What does an overnight success look like to you? How is it that someone can be rather unknown to many people, and then suddenly part of what everyone is sharing?
Last week my Google Plus follower count rose to nearly tie what it’s taken me 4 years to accomplish in Twitter, just a mere 3 months after it launched. Why is this even significant?
In the interest of helping small business owners with nearly every aspect of their online presence, my business needs to be found. My method of being found and staying current is by curating content – reading and learning every bit of the changes, updates, and releases each and every day. That isn’t a small task to juggle while also doing the work of helping clients and developing an online training program for them (Social Mobile Local Marketing Pros).
How did I get discovered and see such an instant spike to my online presence? It started years ago. I remember seeing a post on Facebook from Robert Scoble about his love for FriendFeed while on my teaching planning period. I signed up and checked the service out. Think of this service as the place the techies hung out. It was the forerunner to what we know as Facebook today, and aggregated all the social media data I could throw in. I had FriendFeed import nearly every action I took online. I jumped in to the hot conversations at the time. I met great people there, like Louis Gray & Jesse Stay. I connected with peers in the industry and discovered things that I couldn’t find as quickly elsewhere. That was 2007.
FriendFeed was bought up by Facebook, ignored, and we mostly focused on Twitter. Then – Google Reader announced it’s ability to share and connect inside. Few people still know about or use the feature, but it’s the best way to curate and discover content. I can see what the same people I’ve met in FriendFeed are discovering. Fast-forward a few years, and now Facebook allows subscribers and Google Plus is seeing incredible growth.
Louis Gray, recently hired by Google as the pubic spokesman for Google Plus, shared his “Women in Tech & Media” circle and included me on the list. I was shocked and honored to be included with these leading ladies.
I missed the original post, but soon Veronica Belmont copied, tweaked, and reshared it. She runs Tekzilla, a fantastic podcast I watch while working. Then Jesse Stay reshared it too.
Suddenly, I’m seeing incredibly higher amounts of click-throughs on links I share and comments on my posts to Google Plus.
All the while, I’ve continued my obsession with staying current and sharing great content by using Google Reader. I was a little shocked the other day when Chris Brogan shared that he enjoys what I share in Google Reader. Later that night, I was emailed an interview about how I curate Google Reader. Look for that post soon on Remarkablogger.
This got me thinking… it takes a long time, lots of long hours, diligent and consistent effort to achieve success. Chris wrote on his blog last December about what it takes to become an overnight success. It takes a lot of late nights, early mornings, and ongoing effort. More than all else, it struck me as clear that it takes passion.
I am passionate about helping small business owners figure out and make sense of all the online changes. I am committed to providing value, ongoing learning, and building connections. As Chris put it:
Success is knowing that you’ve built a thriving network of people who all work hard to grow each other’s capabilities.
Over the years, I’ve connected online with industry peers, clients, and met many new friends. Building that network of people who “know, like, and trust you” takes time. Maintaining it takes work. Destroying it could happen instantly. It’s a sign that my 3 words of 2011 still ring true – Create Consistent Results. Continue building relationships without the intent to scream “Buy my stuff”, but focus on how to do good stuff for others.
To learn more on building a Network of “Endless Referrals” see my friend Bob Burg. His books always spark such ideas for me. The online networking is much like in person networking. Create value, help people, do good stuff.
After continuing in all this, maybe just maybe I’ll be that overnight success.
Related articles
- Network Effects and the Power of Recommendations (louisgray.com)
