If you play any active part in Social Media where you live, you are bound to discover what I have discovered in my area. First thing is you will begin to discover is who may be your local Social Media Experts or Social Media Rockstars. Those are the names that always seem to be appearing in your twitter stream and re-tweeting and being re-tweeted. You see their names on Facebook and Foursquare etc., etc.
If you start peeling back a few layers you may also discover that a lot of the local Gurus’s are basically self-established through their own hype. In my area, there are always the usual suspects and the world seems to revolve around a few names. Once you start to peel back the layers, you may find a different story. I will tell you right now that it may leave you scratching your head.
Do a name search on these folks and find their blogs, their Facebook accounts and you may start to see a different picture.
Oh sure, they will proudly exclaim that they are at a lunch meeting with so and so working on a project. They will also tweet and Facebook messages that they will be at Friday night’s local tweet up. You get the idea. You start to think these select individuals are connected to the entire universe and you may begin to think that you are a nobody and have a long uphill battle to make a dent in the local Social Media scene. It’s too easy to be real and honest and to become a real Social Media Player in your city.
Don’t believe this for one second on 99% of these folks. I really like to search these people. I find their blogs, their Facebook, I follow the links they put out on Twitter. What you will most likely find is fluff. I rarely find true players in the game. It’s up to you to seperate these individuals with the true players in your community. Find the players and follow those people. When you discover the real players, follow them and watch what they do and don’t try to re-invent the wheel. Do what they do.
I have discovered that some of my local peeps who have high profiles haven’t updated their blogs in months. These are the same people who tweet SEO links and marketing links. It’s totally laughable. They do not practice what they preach. You will find many who do not have a strong Facebook presence and are almost always not social on their sites. I have also discovered that many work Regular Joe jobs 8 to 5. But they make it sound like they are handling huge client marketing promotions.
It’s easy to be real
If you want to make an impact in your local area in Social Media. Be honest and back up what you say. Be patient, it takes a while. A guy like me will soon discover if you are for real or if you are full of $hit. I’ll research the hell out of until I find out. Don’t think for a minute that if you decide to participate that you will not have people watching you and checking up on you.
Don’t act like you have big clients in one field only to be discovered that you have a full time job in an unrelated field. That basically makes you a liar if you carry on that way. I know damn well you are not heading up an advertising campaign at night while you are working retail in a dress shop by day.
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Steve,
Awesome post, I couldn't agree more! How can the fakers build real community? Eventually even the shiniest items lose their shine. I appreciate your thoughts here, I will definitely be sharing this post!
Thanks Robyn, much appreciated. I like to give everyone in my community a chance but once and if I discover you are not the real deal like you make out to be, I move on and search for those who really offer up the good stuff.