Social Media + The Perfectionist = A Bad Marriage
June 9th, 2009by Bob Seybold / BusinessVoice Creative Consultant
How many times have you said, “I’d like to start a blog,” or, “I should get with this Twitter thing,” only to be intimidated by the fear of not being able to do it well enough?
True story: I’ve owned my own domain name for years but never used it to create a web presence. It’s the perfectionist in me; the voice inside my head that says, “It has to be the best.” I guess I’m not alone, because blogger Mark Ivey had the same problem. His advice? Try The Seven Habits Of The “Just Good Enough” Marketer.
Ivey’s list is based on a simple premise — the explosion of social media has changed the rules about how we should craft our communications with customers and prospects. He says:
Every day I see companies that make these mistakes: they want to launch the perfect blog, create the polished video, craft the right message.
They often find out the hard way that this is not what blogging and social media is about. It’s more about conveying compelling ideas and connecting with audiences in authentic ways, not just writing beautiful prose or top-down marketing approaches.
Speed is more critical too. There’s not enough time to go through two rounds of approvals on every blog. Slick videos are meanwhile seen as advertising — they don’t ring true.
The new style — conversational, open, engaging, and fluid — just doesn’t mix with traditional marketing and communications.
Ivey admits that these are hard habits to break, but doing this can get you off the sidelines and into social media faster, and that’s the whole idea. By the way, that web domain of mine that gathered dust for years? It’s now hosting a personal blog that I created and launched in just a few days last week. It’s far from perfect and I still struggle with the urge to do too many re-writes, but I’m learning that “Just Good Enough” is better than “Nothing.’ In fact, it might be the best way to enter the new world of social media.
