Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

I’ve dropped off the FaceBook map lately.  I check in now and again but my home page is crowded by the same avid posters. Mostly people I’ve never met whose Facebook mission seems to be to keep their face on my screen no matter what time of day I log in.

With good intentions of “contributing” I set out to post something on my wall.  But then I am confronted with quotes like “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” and I am struck dumb. 

Challenged to do something “beyond”, what am I supposed to post? 

 The truth is I am doggedly mastering the creation of my coaching business; spending my days creating content for my rocking new web site -which my Facebook friends can’t see yet because it takes time, and hard, uninteresting work to master something beyond myself. 

Should I post something more personal? I spent the weekend peeling the 15 year old wall paper off the walls of my guest bath. The newly bare walls are an accomplishment to be sure but not one of any universal value. 

I assume there are others who are working hard at creating something: a business, a well adjusted child, a better community, and beginning to find social media to be a chore.  For those who share my bewilderment, here is some advice for getting things under control. 

Not that I will have the opportunity to do the clean up any time soon but maybe you will.  If you do clean up your Facebook page, let me know and I will share with you how my guest bath renovation project is coming along.

I ventured into the Facebook community at the urging of a marketing mentor of mind Davender Gupta.  Davender claims that Google is like the country, full of wide open spaces and hard to find places. Facebook, says Davender, is the city, the hot spot, where the people are.  Wouldn’t you rather be where the people are?

His advice, the only advice I had – so I took it, was to build my friends list to 100 and then start a fan page for my business.

Bravely I began, accepting just about anyone I could find.  It started with my nieces and nephews and expanded to my generation: cousins and in-laws. For a while I was an evangelical Facebook user inviting the uninitiated to connect with me on Facebook.

Then one day, Pete Lukevich, found me.  Pete is a skilled networker but we have not spoken in decades. When I accepted him as a Facebook friend, it opened a flood gate of suggestions to connect with other high school class mates.  Some of whom I am actually glad to reconnect with. (Pete and I still haven’t spoken, not even a comment or a wall post.)

Within a few months of committed daily activity on Facebook, I had a list of over 100 friends.  The problem is they are scattered over various tribes and, frankly, various versions of my persona. My Facebook friends include relatives of mine, relatives of my husband, classmates stretching back to the first grade, coaching clients, business associates, professional connections, people I admire, mentors and a few total strangers.

When I sit down to post I have no idea who I am talking to. This might not bother an extrovert but for those of us with introverted tendencies – it causes writer’s block.

So I say: step number one of getting social media system in place is “Find Your People”.

Who are your on-line people?