What I Learned from Posting on LinkedIn and Other Media for 55 Days

What I Learned from Posting Here and On Other Social Media for 55 Days Straight

I took a pause in writing these posts after 55 days in a row. During this time I also posted daily on Facebook groups, Twitter and Google Plus communities. Most of my article counts were under 100 views, maybe one or two likes, and occasionally two to three comments. Articles I thought were very well written and insightful garnered fewer views, likes or comments than articles that I felt were not nearly as good.

I watched many posts by many others in order to possibly get a sense for which posts were the most successful. Numerous posts that I thought were written poorly or lacking in real substance, along with having some ethical concerns about citing sources appropriately, garnered tens of thousands of views, likes and comments. Others that I thought were right on target and very well written received several hundred views and a smattering of comments.

Go figure? Pretty dismal results overall at least in regard to my overall efforts to gain some exposure to my newest publishing venture, called Understanding XYZ.

Are the Counts for Real?
I have no idea how so many of these posts on LinkedIn Pulse get so many views. It seems inconceivable that tens of thousands of views can accumulate on so many articles over a single day. The algorithm that monitors and displays the views, likes and comment counts seems faulty to me, but I have no clue whether I am justified in making that statement or not. I wonder if there is a knowledgeable data analyst who can explain all these numbers? Are there really that many people out there reading these things? Should I completely believe the count tallies that LinkedIn Pulse shows?

I often question the number we read about social media visitors in general. When Facebook tells us that they garner millions upon millions of users, how can anyone verify its veracity? The same holds true for every website out there that tells us they get millions of visitors every day.

How Long Does it Take for an Entrepreneur to Succeed?
Success as an entrepreneur requires passion and consistency over X number of years. I say X because I don’t think there is a solid and common statistic for how long it takes for a self-created business to succeed. You must work for extended periods of time with a strong focus on your outcomes and how to change course when needed. You must have highly organized plans that very specifically deal with what you want to accomplish. You must get a very strong understanding of how marketing, advertising and public relations may or may not put your efforts on a pathway toward success.

Marketing Crap Shoot
Marketing, however, is more of a guessing game in this modern social-media era. It is definitely not an exact science. This experiment only confirmed that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine how to consistently attract an audience using free social media tools.

Notable Results
There were some things that happened repeatedly. Posting on likeminded Facebook groups definitely garnered more likes and comments than any other platform. Posting on Google Plus brought absolutely nothing. Twitter followers pretty much stayed the same going up and down some but not a lot. I also took out a couple small, short-term and relatively inexpensive ads with Facebook and Google Ad Words. Both brought a handful of new visitors to my website and some subscribers to my electronic newsletter, so I’m thinking about repeating those things at a higher level if I can get my revenues up enough to afford those.

What’s the Right Thing to Do?
I guess overall I did not really learn anything new from these 55 days of consistent posting on social media. Or, perhaps, worse, I simply do not know what I’m doing. Or, even worse, my writing is mostly boring. Or, perhaps my LinkedIn network is way too small with a little more than 1,200 followers.

Regardless, the same rules of the road for possible entrepreneurial success still apply: Work with a strong focus and honor you well-thought-out plans over a good many hours each day. Experiment with marketing tools, using whatever you might be able to invest in financially. Utilize free tools carefully - without overwhelming yourself or taking you off your more important tasks - such as eNewsletters, podcasts, videos, LinkedIn Plus, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Then, hope for the best.

I’m sure some business experts would totally disagree with that “hope” statement and possibly go into a long-winded diatribe on how to do XYZ more efficiently and effectively. There are more than enough books out there about how to be a successful entrepreneur. I’ve read many of them. Quite frankly all of them typically do not mention synchronicity and randomness as important drivers of your ultimate success. Plain and simple luck has been the key ingredient of most of my entrepreneurial successes.

One thing that I kept asking myself during this social-media experiment was whether or not the people participating prefer feeling good about themselves as opposed to reading the truth. I noticed that you should never sound negative; never post anything that sounds like a complaint; be gentle with your words, etc., ad nauseam, in my opinion. I discovered people in certain social networks who were extraordinarily close minded and not in the least bit open to a contradictory point of view.

To even mention this kind of thinking may not serve any real purpose, because it really does me no good to complain about how other people view things. I do believe, however, that most people simply refuse to admit they are perhaps mistaken. Or, put in another way, it is very rare for people to admit they were wrong about something in a public social network. So, in effect, it seems to me that we are mostly openly engaging in meaningless conversations on such online networks.

Negativity
People who may be reading this will probably say I’m being overly negative and that there are also many good conversations going on over all of these networks. But I have found those to be in the minority. Typically these social networks are Kumbaya exercises rather than intelligent dialogues where you actually learn something. Additionally, I’ve found that in groups especially, people tend to immediately post a contrary point of view or criticism to whatever you may have shared, regardless of your sound logic. Then, when you try to prove your point further, things often get ugly with insults flying around all over the place. So, perhaps posting in groups is not the most efficient way to market your products or services? Perhaps using social media in general is not an efficient way to market your products or services?

A New Strategy
I often feel that the old days of marketing and advertising were easier to handle. Write strong copy and utilize highly creative design to take out large ads with multiple audiences that look promising. Then closely monitor the results and take your next steps accordingly. I am coming closer to taking that route when I can afford it and minimize my social media presence considerably, posting only occasionally with only very strong articles. I think that might be the best way to proceed. That strategy certainly simplifies everything. Plus, it gives me more time to pointedly focus more on the actual work I’m doing.