I love those moments when you see or hear something you’ve been exposed to many times before and realize it has everything to do with something else. Last night, while watching Gladiator, I took a short break from swooning over Russell Crowe to have one of those moments.
Proximo: “I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, and you’ll win your freedom.”
Maximus: “I will win the crowd. I will give them something they’ve never seen before.”
And he did. Maximus put his expertise to work by drawing on his military experience to dominate in battles. He did things his own way. He got creative. He broke some “rules.” He gained notoriety. He became a leader among his peers. He built a massive set of followers. The crowd followed. He earned the freedom to do things his own way.
I couldn’t help but see a parallel to what happens in the interactive community. Thought leaders gain stature and influence in the social media realm by a similar means. They win the crowd, and earn the freedom to take chances, do things differently, help define the way new tools and services and ideas are going to be adopted on a larger scale. This is the freedom to lead us. We pay attention, and (no pun intended) follow.
With leadership comes great responsibility. The good ones know this, and they take their influential positions in this online ecosystem seriously. They have different ways of maintaining relationships with their networks and with each other, but one thing they all have in common is the knowledge that they have a responsibility to not waste a large audience’s time. So they study, create, innovate and teach. They know the value of a track record. They give back to the crowd. They feed us, we feed them. It works.
If everything is strictly self promotional, it’s not going to win the crowd. If it’s boring or not helpful, it’s not going to win the crowd. If it’s been done before, it’s not going to win the crowd. Be different. Be creative. But, be helpful. Think about how a little bit of whatever content you’re putting out there can benefit someone else. Think about which boundaries you’d push if you knew people were behind you and in what ways you would take chances and innovate if you thought you had enough support.
Win the crowd, and you’ll win your freedom.
This is great Becky. But I don’t know. How much of “wining the crowd” is based on thought leadership and taking risks versus charisma, personality and willingness to take the time to genuinely interact with other humans one on one?
I’m not sure what the answer is, and I think it’s a balance of both ideas, risk and personality. The question is: What is the right balance?
There you go making me think about stuff again. Very dangerous… ;0)
You’re right. Charisma and charm and personality have a lot to do with it. Social has made transparency a big deal and a crucial part of developing good relationships and building communities. Quite simply, mean people just don’t make it in this space.
Take Chris Brogan for example. He’s smart, he’s engaging and he’s just the kind of guy people want to be around and associate with. Did his personality play into his business and online success? Absolutely. But it wasn’t the reason it worked, he built his foundation on legitimate knowledge. Peter Shankman is another good example. He’s witty, sarcastic and totally undeniably brilliant. That guy hustles harder than anyone else I know. Many people are quick to call him arrogant and many don’t understand his humor, but he is successful because gives waaaaay more than he ever takes. Mean people just don’t do that. Mean people don’t build networks that size and then empower them to help each other (and turn a profit off of it). He has the PR chops to back up his business and he studies the technology and social world diligently. He earns his “crowd”.
Of course, there are many other examples, but you get the point. Personality has to be there in combination with the rest of it. Thanks for pointing out something I overlooked. In the Gladiator case, just look at Russel Crowe. Not much other explanation should be necessary
Mean people suck!
I am a big movie fan, so seeing you tie in Gladiator to a real world idea is great. It is so true that if you win followers, you can take bigger risks or push boundaries more than someone starting new. Followers are like experience the more you have the bigger leaps you can make. But here’s the question how do you get notice and win followers when you are the new comer? How do you show that your idea is who noticing?
Brad, glad you enjoyed the parallel. As far as getting noticed and building a community goes, I think it’s something that’s got to happen over time. You’ve got to decide what you want your community to look like, how you want it to participate and the kinds of things you want to share/discuss/learn about. And then you’ve got to be a student of it. Read about it, talk about it, learn about it. Be part of the group discussing how to move it forward. Be part of the group telling its story. Be active. Slowly you’ll be build connections with people and they’ll start knowing you. If you want to be a media maker or a content creator, then you’ve got to just start doing it. Make it interesting, worthwhile, relevant. Find ways to tie ideas together. Discover things your community will care about and then find creative ways to share it with them.
For me, I started a blog because I felt like if I wanted to be taken seriously in the digital communications world then I needed to have one. I burned out. I picked it back up again and instead started writing about things that inspired me. I started looking at real life situations and things like movies and figuring out how they parallel with what I was interested in professionally. I started looking at common problems or issues arising in the social media communities and offering advice or my take on them. I am a young professional and I write from that perspective, showing the world through the eyes of a communicator and storyteller. I also happen to be a photographer. I also happen to have a journalism background. I think the combination of all these things has shaped the way I create content.
My best idea has been my influencers series. I wanted something ongoing. I wanted something interesting. I decided to connect with people that educate and inspire me and talk to them about what educates and inspires them. I want to make sure everyone remembers we’re all humans and not just twitter names. It’s been fun. It’s let me show off my photography and video skills and it’s helped me get to know people I look up to. And people love it because it’s different and it’s not just another post about “Why Chris Brogan is smart about social media”…it’s “Chris Brogan loves comic books because his grandpa used to buy them for him and he grew up looking at how pictures and words tell stories and then took that and turned it into what he can do professionally.” Totally different.
This is long winded, but, basically, make a choice about who you want to be and what you want to talk about and then go do it. If your ideas are good and you produce good content and make it shareable, then keep at it. Eventually people will take notice.