Every weekday morning, I go to the gym. OK, in all honesty, most weekday mornings I go to the gym, but not every one.
I go to the gym because I want to get in shape, I want to be stronger. Week after week I go back and follow my routine, adding a little more weight to the bar than I did the previous week. I don’t have a trainer, though I’m certain it would help, but I do have a workout plan created by a trainer. What occurred to me this morning, is that the process I’m going through to build muscle is fundamentally the same as how we work with clients. The comparison really isn’t that far off.
Clients want to be stronger
Our clients come to us because they want to build their muscles, but the muscles they want to build are their social media muscles. The way we help them is very similar to how a personal trainer would work with a client.
Create a plan
The first thing we do is sit down and develop a plan for our clients, much like a trainer would do for a client at their gym; our gym is the Internet. The plan takes into consideration various factors including time, equipment, prior experience and current “fitness” level.
Start working out
Once the plan is in place, our clients go to work on executing that plan, with our help. Day in and day out they go through their “workout” getting stronger at building relationships and using the tools. After several weeks, the workout becomes a routine. It doesn’t seem so hard anymore, they know exactly how to use their equipment: mobile device, computer, browser, bookmarklets, extensions, etc. Early on, they can see results. They start generating some engagement, they start seeing increased web traffic, everything feels great. Then…
Hit the Plateau
You’ve heard of this before. After a certain period of time the effectiveness of a certain plan becomes stagnant. Clients get their workout down to a science, it becomes second nature. The engagement holds steady, the web traffic holds steady, everything hits a slow down. The current plan has ceased to deliver the same impressive results.
In working out, this is know as “hitting a plateau.” Muscles get used to the motions of the workout, muscles get used to the weight. You’ve peaked on a particular exercise with a particular weight and in order to grow, you have to increase the reps, or increase the weight.
Add more weight
Want to get BIG?
Add more weight, take on something new, expand your capacity. Maybe you started with Twitter, now it’s time to try LinkedIn. Maybe you have a network of 10 people you actively communicate with, let’s make it 20. If you want to get stronger you have to push it by adding more “weight.”
This is where we would come in. We don’t want you to hurt yourself or burn out by adding too much weight. We keep looking at where you want to go and adjust your program to fit those goals. Maybe your goals don’t require you to add more weight, maybe we want to tone what you are doing and improve the effectiveness within the current plan.
Increase your reps
Increasing the number of repetitions when working out is a way to sculpt muscles and get that “cut from marble” but not BIG look.
In the case of social media, it just means that you don’t want to add other networks or other tasks, you just want to get better with what you are already doing. This is where we look at what you are doing and tweak what you are doing, find new opportunities and try different motions.
Social Media Success = Planning + Time + Energy + Commitment
You want to see the results? Do the work. If you want to get fit, don’t pay for a gym membership you don’t use. Don’t eat fatty, high calorie fast food and expect 6-pack abs…it’s not going to happen. As with anything in life, if you want the results, you have to do “the work.”
Whether you work with an agency or not, follow the same steps. Create a plan, do the work and adjust along the way.