5 things I learned about social media from marathon training

When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your goals met? No? Why not?

During training you experience pain, sore muscles and how some trainning is trial and error. Socail media is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.

Before you start tweeting or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and ask yourself some questions:

1. Where do you want this to take you? This could mean your company, a product or service. Make sure to be specific. If you are a small business that is trying to promote a new service options, make sure that you have messaging that’s right for your audience.

2.What are your current resources?

3. How does/can social media efforts help me?

4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground, take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.If you have 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more is losing the point.

When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to

improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your

goals met? No? Why not?

During training you experience pain, sore muscles and even failure. Socail media

is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding

that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.Before you start tweeting

or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and think about some

things:

1. Why? That’s right, why? What are some solid reasons you are wanting to jump

into the social media landscape. Make a list, then do it again with other

members of the company. It helps you realize where you should start.

2. What are my goals? Meaning, where do I want to be in my training in 2 weeks, a month, six weeks. Make sure to be specific and realistic. If you are new to social media, don’t expect to have the fan page up and ‘fanning’ in 2 hours. That strategy takes time and effort. Take a peek at other companies in your field and your area. Anything you want to mirror?

3. Do you need a gym? In social media it’s important to know all of the

resources available. Do you need a Hootsuite account and Tweetdeck on your

desktop? Do your reasearch, know what’s available. Tryout some tools and see

what works with and for your needs (see what tools best align with your budget and goals-see above).

4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working

out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th

grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important

to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground,

take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.Remember that 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more all the time can get you clouded on the reason why you started in the first place (see #1).

5. Don’t be afraid to fail. This is the most important. Trial and error are equivalent to growing pains, they will be worse for some and not too bad for others. Embrace your failures and learn from them. Don’t bury them as if you were ashamed for trying. Social networks like facebook, myspace and the microblogging site Twitter take some time. Accept it and move on.

I remember the saying ‘if at first you don’t suceed, try and try again.’

What are you doing to gain endurance and a steady pace in the social media world?

photo by teamtinybike

When you are making new resolutions to train for a marathon, eat better or to improve your mile time, do you wake up the day after you start with all your goals met? No? Why not?

During training you experience pain, sore muscles and even failure. Social media is the same. It takes practice, repetition, dedication and the understanding that not all the same tactics will work for everyone.Before you start tweeting or facebook fan page-ing why don’t you take a step back and think about some things:

1. Why? That’s right, why? What are some solid reasons you are wanting to jump into the social media landscape? Make a list, then do it again with other members of the company- especially with other departments. It helps you realize where you should start and you see additional issues or problems that social media could address.

2. What are my goals? Meaning, where do I want to be in my training in 2 weeks, a month, six weeks. Make sure to be specific and realistic. If you are new to social media, don’t expect to have the fan page up and ‘fanning’ in 2 hours. That strategy takes time and effort. Take a peek at other companies in your field and your area. Anything you want to mirror?

3. Do you need a gym? In social media it’s important to know all of the resources available. Do you need a Hootsuite account and Tweetdeck on your desktop? Do your research, know what’s available. Tryout some tools and see what works with and for your needs (see what tools best align with your budget and goals-see above).

4. What BOUNDARIES do I need to set? -This is critical. When you are working out- you can’t just decide to run 13.1 miles after not running since your 5th grade mile run challenge. You have to set a pace and boundaries. It’s important to recongize a great running day. Instead of running yourself into the ground, take a step back, appreciate the victory and keep moving.Remember that 50, 100 or 1,000 facebook fans can be terrific milestones. By just thinking that you need more all the time can get you clouded on the reason why you started in the first place (see #1).

5. Don’t be afraid to fail. This is the most important. Trial and error are equivalent to growing pains, they will be worse for some and not too bad for others. Embrace your failures and learn from them. Don’t bury them as if you were ashamed for trying. Social networks like Facebook, MySpace and the microblogging site Twitter take some time. Accept it and move on.

When I was growing up I’d always hear:

‘If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.’

What are you doing to gain endurance and a steady pace in the social media world? What have you failures have you learned from? What have you done that’s really worked?

Kristina is based in the Twin Cities and eats and breathes social media. Her love for technology’s influence on culture can be found here.

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