Observations from the Road #2:
You don’t have to be the fastest car on the road to get there on time.
"Are We Almost There?"
Here I sit in Knoxville, TN at a relatively nice pet-friendly hotel – LaQuinta Inns & Suites, to be precise. I left Charlottesville, VA about 2:00 p.m. yesterday and based on the milage, I calculated my arrival in Knoxville to be about 8:00 to 8:30 with stops for food, gas and Pablo. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a competitive streak, normally not so much with other people as with myself. Behind the wheel on the highway, however, I’m finding myself getting irritated when someone passes.
Please know, I am not a Nervous-Nellie (no relation) driver. I push the 65 mph – to the comfortable “just below the level of speeding” envelope. I’m not poking along, in other words. I’m passing plenty, if not most cars on the road – but not all. Most of the time when they pass me they’re going a LOT faster than me, not just a few mph, so I see them coming up from behind from a ways back. That gives me time to really get tense and ticked off.
I’m usually on cruise control so I look down at the speedometer to make sure it hasn’t “clicked off” and I’m actually going as fast as I think.
- “Should I speed up?”
- “What kind of car is that?”
- “My car could keep up with that.”
- “I wonder if there are any highway police out there.”
- “What time is it? How much farther do I have?…. “
Then I realize that even 15 miles per hour more will only mean getting there minutes faster in a day – not hours. It’s faster, yes – but does it really matter in the long run? Is it really an issue to stress about? Does it really matter in the long run?
I’m sure you know what I mean. A colleague or competitor takes a different tact than you, publishes a new book, posts additional blog entries, wins another client, gets more RT’s, has more followers, attends more conferences… whatever it is that makes you question whether you’re “doing enough”.
I’m finding some clients thinking along the same lines regarding social media strategies. They want to have a wicked cool website, be a top trending topic on Twitter, have the most viewed video on You Tube. Yet for most businesses, a successful social media presence isn’t about having the foxiest website, the coolest viral video or being a trending topic on Twitter for the day.
Building a social media presence isn’t sexy or fast. Are you trying to make a 6 hour trip in 4 hours or are you trying to get to Knoxville in time to relax, walk the littlest Pablo and get a good night’s sleep? Are you trying to build a social media presence to improve your business for the long-term or are you trying to get more Facebook Fans than your competition?
Done correctly, building a social media presence isn’t sexy or fast. It isn’t about having the foxiest website, the coolest viral video or being a trending topic on Twitter for the day. All these things are good, don’t get me wrong, but:
- Rarely can you plan any of them and
- They’re temporary.
The website becomes familiar, the video fades and Twitter moves on to something else.
A speed demon flies up behind me on the highway. I move over to let them pass. Later on, another car will fly by me – and then another. 6 or so hours later, I get to Knoxville. Safe, sound and without a speeding ticket. Pablo is happy. I get a good night’s rest and best of all, my parents read this so – they know their “little girl” is driving responsibly.
Unless your primary goal is one-time, event based results, don’t worry so much about being the fasted, coolest most popular social media star around. Work on creating the best social media presence you can, be consistent day-in and day-out and be very protective of it.
