How to be a Guru

February 14, 2013
Categories: Promoting Your Gym

I have a cell phone. My cell phone has a camera. I take pictures of my food, my pets, and my friends doing stupid things and post them to Facebook. Thus I am a photographer and social media guru. And all I have ever wanted in life was to dance and to be a guru. One out of two ain’t bad. So what does this have to do with you? Well if you want advice on how to dance, you now know who to turn to. But more importantly, this shines the light on one of the most common mistakes I see in business…

What mistake am I referring to specifically? Agnosiophobia. Ohhhh you don’t know what that is!!?? I’m surprised because it’s the irrational fear of not knowing. And agnosiophobia is dangerous because it causes us to do things that we are simply not qualified for. In an attempt to know everything, we convince ourselves that, well, we know everything.

And when we convince ourselves we know everything, we try and do everything…usually with disastrous results. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in social media. The logic is actually incredibly sound.

1. I have a Facebook page
2. I have lots of friends on Facebook
3. A lot of my friends “like” my post
4. Ergo I am a social media guru.

Seems perfectly logical. But it’s not. The reason is simple. Your friends are your friends because they like the same things you like. Thus they “like” your posts. Unfortunately this same logic doesn’t apply to your members. Just because they are YOUR members, doesn’t mean they are your friends and they “like” the same things you do. Even more extreme, just because they are YOUR prospects doesn’t mean they “like” the same things you do.

And if you are in charge of your Facebook page, you will post things that you and your 200 or so friends will like. And that’s a recipe for disaster. That’s irrational. In fact it’s time we create a new word (refer to frappitizer, blignorant, and omgology)…EGOMALIKEABLE. Defined by Hossein’s unabridged dictionary as the oft-mistaken belief that what you “like” is what everybody will like.

So what are a few examples of EGOMALIKEABLE?

• There is no “I” in Facebook. So when I see gym posts that say things like “I just read a great article about…” From the readers standpoint, who is this mysterious “I” and why should they care what you think is great.
• The question poster. You know you have done it. In an effort to get more people to comment on your posts, you end each post with a question. Just looking at ones from this morning, I see the “How many chocolates are you going to eat on Valentine’s Day?” Is this deep thought provoking question really going to do anything for you? (See what I did there, I ended with a question.)

My solution is bring in an expert – whether an outside company or a specific internal hire. It’s not that you can’t do it. It’s not that you don’t know how to do it. The problem is that when you do it, you won’t know what the best to reach the broadest audience. And it would be irrational to think that you do.

Just to reiterate you should be involved. You should be involved in creating the overall strategy, and metrics. But unless you are going to devote real time, and are able to get out of your own biases, may I suggest you take my advice. Otherwise (new word alarm) you may find yourself repostful (regretting your posts on Facebook).

And from the Dance/Social Media/Love Guru himself, have a Very Happy Valentines Day. May 1000 members fall in love with your gym!