It’s no secret that I have another passion beyond marketing, one that is the very mere expression of my soul – I sing! If you have been following me on Foursquare, you might have noticed that the places I frequent often are those that offer Karaoke! Yesterday night wasn’t any different – we were celebrating a friend’s birthday at Johnny’s pub by the Nile.
On my way back home, having sung my heart out, it hit me how similar Karaoke is to my social media experience. Here’s how it goes, I walk into Johnny’s pub and join my friends at their table. I knew about half the people seated on that table, and I introduced myself to the unfamiliar faces. The place was stacked with people, some there to sing, others to dance, others to drink, with one common objective, to have fun. I wrote the song I wanted to sing on a piece of paper that required my name, the name of the song, and the code! Then I walked up to the DJ and handed it to him – I could see a pile of requests lying on the table! The MC has heard me sing before, so when it was time for me to sing he reminded me of the praises Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) gave William Tatcher (Heath Ledger) before every dual in the movie “A Knight’s Tale“. Building up the crowd’s anticipation didn’t really help in suppressing the loud drumming noise that came from the pounding of my heart. I can’t say that my choice of song was a safe one; after all, what’s the fun in that! I sang to the melody of Elton John’s Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me … people where applauding me from the start and the spotlight was blinding. However, if you haven’t seen me sing before, you wouldn’t know that I tend to situate myself in a corner and close my eyes and drift into a different world – this is what I usually do to deafen the well-intended cheers of vanity and remain true to myself. After having finished, people kept nodding in my direction, some walked up to me and introduced themselves, others offered words of praise, some asked me if I sang professionally, others asked me if I would like to sing in a band, etc … regardless of how many times I go out there to sing, it is always humbling to receive such unsolicited compliments.
So how does all this relate to my social media? Ok let me break down the whole Karaoke process and build up the analogy for you. The friends I met in the pub represent my friends of Facebook, people that I already know. Through friends on Facebook, you usually connect with their friends, and this relates to the rest of the people on that table. The people in the pub represent the tweeple on Twitter from different walks of life, there for different reasons, with one common interest and that is sharing. There are millions of people on Twitter, and they all have these short messages that they try to put out there – hence the analogy with the piles of requests I found on the DJ’s table. Ironically the piece of paper is very similar to a tweet – @yourname followed by the message and then the link! The MC represents the search engines like Google – since he heard me sing several times before, he helped boost my image by ranking me way up – this is what we refer to as search engine optimization. My choice of song is very reflective of the Personal Brand I want to put out there. With so many messages out there, I had to stand out by daring to be different. The act of singing is another form of expression that obviously reflects my blog in the social media sphere. This is your chance to earn the attention of the audience by owing them with your content – but beware of vanity, it’s the devil’s ultimate sin … don’t let the flattery and cheering make you lose focus! Stand true to who you are, to the personal brand you put out there, people can easily spot lack of sincerity and that will result in your demise. Think of nods that followed my performance as retweets, and those that walked up to me to introduce themselves can be compared to people who start following on Twitter. The words of praise are equivalent to the comments that are left as a reply to your post. The other group of people that asked me if I’d like to sing in a band and investigated further about my professional experience is representative of the business leads generated as a result of your performance.
Just like any performance, you’re only as good as your last one. Make sure when you put yourself out there to make it count every single time. I have a folder on my laptop that contains more than 20 unpublished posts, and the reason is simple, they don’t uphold to the standards that I have promised my loyal readers! I prefer to post nothing, rather than simply posting anything. Remember, there are a lot of people singing out there, so you have to give your best every single time – you owe it to your “fans”. Think About It!
I love your analogy, John! Even though we’re Twitter “Branditos” (frequent visitors to #brandchat for those aren’t familiar with the term) and not Facebook friends (yet), I hope you consider me one of the people sitting at your table, cheering you on while you sing!
I’m honored to have you at my table! Thanks for the kind words Sharon. Let’s connect on Facebook – all my details are under the “connect with me” on the side bar! Friends are people who share their unpolished opinion to help others, and that certainly makes us true ones!
I really liked the sentence: “Just like any performance, you’re only as good as your last one. “, the analogy was fun to read hehe, not very accurate but I do appreciate most of them and the fact that social media was compared to a real life experience such as karaoke.
and now am very excited to hear you sing 😉
nice and very light read.
