Guest post: Get Excited And Make Things
Made Social on 29 June 2010 | View Comments
When we say Social Collective is a ‘forward thinking’ social media conference, what we really mean is going beyond the theory. We want to collectively find a way to pitch better to clients, address client needs and produce better results. We’re going to be looking at everything from how to put pitch in to practice when it comes to larger brands to finding a voice for SMEs.
In advance of Social Collective, we’re inviting select people to guest blog and join the debate, hopefully offering a fresh point of view. We will be asking a range of people to contribute, including those working in social, client side, techies, journos etc with a view of building a wider picture. Any questions raised during the process will then be addressed during a panel at SoCol in September.
We welcome our first guest blogger, Stuart Witts aka @stuartwitts
Get Excited And Make Things
By Stuart Witts
“You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.” – Dale Carnegie
When it comes to pitching, producing or executing a social campaign there is one vital ingredient that is often missed, but when added can guarantee success… excitement!
Now I’m not suggesting that simply by being excited you are going to fulfil whatever ‘strategic’ aim or ROI levels that have been set. But when both you and the client are excited by a project, win or lose, you’ve both shared something special.
How often do we factor in the benefits of excitement when working out our spreadsheets and measurement indicators? Surely it’s one of the most important markers of success and a damned fine ROI.
Excitement is infectious. It generates it’s own energy field. When people are excited they take chances, they support one another and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Once the project is over, what then? It’s easy to demonstrate success or failure with numbers and graphs, but almost impossible to measure the latent energy created by the excitment, crackling in the air, ready to ignite the next spark of creativity.
In our analyses, should we be including feedback from participants about what they enjoyed most about the project? How it made them feel? What psycological benefits they gained? How they felt this would affect future collaborations?
Is it time to bring in the quacks?
That’s more than enough questions for this particular piece, but I would like to leave you with just one more. A question that I hope can guide you down a different path, a path that leads away from the pursuit of facts and figures, and onto a path more in tune with your soul.
How many of you use excitement as the initial indicator of whether or not you should accept or continue with a project?
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Sir Winston Churchill
A bit about Stuart…
Stuart Witts or the Tall Man with Glasses, began his career in digital marketing back when the term social media referred to the act of writing ones name on the side of the railway lines. This was a time before Dreamweaver, when the humble Notepad was the only HTML editor of choice.
During his time online Stuart has worked with a variety of clients from both the B2C and B2B sectors, starred in a Sun Microsystems commercial, produced a range of designer toys, branded a sandwich shop, founded the Universal Mind (@eureka140) and sold over 200 t-shirts.
When not creating, Stuart tweets as @stuartwitts and blogs about anything and everything and is currently hoping to save the World via the medium of random conversation with the hiproject.
