I’ve been taken to the wood shed over the last couple of days. It seems that I haven’t spent enough time “engaging.”
My accusers are absolutely right.
Engagement was killing my blog.
A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to A TweetChat
A month ago, I was hanging out in a TweetChat doing my thing. I was having fun, talking with my group of friends, and trying to be provocative and helpful. A great way to spend an hour.
The problem was that I should have been writing posts for my blog, training group, and email newsletter. I had put off these critical tasks for over a week and I needed to get them done.
However, for now, I was ok. because I was engaging.
Or more accurately, I was busy procrastinating,
Sound familiar?
Comment Guilt
A few months ago, another blogger implied that I wasn’t devoting enough time replying to comments.
The mantra is that the savvy kids answer every comment. I wanted to be savvy, so I replied to every single comment. Since, Pushing Social isn’t my full-time job, something had to give.
Unfortunately it was post quality. Replying to comments is easier than researching posts. The comment replies felt good and seemed to be the right thing to do. The problem was that I used them as an excuse to procrastinate.
Platform Procrastination
I love discovering new social platforms. It’s like finding a new land where the people are friendly, the weather is warm, and the food is tasty and cheap.
Usually I jump in with both feed and spend hours building profiles, answering questions and frolicking with the locals.
I’ve done this with Quora, LinkedIn, Posterous, Tumblr, and even flirted with NING.
In the end, I bid a teary farewell to all of them.
Why?
Even though I loved the distraction, my blog deserved my dedication. My audience suffered during my time away. I told myself that I was engaging. Deep down I need it was a load of crap.
I was busy procrastinating.
This Medicine Sucks But It Will Make You Better
I’ve seen people in tweetchats doling out blogging advice with no blog of their own. Hypocrisy? No…Just procrastination. It is time for them to take their own advice and get busy building content that matters.
I’ve watched bloggers answer each one of their 4 comments per post. Great. However, if you value comments maybe you should get serious about getting more than just a handful.
On the other hand, I’ve marveled at post-length comments from bloggers who can’t seem to find the time to publish the same quality. Here’s a hint, put your house in order first, then take your brilliance on the road.
All of this is just procrastination in disguise. Don’t be fooled.
About Stanford
I know what you mean – it comes down to investing your time in the most important things – particularly hard when everyone is giving you different messages about what is most important. There are plenty of browser windows that I’ll close because even though it’s interesting, I know that it’s not important right now. Hard to do, though… :S
I am an expert on procrastination. Doing it, that is. Even though I write about how to overcome procrastination, I practice it daily. It usually happens when I am getting close to doing something important and good old resistance shows up.
Mike
Mike, I agree, Resistance (aka Procrastination) lurks a step away from breakthrough success.
Hi Stanford -
It’s so easy to spend time on the social media sites, look up at the clock and wonder where the day is gone. In my experience, to do all of the things I need to do to keep my business running and meet my blogging goals, I’ve had to make some decisions about which social sites to hang out on. You just can’t “engage” properly on all (or even some) of them, there are not enough hours in the day! It’s all about prioritizing…and just sitting down to work
Ican relate. Reading, engaging with others and commenting on others blogs can be addictive. I feel I have to do this before I write my own blog. So I am informed of what is going on and I may need to include something or someone. Suddenly half my day is gone. It’s a balancing act.
Hey Stanford!
This post resonates with me because I try to be very disciplined about the time I spend engaging. It’s a hard coin to toss and I think you’ve got to find a happy medium and stick with it. Social media usage is tricky and when popularity reaches a certain level engagement can become more of a hindrance to begin productive than a help.
All that said, I truly believe the people who value your work most, will still be here even when you can’t engage at the moment. They’re here because your hard work helps them, and if you stop doing that…then you’ve got a real problem!
I’ve had to make some hard choices too. You are right about finding a happy medium. Sometimes it’s devilishly hard to do so.
Stanford, no need to reply to this vague comment. I just want to say “thanks” for writing those high-quality posts every week. I read each one and always feel compelled to pass them on. Gratefully, Claire
I’m replying and you can’t stop me!
I love replying to comments if I can add more value to the conversation. I just hate doing it because it’s in someone else’s rule book or if it is taking me away from delivering value.
Make sense?
Keeping your comment skills up is a must and sometimes even better then doing a blog post…only if you have the right technique going..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”