Don’t Get Caught in the Social Media Hamster Wheel

Ever felt you went through a whole week in a hamster wheel? I mean you got work done but there was a feeling that not that much was accomplished?

That’s how I would define the first week of August. Yet, this week was one of the most productive for me in 2010. Let me explain:

My weekly objectives were accomplished, each day felt smooth and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the quality of work produced. But the realization came when I did my weekly review. What did I really accomplish this week?

You see, the problem was that the short term tasks and deadlines didn’t match the long term objectives. For example, if a new website is being built, articles are almost pointless if wireframes aren’t being created. Looking back at it from this vantage point makes sense but when there are meetings, emails, Twitter mentions, etc flying by, it’s easy to get steered away from that.

Focus is key

By losing focus of the long term objective and taking action with short term tasks, there will be a lot of time wasted or worst, you’ll be stuck in the hamster wheel without even knowing you’re in their in the first place.

For your social media initiatives, sure you can keep messaging random posts here and there. But when is it time for tweaks, improvements and noticeable changes?

Getting off the hamster wheel

It’s very easy to keep pumping out meaningless tasks that you’ve assigned yourself. But how long can you just afford to be another “Mr. Me Too” in your market? What are you going to do differently?

Here are a couple ways to unshackle yourself from the vicious cycle:

Weekly reviews – the value of an effective feedback loop is invaluable. People from your marketing team can give you feedback but in my opinion, there are two groups that can provide even impactful observations:

• People outside of the marketing team – talk to the accountant and ask what he thinks about the latest updates on the Twitter feed. If that person doesn’t care, you’ll get a “it looks good.” But if there’s a colleague that is truly interested, that person will give insights on subtle language that can be misinterpreted and other comments that can be valuable.
• Ask colleagues in the industry – there perspectives vary as they aren’t part of the company’s culture. They aren’t aware of the voice, tone and perception your company plans to portray vs. the end result which is live on social media outposts like Twitter.

Watch other brands. How are brands currently innovating? We all have ideas but it’s important to see how innovation is being done currently. There are two groups you want to keep an eye on:

• Your competitors: what are they doing which are earning them results? What are they doing where they’re falling flat on their face? Watching their updates unravel and monitoring reactions will give you a better idea of what’s working and what isn’t.
• Other industries:  If you’re a Realtor, check out how Sprinkles is selling muffins. Or if you’re a restaurant, see how Lululemon is keeping their fans engaged. Give yourself opportunities to make connections and promote think differently. After seeing ideas from other industries, you will learn strategies and concepts that can make slight differences that will pay dividends.

My one word of advice is take action. You may have heard this before but are you actually monitoring others in private lists? Are you asking others for help?

This was a real breakthrough for me because there are times where I’m heads down and don’t consider anything outside of my mind space. Learn from my experience and don’t let it happen to your social media initiatives and the damage it can potentially do for you brand.

Question: have you ever caught in the hamster wheel? When did you realize and what did you do about it?