Mar 01 2009
Give your brain a chance: 3 little social media goals
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Stories about social media and the way it is affecting our lives are circulating around and around the web right now.
Yesterday, my friend Julie told me that she literally feels her brain reaching to understand how it all works. She also said something very intriguing. Julie notices that the more she learns about using technology to communicate, the better her brain capacities are in other, unrelated areas. I’ve had the same experience. Confronted with some little mechanical problem which would have frustrated me in the past, I find I have a little more capacity, a little more patience, and a little more curiosity to see if I can fix it myself. This makes for a sparkly little moment.
The key is to give yourself very manageable goals that you can approach without overwhelm. Then, the brain will engage this playfully—and that is the onramp to successful participation in social media. Here I offer little goals that can be broken down into even smaller parts. Relax when you read, nice deep breath, let go of tension. Okay. Here we go.
Three little social media goals
1. Become visible in social media.
2. Include yourself in the conversation.
3. Give your brain a chance to expand its innovative capacity by using these tools.
Become visible
Simple. You have to participate to be seen.
Include yourself
Once you start sharing on Facebook, for example, the door is open to the kinds of conversations that you want to develop for your goals. Don’t be deceived by the openness of these platforms. It may seem awfully loose and unformed, but you can place parameters of your own so that your activities are focused and productive. People are doing it right now, very effectively.
Give your brain a chance
In order to grow a thriving business in the 21st century, you must develop your capacity to innovate. Without these skills, your ability to steer your own life is greatly impaired.
Getting involved in social media is the best way I know of to get your own brain into the game of innovating appropriately for your business. Facebook is probably the fastest-moving, highest-visibility, easiest-learning curve platform. It is designed to give you options to fit your own goals and your mindset.
Initiate contact. Play with it for a while, keep an open mind, search for like-mindeds. Be patient and give it a little time. Soon you’ll understand how people are using it. There’s a bonus, too. Your brain is forming new areas of understanding that, as I mentioned above, can extend beyond technology.
A few puzzle pieces to consider:
Inventiveness is a 21st century mandate for a prosperous life.
Don’t let your brain convince you that old habits are good habits. Thriving in these times demands that you rise above the status quo.
Social media is just a normal, human conversation
You already know that the best marketing for any business is word of mouth. Referrals. What has always been in place is the exchange of experiences. We talk. We share.
Check that: Just a normal, human conversation. On warp speed.
It’s not just that technology puts the conversation into the exponential realm, it’s the speed involved.
Exponential potential: From 1 person to 1000 in eight steps. Now add the speed of an instant message. What’s that speed? It’s very close to “now.” Still with me? One person to a thousand people, off goes the message you’ve delivered, now. You probably understand the “viral” nature of online interactions, but I want to highlight that as a real challenge to our brains.
You just have to start somewhere: 3 more tips to get you going
Find a buddy to play with, and see how far you can get just using the simple tutorials offered on Facebook and Twitter, for starters.
Learn from people more advanced who are teaching social media to their communities.
If you enjoy writing, start a simple blog and experience the little thrill of online publishing.
Most of all, smile, and keep breathing. Your brain loves that.
Suzanna
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March 7th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
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March 15th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Thanks for your Twitter follow. And what a delightful blog post!! You are so right about these mini goals, and about social media being a great way to expand your mind and horizon.
ES
September 7th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Hi Suzanna, with all this “brain health” and social media/internet talk,I want to play devil’s advocate for a moment. I, myself, feel that it has been a double edged sword, in that, I’ve become on one hand !) an info junkie, and only superficially informed 2) my ADD tendencies have become exacerbated, along with 55/hormonal factors, 3) I’m a writer and spend too much time in front of a computer as it is 4) My mind feels on overwhelm a lot and has some warped sense of accomplishment when all I’ve done is surf the web 4) the one thing I’d like to accomplish is a blog and I still haven’t got it up and going (I have started it though).
On the + side: 1) I believe in the concept of growing your potential market through social media networking. Well, at least I like the concept. I haven’t put it to the test yet, as I do not yet have my product line. 2) I am hopeful about selling art with the support of such a network, potentially world wide. 3) I have had great conversations and found mentors that I never would have it it hadn’t been for the internet and email 4) I am excited by the possibility of teaching through the internet, as well as, as a writer, developing e-books and creating passive income. 5) I am VERY interested in AUDIO communication, from creating a CD for my own spoken work, to 6) teaching podcasts, audio blogging, etc. I have facebook for the social networking thing. I think you don’t need so many of these programs, you could easily go nuts trying to have a “presence” in several. However, since you can link all over the place now, like a blog can be linked to facebook, your website, and probably much more, this is good.
There is certainly a job for people who want to create tags for search optimization, and even creating/maintaining blogs for people, lots of work there. I don’t, actually. I’d rather put my creative energy into my art, although I see that communication is also an art. But, there is a limit to my interest in learning all the technical aspects of it all. I don’t seem to have the focus or interest in it. I do have inteterest in writing the content, creating the files, photos, and would like someone else to make it all work together or else have it streamlined to the point where all I have to do is upload.