Liliane (aka Funkyozzi) thanks for your reply. I would love to know how you thought the analogy falls short! Or how we can make it better 🙂 By the way, there is a link in this post to a video of me singing caught on camera while singing – it should serve as a humble sample 😉
John, I love this analogy and it does very much mirror the social media experience. You however forgot one point – to make it all worth while you first have to show up and then have the courage to sing. 🙂 I am so glad that IRL and on social media you have taken your place at the mic, and please know that I too am right there next to Sharon cheering you on!
I’m glad you find the analogy useful – and yes i totally agree with you, the first step in all this is “showing up and grabbing that mic” – this is the focal point in our social media communication circle!
I would so love for that thought of us Tweeple Friends meeting up one day (face-to-face) – so we can sing, laugh, debate and all the other fun things …
thank you Karen!
This was great, John! I enjoyed the analogy, and as a fellow singer, the “stay true to yourself” part hit home. It’s so easy let the praises received, singing on a stage or posting to a blog, influence us into doing things we wouldn’t normally do. I’m so happy you found a way around that with your singing!
I was touched by the last bit, too, where you spoke about having many blog posts that aren’t published because they don’t live up to your standards. That’s something I’m struggling with, myself, as a new blogger. Knowing how you handle it is a great encouragement for me to do better!
Thanks Kate for such a heartfelt comment. We should certainly sing together one day!
The unpublished post issue is always a struggle for me too, but I try to be as unbiased as possible, so i really raise the bar … just like singing, sometimes you go out there and perform but you are not satisfied with it, even though people applaud it. I always try to set higher standards for myself – otherwise I might drown myself in the flattery of others! With blogging you have a chance to count to 10 before you go public, a courtesy not mirrored in the singing world – once you give out that piece of paper, there’s no turning back!
John,
I knew you loved siging and I am impressed you put yourself out there, it takes passion and guts. The analogy resonates as real life imitates social media 🙂 what I mean is social media really should be a mirror of real life as we are to bring authenticity in the presentation of ourself as well as our interactions with others.
What strikes the most is “you’re only as good as your last one”; Knowing you, you indeed have high standards that you also expect from others.
I will second what Karen and Sharon say when in Real life and on Twitter, you are not scared to be WHO you are John.
I admire for that.
Merci!!!!
Karima-Catherine.
Thank you for the humbling words Karima – I’m honored to have such wonderful support from like-minded professionals & above all friends!
I so agree with you about mirroring reality to social media – during one of our #brandchat sessions, a Brandido said, your personal brand should reflect how you’d like people to perceive you – I disagreed with that statement – your personal brand should be a reflection of you are – you can’t uphold a lie to please your intended audience forever – not only is it unethical, it’s actually tiring. the true you is so much easier and so much more appealing – I wish people could really understand that!
Wow – I am very impressed John – as a fellow singer – you are great! 🙂 And to be able to make an analogy between singing and social media – very creative and relevant. I have your video playing in the background while I am writing this and my boyfriend thought it was Elton John!
Thanks for sharing your insights and talent!
you can’t see me right now, but i am actually blushing 🙂 well your boyfriend guessed one part of my name – so he’s not completely off – lol! I’m so glad you liked the analogy and warm compliments!
Wow John,
You never cease to amaze me with your analogies and creative connections!
I loved it i simply loved it.
The more I read your posts the more I am convinced of your last one especially being your sister and seeing how through out the years you have built up the courage to sing in front of people and watching your voice mature into a heavenly one.
I truly do agree that it takes courage and passion to sing and put yourself out there as it does in the social media world.
I know I have the latter but I guess I will have to build up my courage to pick up the “mic” one day and sing my heart out as you so beautifully and courageously do. I’ll just have to follow your lead and hope to get there one day.
With all my love,
Jess
I know I’ve nailed a post when my beloved sister leaves a comment.
Thank you baby sis! You know that I believe you have all it takes to be 10x the person that I am – you just have to stay true to yourself and trust your instincts and the rest will fall into place!
I will always be right beside you supporting you all the way!
All my love,
John
Great stuff, John. When I think of music I think of all the hours of practice it takes to become good enough at your instrument to be able to make something that is valuable (either to you or to others). Social media is a lot like that. You don’t just wake up one day and become adept at social media, just like you don’t wake up one day and become an amazing singer. You practice, you think about it, you watch/listen/study other great singers and develop your ability, attitude, and dedication day after day, over a long period of time.
Great connection. I love posts that offer something completely new and make me think. This is definitely one of those.
