Yesterday in my zeal to win a trip back to Helsinki, Finland I lost all common sense and spammed the crap out of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a few texting streams.
I know better. I should have done better. Impatience is no excuse, but it got the better of me.
What I should have done instead of carpet-bombing social media streams and friends’ pages with countless rubber-stamped pleadings is:
- use direct messaging. That way I only annoy one person at a time. That applies to every channel
- research. Develop a strategy. Don’t just fling posts
- target thought leaders first. They’re going to share anyway, and often have greater reach than I do
- craft the message carefully. This has been a self-serving venture, but I could have worded the begging better, to be more inclusive
- breathe! pause!
In hindsight what spooked me into a much higher degree of compulsiveness than usual was being in second place and seeing no real progress– every time I gained, the leader gained even more. This got me curious so I checked into his photo Likes to see if I could spot a clue. Boy did I.
The lead contestant is admin for a Viking-themed travel site on Facebook, a site with over 2000 friends. Technically I could compete, if I effectively leveraged my networks and saw more traction than I have, but this competitor has a clear advantage in this travel contest.
I’m not giving up, but I am taking my own advice and throttling down. Apologies to you all for the noise, and if you’re still with me but have not yet voted, please consider going back to yesterday’s post and checking out my entries, or just Like this particular photo.
I appreciate your tolerance, cooperation and kindness. Who knows? A miracle might still occur!