How To Be Successful in Social Media: Take Action and Hustle

Social media is becoming popular everyday. More people are understanding the power of online conversations thanks to books like Groundswell.  As social media becomes more popular and we see the rise of online personalities like GaryVee and iJustine people will continue to ask the following questions:

“How do I become popular like them?”
“How do they make money?”
“How can I use social media to market myself or my company?”

Social Media Consultants Are Working Too Hard  Making Rules
Across blogs and social networks I see so many social media consultants talking about “how to” use social media, but the truth is most of them don’t know what the hell they are talking about. Its not their fault though, they are trying to establish rules for something that is constantly changing and will continue to change as more people participate in online conversations.

These consultants understand online conversations and social web tools but are doing their best to screw things up by creating rules for engaging in online conversations and for how to use social media tools. By doing this I think they are missing the point. Social media is still so young that trying to establish rules right now seems pointless.

Action: The answer to succeeding in social media:
Want to be successful in social media? Then get off of your ass and do something about it. Sure social media is new and people need to understand how some of the tools work, but in many ways social media is the perfect example of the American dream.  If someone takes action whether that means starting a blog, launching a podcast or participating in other ways online they are only limited in success by the action the are willing to take.  They don’t need to get hung up in trying to follow the rules as they will learn what people want as they continue to participate.

Do you look at someone in social media and think that you wish you could be successful like them? I know many people that do. Odds are that person is not smarter than you instead they decided to act and make their dream a reality.  Unlike so many other things, social media provides a level the playing field.  Looks at those who are successful, sure they are smart but more importantly they are also the ones writing, coding, editing and reading in the middle of the night.

The bottom line is that other people are out working you and have the hustle it takes to succeed.

What are you going to do about it?