by Genuine
When I was student body president in junior high school, my farewell speech about our new journey into high school included a quote from Muhammad Ali:
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
I knew it would be a long journey and wanted my fellow students to remove any pebbles from their shoes. Now I find myself telling many businesses to remove some of the pebbles for their journey into social media. Start well and the journey will be much easier.
Metaphorically speaking you must begin your journey from a base of operations. Just as if you were hiking to the top of Mt. Everest, you start from a headquarters, or a place you can always return to regroup. In my social media plan I like to make my headquarters my blog. My friend Chris Brogan wrote a blog post that illustrates my thoughts. He refers to the blog as “home base” as well, and believes other social media tools are “outposts”. You can explore the social media world in any quadrant by treating it as an outpost, knowing you can always return home or head back to headquarters when needed.
Starting a blog gives you a place to call home and a place to begin your journey. A blog also allows you a place to showcase your outposts. If you have a Twitter presence, a Facebook fan page, a Forum, a Flickr page, a YouTube account, or any of the other tools (outposts) that are being used to promote your cause, you can funnel all of that content and work into your blog content and design. Bring the reader, viewer, or listener back to your base of operation – the main gathering place for people to come and begin their journey in searching out and exploring your cause.
As you start a blog, you begin from a clean slate, which allows you to chart your progress in your journey. Beginning from step one, ground zero, or whatever description works for you, allows you to determine if you are getting anywhere or if you are merely spinning your wheels or walking in circles. Chart your progress by installing analytic software such as Google analytics. This lets you see real progress and whether you are reaching your goals. Numbers like total visitors, RSS subscribers, and page views are metrics that measure your progress. Today you may only have a handful of visitors like your friends and family (Hi, Mom), but in a month or two those numbers may increase. This lets you know you are getting closer to the goals you have set for yourself. Start your social media journey with a base of operations. Start with a blog and work up to establishing outposts in other areas. Once your blog feels like home it will make it easier to explore these areas.
Being in Austin at SXSW Interactive has given me the opportunity to talk to some amazing people in the social media space. I’ve chatted with some of the most influential internet celebs, marketing masters, and social media pros such as PR Sarah Evans, Sloane Barrent, Shauna Causey, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Julia Roy, and Jolie O’Dell.
What’s that hum in the air? It’s all the buzz about 
