The Tao of Social Media Patience

TAKE A FEW, DEEP, CLEANSING BREATHS

Forgive me if I sound a little too zen today, but I've had a lot of meetings with business people recently who are becoming increasingly frustrated, stressed and more impatient with social media than is good for them or their brand. So I want to talk a little about patience.

As anyone who works with social media will tell you, it's a long game and you have to play it that way for a reason. There are very few immediate or quick wins, everything comes down to setting your goals up front, building your strategy and tone of voice, and seeing it through consistently. As someone who made plenty of personal mistakes with social media when first introduced to it around 10 years ago, I am living proof that you need to exercise patience and caution just like you would with any other aspect of your life or business.

The temptation for many who are just starting to build an online presence is to rush headlong onto every single platform, post as much as possible, engage with as many people as possible and watch your following, business and fame skyrocket over night. That's the lure of virality, but unfortunately for the vast majority of smaller businesses that approach is simply not sustainable and the results that many expect overnight are much more elusive than they initially thought. In my experience, virality should never be the goal, but is often a nice side-effect of getting your presence right in the first place, which takes patience.

So instead of rushing into social media for your business like a hormonal teenager in their first 'serious' relationship, let's take a step back and work on how it's far more sustainable to be patient and much better for your health too. How by being prepared in advance you can become less likely to make hot-headed mistakes and by sticking to your core values and original goals, you'll avoid getting stressed, frustrated and impatient. All of which lead to mistakes. Mistakes which can have a detrimental effect on your business, brand and personal reputation. Mistakes that can take a long time to recover from. After all, much like 'The North' in HBO's Game of Thrones television series, the internet 'remembers'.

So take a few deep, cleansing, breaths and join me in exercising a few of the following tips to help ensure that your social media remains constructive for your business:

• Rarely are two businesses ever exactly alike and it's not healthy to continually compare yours to competitors or other online brands. By all means, find a brand to aspire to, but for the right reasons. We need to realise that all businesses are different and unique. That can make it hard for us to understand each other and what we're all trying to achieve online, but it also makes life far more interesting. Celebrate what's different about you and your business.
  
  
• Learn to accept your weaknesses, don’t expect everything you post to be perfect or to perform exactly as you anticipated. We’re all on a journey with social media and we all started at different times. Change is a slow process, so remember that someone who had a headstart on you is likely to be achieving more with their posts than you are right now. That's not a bad thing, it actually proves that if you stick with it and persevere then in future you can achieve the same results as they're enjoying now.
  
  
• Make an effort to be aware of what annoys and upsets you online and what in the past may have caused you to react badly or post comments you instantly regretted. When you know what's likely to trigger a poor response from you, instead of going with the instinct to bite back, look at it as an opportunity to educate, inform and add value. Brands and businesses that react badly to others do themselves no favours in front of their followers. Think of how you'd want to behave in the real world too, would you do that in front of your family or friends? If the answer is a straight 'no' or it makes you uncomfortable just thinking about it, then it's best to avoid putting yourself in that kind of situation in the first place.
  
  
• This one is going to sound very much like school playground etiquette, but trust me, I wish more people took this advice when they're on Twitter. Slowly count to ten, and take some slow deep breaths, before you open your mouth and say something you’ll regret. In the real world, whatever you say only initially affects those in immediate earshot, until the rumour-mill kicks in and the ripples start to spread. On social media, your comments are pretty much permanent, you can't take them back as easily. Sure you can delete your posts, but the internet never forgets and people love to remind brands and businesses of past failures. The ripples spread an awful lot faster digitally too.
  
  
• Try to broaden your perspective, and see things from different angles. It makes you more understanding, and more compassionate. I am always telling you to put yourselves in your audience's position; think about what they want, what they value and more importantly, how they feel. It's often missed when you write as a business or brand, but your writing for people; living, breathing, emotional people. Make sure you keep that in mind at all times.
  
  
• The biggest piece of advice I can give you about social media is to remember that it's a game and that you need to play it with the same sportsmanship you'd play any other game. Remember that what you see from other people, brands and businesses is a well thought-out, glossy and shiny representation of what they want you to see. It's not real. It probably should be and if you've read any of my other ramblings, then you'll know that I advocate telling truths and not stories on social media. Because the truth very rarely turns up later to bite you in the ass, unlike heavily photo-shopped and clearly staged opportunistic social media attention-seeking posts have a habit of doing. Decide to laugh a lot more and to take social media less seriously. That way, you’ll feel less frustrated and you’ll feel much happier. It's about being social first and foremost, not about selling, marketing and broadcasting. Get the social bit right first and the rest will follow.

Above all, just take your time. Learn at your own pace and try different post techniques when you're ready and comfortable. Don't feel that you have to do the same as other brands or businesses. If you're not sure, just ask someone or me. Do what works for you and in the words of Guns 'n' Roses; "take it slow and it'll work itself out fine, all we need is just a little patience."

Bonus points if you just read that last line in the voice of Axl Rose in your head.