Best,
Eric
As usual, Eric you always manage to leave a comment that strikes up a whole new blog post 🙂 I love it! I agree with you 100% – your talent (regardless of its nature) is only as good as the effort you put in supporting its growth. As you said, we try to learn from people that inspire us, be it in singing or personal branding, or anything else.
It’s always a great compliment to know that I was able to inspire you with my words. It’s an honor,
thank you!
I loved the analogy. My brothers and I started a dabke group (www.alzuhoordabke.com) and I understand what you mean. My favorite part of the post was “Just like any performance, you’re only as good as your last one.” In social media, the lasting impression is just as if not more important than the first. Just like a performance, social media requires preparation, and planning. It’s kinda hard to freestyle or wing it.
Love the post John.
So glad you liked the post Mouyyad – I love the idea of a Dabke group based out of Dellas!
When you said ” In social media, the last impression is just as if not more important than the first” you reminded me of the movie 50 First Dates – just like those dates, we need to always be delivering our best and never rest! It is certainly a lot of hard work but well worth it!
Despite the vast amount of information on social media that is flooding the internet these days you will never be lost in the crowd. Great song, great analogy!
That means so much to me Barbara – thanks for believing in me! I’m very glad you like both the song and the analogy!
Is there anything you can’t do? Great voice! I like the way you relate personal experiences to important business messages in your posts. My walk-away when I read this (and an important message for companies) is that you truly get what you give. Companies cannot simply just set up a social media presence and walk away. Engagement is a commitment backed up by a long-term plan. You can begin with baby steps (listening, monitering…) but the path has to be genuine from the beginning. If it’s not, people notice, and that is worse than never engaging at all.
Not sure if we are connected on FB, but I’ll check. 🙂
You insist on making me blush 🙂 Thanks for the heartfelt compliments – and just for the record, there are many things I can’t do – lol
Kidding aside, what you said about commitment in social media is very true – companies need to think of SM as a mirror to reality – if they think of it that way, i’m sure they don’t just wing the “real” business on a daily basis – they should treat their SM presence in the same manner.
Thanks again for your kind words!
Holy lot of blanks!!!!!!! You can sing, John!!!!! I am blown away. Your voice sounded uncannily like Elton’s too. Wow!! That is all I can say.
YU SIR – Be Yourself, Be Ubiquitous, Be Social, Be Interesting, Be Remarkable …stuff I picked up from Armano U2.0. You are epitomizing some of the key elements that define personal branding.
The most appealing feature of your personal brand (for me) is your honesty, and openness. Even from afar, I can sense human warmth in your conversations. I was a fan the moment I saw your ten commandments of twitter anyway :))
Keep it up buddy!!
Cheers,
Prince
Prince,
I’m flattered and honored to read your words. Singing has always been an incomparable pleasure for me – it’s a sense of expression that transcends beyond the music and the lyrics. As for my personal brand, i wish people could understand that it is a million times easier to keep it real than fake it – i’m just taking the easier option – being myself is far more accessible than being someone that I am not.
Personal Branding – WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
establishing a rapport with a person who has nothing to go on except your “written” words is very difficult, but honesty makes it easier – that is how i see it, and it’s people like you that make me believe I am going about it in the right way!
thank you so much
You never cease to amaze me, your writing is beautiful
Social media is life, and who is better to make this comparison than the man who redefined the 10 commandments, and rearranged the masslow pyramid. I enjoy your writing, and please keep changing the social media world, one entry at the time.
Luay, when I read you comment I felt like I was destined to be doing this – you gave me such a vote of confidence! I’m not really trying to change the world, but I want us to not take things for granted – i want us to question the norms imposed by society, not to disprove it, but to understand it and develop it further. Everything around us is evolving, so why not jump on that train and lead the revolution of evolution.
Thanks again for the wonderful words!
When I was reading your post, I came to think of the reasons behind those who sing, especially those sing in the open bar. It does take courage and guts to pick up the mic and sing in front of a bunch of friends and strangers. The karaoke culture in Asia is very different, we hide in our little room and only sing to familiar faces.
Therefore I also believe there are also cultural differences in participating in social media. I dare to say, for us Asia, we mainly share with our ‘friends’, at least someone we have real connection to (like 2nd/3rd tier connection). We share mainly on personal level, most of the time with local languages e.g. pictures, comments on local tv programmes and celebrity gossips etc etc. The purpose of sharing is only to have a laugh, to take a piss and achieve all personal satisfaction. It takes you ages to feel that you are part of the family (and in most case, you never will be). This relates to most Asian sing only to express personal feeling…they don’t care if others are enjoying the song (as they sing to their friends so it doesn’t really matter), as long as they are happy.
