Last week I wrote about perspectives, approaches and methods that don’t make using Social Media worth it. This week I want to layout what I think is a core methodology and sequence that wrings the most value out of Social Media. So, to start on the first core element:

Who are you?

Can you answer that question for yourself, your blog, your organization, your church, your non-profit, your business – right away? Or do you have to think about it? Does your answer start with “It depends…?”

Knowing your identity, who you are and why you are here, is essential for success in social media. This identity is often found in core values, mission statements and vision statements (as an individual do you know your core values?).

Why is identity so important? FOCUS. If you know who you are and your values then you know who your audience is and why it is so important for you to invest in social media to engage with them. You know what the core actions are you want to have influence for them to take (to pray, to buy, to trust, etc.). Your goals, measurables, and more fall into line much more easily when you know who you are. Focus builds momentum and the conviction to see your campaigns through.

Identity is also important because it encourages authenticity and vulnerability (the good side of transparency). When know who you are, you are confident in your strengths and weaknesses. If you are unsure of your identity several things happen and are magnified through social media.

• You are more defensive when critics show up because you’re not sure what strength to defend, so you defend everything, even the stuff you know is a weakness.
• You over state, over hype, and over polish the way you talk about yourself/team/church/organization. This builds excitement but is foggy on the core action that produces a tangible return.
• You try to speak to too many audiences and don’t communicate to any of them well.
• You over invest from bravado and are then underwhelmed with the inevitably poor results.
• Your consistency in content struggles or is weak because you aren’t sure what target conversation you are trying to have (this is most often seen in content with lots of information but very little story).
• You will be very impatient to let the relationships develop in social media because you don’t have the confidence of knowing who you are that is necessary to stick it out.

The danger of not having a personal or organizational identity solidified when entering social media is felt as weaknesses are revealed and you find your relational interaction with people consistently tense and challenged.

Social Media is a catalyst for influence, which is the core function of leadership and communication. But social media isn’t picky on the quality of leadership it spreads. Good or bad, it will feature both. That is why it is such a game changing win to have your identity solidified as you begin engaging in social platforms.

We all have a “them” or “they” a “him” or “her” that we compare ourselves against. There is healthy comparison, where we see someone who has traveled a similar road ahead of us that become “remote mentors”, and inspirations for our journey. But there is also unhealthy comparison. The kind where we emulate without question, where we implement without context, and where we clone vision without leadership or clarification of our unique voice and identity.

For churches it might be comparing themselves with the larger church in town, the North Points, Willow Creeks and Saddlebacks.

For people it might be comparing themselves to the super mom, the popular blogger, the published leader and the keynote speaker.

In social media it might be comparing ourselves to someone else’s online community, affiliate sales, custom Facebook tabs or viral Youtube videos.

• Launching a customized Facebook Page because another church has isn’t not a good reason for you to launch one.
• Doing a podcast because another non-profit is doing one isn’t a good enough reason for you to start one.
• Following everyone who follows you on Twitter because people with a lot of followers seem to do that IS NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON to do it yourself.
• Streaming your services online because you see other churches your size doing it IS A TERRIBLE REASON to do it yourself.

It IS a good reason to investigate their investment, return and strategy. And THEN to see if who you are in your passion/vision could benefit from it in part or whole. But often we clone then we get creative trying to squeeze ourselves into another’s strategy.

How much of what you do is because someone else is doing it?
How much of that do you need to stop right now?

Living in a world of comparison can surround us with so many voices we forget what ours sounds like. Then we are just noise that mixes into the crowd. Social Media works best for the clear and remarkable – with the resonating tones.

Thanks to Daniel Demoss good friend I’m on the Church Online team with – and who has a ton of experience in making things happen online. This video comes out of a quick conversation Daniel and I were having that I wanted to share. It is regarding how easy it is to start to see people online, especially those with influence, as only their blog stats, Twitter followers, and platform. It sounds simplistic but Daniel lays out how relationship always wins online, even though it is more work.

I think Flickr is the most overt in keying on a value that drives a lot of the energy and momentum online with their main category for exploring their site titled “Interestingness.” If something is interesting it causes a pause in the movement of our attention, it sparks curiosity, it begins a story I want to journey with, it surprises me, it pings my heart.

As many of us pursue growing our influence online, with the recognition that content is king, we often get so caught up in spitting out updates we forget to show/make it interesting. In the life of your community another event or thing to sign up for IS NOT INTERESTING. Here are two examples of content trying to accomplish the same thing:

Example 1:
This Friday, June 11th, at 7:00pm we the dads against sex tafficking group is meeting to organize our fall events and campaigns. If you care about sex trafficking then make sure you sign up in the link below. This is also a great cause to invite your friends to, make sure to use the Facebook invite link below. Here is the link http://bit./ly can’t wait to see you there!

Example 2:
This afternoon I was walking with my 6 year old daughter holding hands, talking about the day, laughing. She was beautiful, eyes glowing, talking a million miles a minute and soaking up all the daddy attention she could get. In that moment I was reminded of all the little girls around the world who don’t have daddy’s there to protect them and give them loving attention. Instead, they’ve been kidnapped, sold, and put work sexually servicing 20-80 men a day. This Friday a group of fathers who don’t consider that acceptable to pass over, who want to be used by God’s heart to rescue little girls around the world from sex trafficking, are meeting to see what we can do. Click the link to below to sign up and join us in reaching little girls that need us. http://bit.ly/

Questions:

1. Which example is the most accurate to the cause?
2. Which example would you click on?

Even updates we assume people understand the importance of, even mundane announcements, have a story and are interesting to people – if we make the effort to let our hearts out.

I recently was thrilled to lead a breakout at the Echo Conference in Dallas,TX. The break out was called “Is Social Media Worth It?” because so many of us are asking ourselves that same question. Below are the slides that I think tell the story well from my experiences. If you have any questions please let me know!