Social Media’s Key Virtue: Persistence

Today, we live in an online world in which information is exchanged in seconds instead of days. We are consumers of an endless parade of new shiny products and applications.  The great thing about social media is that it is easy  and free to use, but that is also the worst thing about it. Why? Noise.

It means that anyone with an Internet connection can start publishing online in formats ranging from text to video. The most interesting thing about the zero cost of entry into social media is that for all of the millions of people who participate only a small percentage “succeed” in becoming thought leaders and building a community of people that are interested and engaged in their thoughts.   Is this because we only have a small percentage of smart individuals? No.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Louis Gray, for my podcast with Wayne Sutton: Talk Social News. Louis is without question one of the sharpest people I have talked with in the social media space.  His thoughts on organizing information and participating in social media were great, but he said one thing that really got my attention.

Louis said “I am not really doing anything differently on my blog today than I was in 2006″

Please take a second to think about his statement, this is a person that has thousands of people subscribed to his blog and is considered to be an industry thought leader. I think it is this statement that shows how he achieved this status and how others can as well.

It is my belief that persistence is the key virtue to succeeding not just in blogging but in any social medium.  If you have a blog look at others that are blogging about similar topics, you will most likely find that several of those competing blogs haven’t been updated in months. Additionally you will probably also find that some of these non-updated blogs have some interesting posts written. Taking these factors into consideration we can infer that it was a lack of persistence and most likely passion that stopped the success of these blogs.

What Does This Mean To You?

Keep your head up and continue to write or record interesting content. It does not matter if you are the only person reading your blog.  What does matter is that you continue to write about topics that you are passionate about. Blogs don’t get thousands of readers overnight it takes a continued effort and contribution to build a strong reader base or community. What you have to say is important, keep saying it!

Bonus Points: Want to speed up your  community’s growth? Then take an hour out of your day that you waste. It could be watching TV or shopping during lunch. Instead take 30 minutes and exercise. Not only will you be healthier but you will find yourself thinking clearer and energized. Then take the other 30 minutes and spend that time commenting on other blogs and reaching out to people you know to tell them about your blog and why you are writing it.