I Should Post That…
So many channels, so little time. It feels like you should always have something to post and somewhere to post it... or maybe you shouldn't.
I'm not sure how my friend Larry Levine is going to feel about this piece... He was just telling me about how I needed to work a little harder to get my work out there on social media and have it recognized by more people.
"You're doing great work, Jeff, but there aren't enough people seeing it."
I'm conflicted, and I'll tell you why.
Larry is my #1 go-to resource when it comes to reaching people on social media channels. I'm convinced that there isn't anyone better at presenting themselves with authenticity, and then actually doing something productive with the connections he makes. Sure there are companies and personalities out there who spend a lot of money and have teams of people help spread their word, but Larry automates nothing and is still ubiquitous. I believe it's his superpower (or at least one of them).
Here's my problem, and thus the conflict... It's not my superpower, and despite what you think, millennial or not, I don't think it's yours either. Therein lies the rub, and the trap you set for yourself.
Despite my best efforts, I feel like social media distracts me more than it helps. The process just feels unnatural to me. Maybe it's the introvert in me, but I just don't feel like anybody cares about what I made for dinner, the cocktail I had with my friends, or how many splat points I earned at Orangetheory. Sure, I put it out there because that's what "you're supposed to do," and I get an alarming amount of reactions to those posts, but is it really helpful?
What I'm even less interested in is keeping a cadence so that people can rely on seeing me in their feeds. Now it's a job! DO I really need to do this? I understand what the point is supposed to be, but at what cost?
At the risk of sounding like an old geezer, what did we do before Twitter and Instagram? I actually appreciate LinkedIn because there are some real discussions happening there, but it's still less than ideal, and I still get sucked into spending more time there than I should. Once everyone had a pulpit and a megaphone, marketing, and pseudo-prospecting came down to shouting the loudest from the most mountaintops.
"Why make sales calls? I just put a link to the website on Twitter."
"Insta stories are where it's at. engagement is off the charts!"
LinkedIn is even getting into the act now too with live streaming. All of the buzz is there, but if you ask me, there are too many people getting caught up in the hype before they investigate how beneficial the tools are. Your mom used to ask you, "If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?" You knew the answer then, but a lot of you seem to have forgotten...
The real problem isn't even the channels themselves, but the fact that they get in the way of doing real work. You get that they're engineered to distract you and keep you in them, right? Not everybody has Larry's aforementioned superpower.
So let me ask you, if you quit social media for a week, would you miss it? More importantly, would it miss you? If you took back those 16+ hours a week, what would you do with them?
I got to beta test the theory this week. My wife was on vacation, so I was full-time Dad along with my full-time gig. I had to circle the wagons, set boundaries, and focus on the important stuff. The first thing I cut was social...
The results? I got more done because I had fewer distractions. I didn't get tangled up in online discussions and constantly check my feeds for updates. I was more present in the meetings and engagements I was involved in, and I still managed to start productive discussions with a handful of new prospects. I finished a book, got a great start on another, and also wrapped up a draft of You Don’t Have a Closing Problem.
Oh, I also smiled a lot more, slept better, and eked out a victory in an 18-hole match with a friend on a beautiful day. I had a blast with the kids too, and that's what I'm doing all of this work for anyway, right? That's a helluva week if you ask me, and a better one than most of mine. I don't think Twitter missed me, and I certainly didn't miss it.
I'm not here to brag, because so many people do it better than I do, but if I can be a real-world counterexample to the prevailing narrative, then I feel the need to speak up if it will help you too.
Am I telling you to get off social media? Of course not. I am, however, challenging you to question the frequency and the time you spend on those sites. Is it really as important as your calendar and your usage stats are suggesting it is? Probably not, which is the first sign that there might be an issue...
Stop pretending that it's the best way to network and prospect. What if you took a third of that time and called a few prospects or went to some networking events and shook some hands. What if you delivered that value message to a real human being and tested it in real-time instead of A/B testing your tweets?
My iPhone tells me weekly how I spend my time on each site. I haven't been happy with the data, so I did something about it. You might be too, so it's probably worth a look. If I can make the adjustment, then I'm certain you can, and if all you're looking for is permission, then consider this message to be your hall pass.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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