The Chirping Sound Of Crickets

Nothings happen unless you take action.

There is no overnight success stories. Getting an audience, creating engagement and turning that into a semblance of a community is not just about killer content, a Twitter feed or a well-designed Blog. Success may feel like it comes fast for some, but it’s usually the result of frequency and consistency layered thickly on top of the quality of content that is being published.

How often and how much?

Who knows? Seth Godin posts daily and sometimes, it’s just a couple of lines (but it’s always something that makes you think). Chris Brogan will sometimes post multiple times a day and his post are filled with actionable bullet points that will help you jump right into action. Avinash Kaushik will give you two thousand word Blog posts filled with gold ever week or so.

Then, there are the others…

I’m privy to some pretty interesting conversations about Social Media and Digital Marketing. I’m amazed by how surprised many marketing professionals are by the lack of audience that they have when it comes to their Blogs or Twitter feed. The truth is that they are very quick to take stabs at the people who have results and much less inclined to take a serious look at themselves. No matter how great your content is, it’s never going to be deeply rooted in people’s minds if you don’t publish more frequently and with a higher sense of consistency.

If you don’t care… no one else will care.

Most people Blog and tweet when time permits. Do you know how to translate that? Let me do that for you: it’s just not that important to you. Well, if it’s just not that important to you, what makes you think it will have any meaning or importance to the people reading it? When that happens to the content producer (and the stress that comes along with it), what usually winds up happening next is a bunch of forced or rushed posts that don’t really add to, contribute to or evolve the thinking.

Publishing is still publishing.

I often Blog about how the more successful Marketers in Social Media treat everything that much more like a publisher than a Marketer. That same thought is valuable here: if you’re Blogging or tweeting is sporadic and lacks relevance, frequency and consistency, it’s probably being accepted by the public more like Marketing fodder and less like credible content. Embracing a publishing mindset is a critical part of what equates to eventual success. Yes, it’s commitment. No, it’s not easy. Yes, there are moments when you’ll question the very reason to keep at it. No, there are no shortcuts.

….Unless you like the chirping sound of crickets… which also means you shouldn’t dump on those who have all of the attention.