Patience: a Social Media Virtue

20 January 2010 342 views Comments

Monday was our official first day of work in the new Pyxl office. It was a long time coming (and an 18-month wait), but ultimately now that we’re here, it was worth it. (Side note: stay tuned for a virtual tour and information on our open house.) It’s a pretty sweet office if I do say so myself.

But anyway, the whole scenario got me thinking about patience and how necessary it is in the business world – not just in waiting for the build out of a new office, but in almost everything — especially in social media.

chickenpatience I often hear of people and businesses getting discouraged because they expect to have a thriving social media presence, along with hundreds or thousands of Twitter followers and Facebook fans within days of starting to implement their social media strategy. When this doesn’t happen right away, they assume social media isn’t working for them.

“Viral” is a word often used to describe social media, and I think when many people think of the word “viral” they assume the results happen immediately. However, unless you created the JK Wedding Dance or David After Dentist, this is generally not the case. Unless you’re Bill Gates. But chances are, you’re not.

Social media success is not going to happen overnight!

Social media takes patience. It takes time, dedication and care to build credibility and trust with the public via social media. It takes time to establish yourself as a thought-leader and time to build a community.

And when you give it the time it needs and do it right, social media can greatly help your brand. You just need to be patient and make sure you have the right plan in place to make it happen.

Good things come to those who wait (of course that’s only as long as you’re working during the waiting period). Do you agree?

ryanstephens

Whole heartily agree Nicole, and yet this is something that's hard to convey to businesses looking to get involved with the space. Most of them don't understand why they can't just send out a few tweets (nevermind the fact that they're not actually engaging), and hope that they'll obtain this large audience. That's simply not reality.

It's our jobs to manage expectations when people we're working with are first getting started in the space. Good topic!

Nicole VanScoten

I agree, Ryan! It's often tough to do because companies get discouraged so easily. They see social media as an easy fix-all, and it's simply not. While signing up to Twitter and Facebook is free, the time it takes to really create a presence in the space is not free at all! I think a lot of people don't understand that. But here's hoping that as the space continues to become more mainstream, people will begin to "get it". In the meantime, like you said, it's our job to manage expectations. Thanks for the comment!