Every week I get between 5-10 emails / messages asking me about ‘where should I learn social media’ and discussing the different schools and courses they can attend.
I often give them the same answer – It doesn’t matter. I might even add “If you are willing to spend some time and focus, save the money and start hitting Google / Neil Patel / Buffer / Social Media Examiner”. Because eventually the content is always the same.
And also, that’s not what is going to turn you in a great social media / content person.
Being good at social media is built on 4 elements:
- Knowing the platform (technically)
- Basic copywriting skills
- Be creative
- Genuinely be an engaging and interesting person
What no one can teach you
Learning how to operate a social media platform and its features is easy to do. Copywriting and creativity can be easily done in a “fake it till you make it approach” as there is much content around those two topics.
Just search google for “how to write a good Facebook status update” or “10 ways to get more followers on Twitter”. You can steal ideas until you really get it. That’s what most companies and social media folks do at the beginning anyway.
What can’t be taught or faked into, is being an interesting person.
Usually, if you’re not funny in real life – you won’t be funny on social.
If you’re not interesting to talk to – you won’t be interesting to follow.
It’s that simple.
This is why most social media personal brands aren’t getting any real traction.
That’s why you don’t see all that many Neil Patel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferris, Ramit Sethi and the likes of that really hitting it off.
It’s your personality that counts.
What if i’m not interesting or fun?
Here’s a sad but true fact – most of us, aren’t super charismatic, rock stars or the most adventurous inspiring people.
So does it mean most people will never get good on social media and content? There’s a hack you can use to try and help you build a better social persona.
- Find a marketer you like and analyze how they communicate
- Copy someone else behaviour patterns. At the beginning you’ll just be a copycat but as you go, you will develop it into your own tone
- Read more often. Not just marketing stuff.
In conclusion
When talking about social media skills, most people ignore the human factor producing the content and tend to focus on learning best practices and technical aspects of social and content.
Eventually, a lot of the impact you’ll make is based on who you are as a person. So if you feel like you haven’t really let your personality shine – it’s time to do so now. That’s you secret ingredient for success.