The One Key to Achieving Social Media Success
Justin Lathrop

If you’re operating social media for yourself or for  your church and you’re trying to grow your platform, I’m  sure you’ve heard the one key to social media success is  this: “Content is king.”

But have you ever wondered: What exactly does that mean?  Does it mean that “if I build it, they will come”? Does  it mean all I have to do is have a well-written article  and hundreds of people will line up to read it?

If you’ve tried this, I’m guessing you know it doesn’t  necessarily work.

If you haven’t tried it, let me save you some grief and  wasted hours—there’s more to it than that.

I would argue there’s more to building a platform than  simply writing great content, although that is a big
piece of it.

If I had to narrow your social media success to one key  element, I would say it is this: likeability.

What if growing your skills in social media isn’t that  much different than growing your social skills in real
life? What does that look like?

Resourcing Others

I wonder if the reason we use “Content is king” as our  mantra for social media is because something powerful  happens when we resource others with great content. When  we do our job to ask questions, listen and give someone  else what they need, we literally change their life.

Of course they will come back. They feel loyal to us.  And we feel loyal to them.

Helping others get what they need actually has a  positive effect on all parties involved. Treat your
social media like this, and you won’t be able to keep readers and followers away.

Being Generous

One of the first things you ever learned in preschool or  kindergarten was how to share. You learned to share your  toys with others, and this was the way you made friends.  Each of us carried this lesson into high school, college  and our adult life.

When we share what we have with others, we make friends.

On social media, sharing—sharing your platform, sharing  articles and information from others, sharing your voice  by guest posting—has the exact same effect. People like  other people who share. Suddenly, it’s easy to make  friends.

Being Authentic

You know the person at the party or conference whom you  can tell is only telling the best stories about
themselves so they seem important? Nobody is drawn to  that person in real life, and yet so many of us run our  platforms like that.

We feel like this is the place where we can be perfectly  happy, put-together and successful all the time.

But more than we are drawn to important people, we are  drawn to authentic people. People who tell us the truth.  So if you want to grow your social media accounts, start  to tell the truth.

You don’t have to be graphic or crude. In fact, its  better if you’re not. But just be real. Just be you. No
posturing. No performing.

With more than a dozen years of local church ministry,  Justin Lathrop has spent the last several years starting  businesses and ministries that partner with pastors and  churches to advance the kingdom. Justin serves as a  consultant in the area of strategic relations  predominantly working with the Assemblies of God.

The above article, “The One Key to Achieving Social  Media Success,” is written by Justin Lathrop. The
article was excerpted from www.justinlathrop.com web  site. October 2013.

The material is most likely copyrighted and should not  be reprinted under any other name or author. However,  this material may be freely used for personal study or  research purposes.