Milestones Matter But Not That Much

It is easy to get addicted to numbers. Especially in social media. And reach milestones is an important part of staying motivated and inspired. Even if your goals are arbitrary, it is better than having no goals.

In the last week Social Fresh has reached quite a few milestones.

• 5,000th fan on Facebook
• 10,000th follower on Twitter
• One of the top 50,000 websites in the world by traffic

I am psyched about these numbers in a lot of ways. A year ago, when Social Fresh decided to not just be an event company and relaunched our blog, these types of numbers were not in my sights.

A year ago we wanted to move our growing community from physical events around the country to a bustling online community that helps individuals to help each other through education, networking and inspiration. And these numbers are a big sign that we have traveled a long way toward that goal. I would say, about halfway.

Why Milestones Are Not Everything

But milestones are pretty meaningless if the business itself is not sound. If these numbers are not making you money or saving you money or somehow getting you awareness for your business, then they might as well be Monopoly Money.

I have learned a lot in the last year of running Social Fresh. Here are some of the lessons that I am very cognizant of today, all thanks to the thousands of community members that support our growing Social Fresh community every day.

Lessons Learned

Do business with people you like

I trust my gut instinct on people more than anything. I am not right 100% of them time. Nobody is. But more times than not, if you like someone, you are better off doing business with them than someone you dislike.

I have had opportunities to do business with companies and people I did not like personally. People that I may have had a bad gut feeling about. These were all professional relationships that would have been profitable for me, but I turned down. I think, in the long run, doing business with people you like is more profitable.

Email is king

Social networks abound and getting followers and likes and fans are worthy goals if gone about in the right way. But social networks can come and go. RSS is fleeting and a small audience.

Teach people something

People are willing to pay for education. They want to advance their own learning, their business, their community. Teach them something unique from proven lessons and they will return the value.

Partnerships are everything

Your own business and your own ideas can only get you so far. Teaming up with the right strategic partners, even competitors, can accelerate everything you do.

Have an online product from day one

If you are producing content or doing anything in social media connected to your business, give people a way to support you with money. Even if it is just a donation. If people like what you are doing, a percentage of them will want to help you out. Let them.

Let people know how you make money

Social Fresh makes money from our events mainly. From attendees that pay an average of $250 to $300 to attend and our sponsors who pay between $1,500 and $20,000.

We sell sponsored listings on our new social media directory from $300 to $1000 a month. And we are launching a paid social media training community later this month, prices TBA.

All of our revenue channels are tied to training and networking, helping other professionals better their businesses.

This builds trust. When I meet people that I am unsure of how they make a living or how their company makes its money, there is a trust barrier. I become suspicious. Even hiding your pricing can do this.

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Milestones are nice little rewards and reminders along the way. We never get tired of them. And we are never satiated by them. The larger lessons are more important to keep top of one’s mind.