There\u2019s a big difference: and it seems like far too many stop short at networking, while a select few companies and people choose to take the next step and lead.<\/p>\n
Those\u00a0not yet mature\u00a0at social media marketing obsess over networking. They friend and follow others. They share someone else\u2019s content and ensure that person is tagged so the original creator might see\u00a0social proof\u00a0and connect back. But they don\u2019t implement anything original or unique themselves.<\/p>\n
Networking is the type of activity brands not yet fully embracing digital relegate to an intern to build up fluff KPIs as they don\u2019t yet grasp\u00a0getting to conversion.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, leaders are out there creating. They\u2019re the ones forming meaningful communities with true\u00a0organic opt-in. Leaders\u00a0have opinions and take sides. Their content and ideas always pass the all important \u201cso what\u201d test of their category because they aren\u2019t parroting others, they\u2019re defining what\u2019s next. Their niche forms\u00a0around them<\/em>.<\/p>\n Those leading are platform agnostic, they transcend ever-changing user preference of the web by being unique and worthwhile.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not\u00a0denigrating\u00a0networking. It\u2019s perfectly okay to start somewhere, especially if you are given a task to build a community in a category you\u2019re totally unfamiliar with. But you have to evolve past networking and begin leading if you want to become one of the definitive voices in your industry.<\/p>\n I think so many fall into the trap of perpetual networking without going beyond it because it\u2019s easy (and somewhat predictable) to trend up metrics that make a dashboard look good. Unfortunately those metrics don\u2019t\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0impact a business.<\/p>\n Making the decision to lead isn\u2019t one to take lightly. It takes time, effort and dedication that few will put in work necessary to achieve. But easy is the opposite of any inbound marketing effort. Just the opposite, it\u2019s difficult. And that\u2019s exactly\u00a0why it\u2019s valuable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you merely networking or are you leading? There\u2019s a big difference: and it seems like far too many stop … <\/p>\n