Hey, Look at Me Too!
This is an article about humility. I'll get to that in a minute. Firstly, about me:
Checklist for my new business:
- Step 1 - Develop purpose / vision ✓
- Step 2 - Secure funding ✓
- Step 3 - Build website ✓
- Step 4 - Talk to lots of people ✓
- Step 5 - Finally get on social media - holy shit - it's really busy out there.
The more people I connect with, the more my feed fills up with (a few) interesting events and articles, noise and chatter, and at times what can only be called shameless cries for attention. This is a serious dilemma: I need to market my business like everyone else, but one of my core values (and interests) is humility, so clearly I can't just cry out louder than others. This got me thinking:
What does humility look like on social media?
Humility is not about disappearing into the backdrop. It's about having a grounded sense of one's worth and abilities. It's about reconciling two ideas: 1) That I am one of 7.7 billion people and have 377 LinkedIn followers and maybe 200 people would come to my funeral. That's a paltry 0.000003 % of the planet's population - far smaller than my ego wants to admit. And yet, 2) some of those 377 people's lives will be materially improved by what I have to offer.
Having reviewed 50 or so recent posts on my LinkedIn feed it looks like there's two general categories:
- A handful of apparently genuine posts concerned with evoking discussion or sharing insights
- A long list of overt and covert self-marketing posts concerned with attracting attention and/or piggybacking on others ideas
The first feels like a gift. The latter like something is expected or taken. Clearly there is something in the way the post makes us feel - the gift has a sense of otherness, the second self-service.
Try writing your posts as a gift, without expectation
This is not as easy as it sounds. To be honest I'm struggling with it right now. There is temptation to list my strengths and skills and link to my website or squeeze in a call to action. I also think it might be possible to write nearly identical articles from both the giving and taking mindsets. And to complicate things further it's possible for you to interpret my intentions both ways regardless of what I write. What a mind-job!
It's not about me
This is where humility comes in. Holding the mindset that it's not about me is what enables me to write, listen, and give without expectation ... sometimes. I can't say I'm particularly good at it, but it's a freeing thought when it comes because it renders all these worries silent:
- Will anyone read this article?
- Will I get any likes?
- Will I have wasted my time?
- Will people think I'm stupid / weird / illiterate ?
- Is my grammar right?
None of these questions matter, because it's simply not about me. Humility is what allows me to go with "good enough" and ultimately click Publish on this probably mediocre piece of writing.
So next time you post, ask yourself what is your real reason for posting this? If the honest answer is "to improve my SEO ratings" then I wonder how many of your readers will notice and tune you out? They probably already are.