SMC of SLC

by Erin Ann McBride, SMC of SLC member

Do you ever lose your passion for social media or marketing? I will admit that I do. Every few months or so I will start to feel like I’ve tried everything, and I still haven’t taken over the world. I’ve tried Facebook, I’ve tried Twitter, I’ve tried blogging, and texting, and newsletters, and SEO, and more Facebook, and more Twitter. And nothing is working. There is no silver bullet. Social media is boring me.

Am I the only one who ever feels this way?

I’ve tried attending conferences. But I have yet to find a really good conference that I feel is up to my skill level. I attended a WordPress course, hoping to find inspiration on how to be the best blogger ever. Instead I walked out thinking I could have taught the course. I didn’t need a lesson in what a blog is and how to use it for business. I need a shot of passion and inspiration on how to come out with interesting, amazing, and compelling content for six different brand blogs when I feel like it has all been done before! And I could use a shot of inspiration on how to find amazing readers.

Are you with me yet? I’m a professional! I do this full-time, but sometimes, I just need that extra infusion of passion when everything gets commonplace. And I don’t think I’m alone. So I sat down and tried a few new things to get my social media romance back on track.

Here are a few ideas with which I’ve found success:

1. Write an article for LinkedIn, or another professional organization. Forcing yourself to sit down and explain why social media works, and what you can do with it, really can help bring the romance back.  (And I know SMCSLC would love to have a few more guest bloggers and column writers.)
2. Try something new. Think you have tried all the good methods out there? You’re on all the appropriate networks? Then try a new one that is completely out of your comfort zone. Are you on Bebo yet? What about Reddit or Yelp? Pick something and dive in. Maybe it won’t work, but it will probably give you some new ideas for something else that might work better.
3. Call up a friend in a similar capacity and meet for lunch to exchange new ideas. Ask what he or she is doing in their current social media campaigns. I recently had the chance to help out a friend while she was out of office for a few weeks. Her company needed someone to continue their campaign while she was out. Just getting to see what her company does and what she excels at in social media really helped give me some new ideas for my company to try. Also, she got to take advantage of my strengths as well. Take a few minutes to learn from a friend.
4. This is the big one! Ask yourself the hard questions. Is it the social media that isn’t working? Or is it what you are promoting with social media? Is it the marketing campaign itself? Social media is only as good as the product or message you want to share. You have to have a good key message. Maybe it’s time to revamp the campaign or message, and stop hating the tools.
5. Step away from the computer. Close your laptop, hide the Blackberry, and return to the old-fashioned world of pen and paper. Map your ideas out. Brainstorm without a whiteboard and a committee. Ask yourself who you are trying to reach and where they are found. Make lists of all the things you could be doing. Are there channels and tools you could be trying that you just don’t have the time to focus on? Ask yourself what really matters, and put it in writing.

Just like in all relationships, you have to work at it to keep the romance alive. Trying the same thing over and over again isn’t going to get you anywhere. Don’t keep banging your head against the same old wall. What’s the old saying? “If you do what you’ve always done, you get what you always got.”

These are just my ideas. What are yours?