On the other hand, westerners tend to share on an international level. They speak the same language (mainly English) and share the comments and knowledge on matters which are known to the world. You seldom find inside jokes and it takes you less time to join the community. The purpose of sharing is more to obtain knowledge and to help others by your expertise. Just like you sing in the open bar, everyone is sharing (friends or strangers) your song, your feeling in your voice and relates it to their personal stories and sometime, your song could heal their pain or express their happiness. As you are singing to others but not yourself, you are less selfish and take some consideration of which song you sing. You are more eager to get praises and cheers and that’s why you make sure the song that you choose is ‘up to standard’ and it also gives you motivation to do better each time
John, it’s a great analogy that you relate personal experience to experience in social media and i’m sure there are a lot more to explore. I always admire your passion and your eagerness of making a difference. Keep it up and I’m waiting for your next one
Christy, as always, you never fail to raise another issue when replying to one of my posts – I LOVE IT! The cultural aspect you brought up is very interesting and worth exploring. I think I might be slightly guilty of overlooking the cultural aspect of Social Media – Maybe it’s because I think that social media is breaking the barriers imposed by society and culture – I really think we are all equal on social media, or at least we are much less rigid when it come to clinging to murderous identities (to quote Amin Maalouf). The topic is worth exploring further, and I hope you can share your point of view a post that we can link back to that one and create a debate around it.
Thank you for your continuous support and appreciation of my work.
Feel like is my job to raise issues from your post 🙂
I’m glad that you found the cultural aspect of SM worth exploring. I might come to look into that more as you suggested.
Nice stuff here, John. Very creative analogy! I wouldn’t dare sing in front of a crowd, I give you kudos for that. As for bringing it back to social media…this line was your best:
“I prefer to post nothing, rather than simply posting anything. ”
So true, yet so often ignored by those who think they “must” post, post, post. Quality over quantity.
Hey Ryan, just quote your comment in my spam – I’m not sure why that happened, especially that it’s not your first time to comment on one of my posts.
I’m so glad you like the analogy. As for the daily posting creed, I’m not saying it’s wrong, I would love to be able to top myself on a daily basis, but as you concurred, it’s not engraved in stone that we should blog daily – it’s cliche but so true, Quality over Quantity wins once again!
Great analogy! I really like it!
Recently I started posting interestnig analogies I found on the web on blog.ygolana.com. I thought it could be a good idea to create a place where people can share useful analogies.
Hey Peter,
I’m glad you like the analogy. I check your blog out, I think you have a great compilation of analogies. I really like the one the compares the composition of musicals lyrics to a follow chart – very clever 🙂 Please feel free to ping back to this one, or if you’d like to about it differently, let me know how I can help.
I tried to come up with the summary of your article for my blog but am not able to do it:-( It seems like I am spoiling it by making it shorter… However, if you would know how to sum it up and then link back to your site for a full story, I would be very happy to publish it on my blog. Just please send it to post@ygolana.posterous.com
How can I write a comment which is at least equal to all those fabulous comments that have gone before me, and what is more important add something of value ?
Well here goes; from soup to nuts YOU are being a tremendous actual living example of the social in social media. Karaoke is sharing, personal and social, and that’s why your analogy with social media works so well. Your example penetrates into the twitter chats; I met you on #brandchat where let’s face it your personal branding comes across very personal 🙂 as in yours personally 🙂 In other twitter conversations, I know its YOU and no one else, and lets include the way in which you respond to all the commenters here on this very post very personally…… just like you make eye contact with your appreciative audience when you are singing. Cheers to personal branding and social @CASUDI
I used to enjoy singing but lost the zest for it after a good friend of mine passed away. I still enjoy attending Karaoke and enjoy watching others perform. Although I have stopped singing, I haven’t stopped performin. My performances are saved for and presented to 20 very special people 5 days a week for 8 hours a day. They are my toughest critics and every performance has to be better than the day before. A teacher is not only someone who passes the torch of knowledge and wisdom; they are also entertainers or performers. To keep 20 pairs of eyes focused on you and 20 minds paying attention is not an easy task. Teachers have to be creative as well as animative. Some people sing, I teach.