Destructo Deviations

By The Uber Talented Chris G @ Team Mummy

The most often asked question here at Destructo Deviations is…

“What exactly do you do?

I am “Miss Destructo: Destroyer of Social Media Boredom”

Um, what? Are you a superhero?

Yes, yes I am.

I do exactly what my title says, I destroy social media boredom and I usually do it with a smile on my face and a cup of coffee in hand as I scour the online metropolis looking to strike down boredom in the hearts of men, women and children. Among designing and writing for this site I have a been a child of social media since the earlier stages of myspace, with now a fast growing twitter community and a thriving facebook fan page. Professionally, my henchmen and I are working on scheming up some of the best social media campaigns and secret identities this side of the universe. It’s not so much of the money part since I have been working almost seemingly a full time job for myself with almost no pay for months now, striving hard to create my online personal identity has been top priority. Letting people know who I am and what great new worlds I have to offer to them is the key to success at being a superhero in any aspect of life. My speciality being Social Media since I’ve always been told I have a knack at connecting with people, as every superhero has a super power.

How Can You Become A Social Media Superhero?

One of my readers wrote in with this question that is a great example that heroes are made not born.

I’m slowly embarking on a journey to do a web comic at my husband’s behest. It’ll be a journal-type comic, as we’re taking events from our real life. But you being someone local who has succeeded in making yourself a presence online, I was wondering if you had any tips or suggestions. I read a lot of websites that have tips on becoming big, making your blog popular, etc, but many of them say the same things and they speak in very general terms. What worked for you?

That’s a good question, I am not sure exactly of all the statistical details of my journey. Lots of cursing and self-doubts on if this was actually going to work and if people were going to care. But we all have to start somewhere, I started with an idea and a bottle of blue hair dye… it’s how I have made the next step that is important.

Get Yourself Connected

Twitter, Facebook, Myspace …. Eat, Sleep and Breathe these for at least 3 months. Not only use them to meet people, but learn about them, read about them, and get connected with experts. Having a knowledge about marketing, advertising and design goes along way to help you promote yourself. Also remember to not just go out there jumping up and down going “LOOK AT ME!” this doesn’t work, you must first build relationships before kicking down people’s doors.

Know Your Environment

Checking out local events is a good way to network but what is most important is making connections before the event so you will already have a good network of people at the event and people already know a little bit about you and what you do.

A good example of a local event is the huge Sci-Fi convention Dragon Con is coming up in Atlanta in Sept. In promoting an online comic for example this as a great place to network, especially with like-minded people that are most likely social media superheroes themselves. Before the event make some business cards up and build up your online presence networking with people that may be attending Dragon Con. Just do a twitter search or set up a search in Tweetdeck for “Dragon Con” and simply follow, converse, rinse, repeat…. by doing this you can ahead of time meet people that may know how to help you out or be interested in your comic and already have a bunch of new people to meet when you get there.

Take Risks

The other night, I ate a whole small onion. Why? Well, I had never tried it before and you know what… it actually was good. After tweeting this, I went searching for the delete button since I wasn’t sure if it was something I should really post since I thought many of my readers would think it was just plain odd. Literally though, people ate it up and it made them tear up in laughter. Some people even shared their same odd eating habits and in this I made connections. Since when did eating a whole onion make you gain friends?

Be Yourself

Have a unique writing style, even without hearing someone you can already get a sense of their true voice. Be different, I have my six feet of blue hair and biting sense of humor to back me up. Find something that is unique about you and throw it out there, as you have seen with my about me section. Don’t hold anything back, but still have tact and wit about it.

Learn From Your Heroes

Some of my personal heroes are all online superheroes, such as @richardbranson, @NathanFillion, @galadarling, @mashable, @stevepavlina, @PhilipMcCluskey ,@thebrandbuilder, @kriscolvin and @barrymoltz are all amazing, unique people that have taken risks, stayed true to themselves and worked hard at creating something from nothing. I can promise you that at least most of these people were broke or confused about their life at one point in their journey, don’t give up.

I highly recommend checking out this interview by Barry Moltz with social media guru Chris Brogan. Not only great social media tips, but great inspiration when you may be staring down that last bag of ramen noodles declaring “WHY AM I DOING THIS?”

From Ramen Noodles to 4 Star Hotels with Chris Brogan

Listen To The People

What do all these online superheroes have in common? People. They stay in communication with the people, answer questions, observe trends and promote a sense of community with their followers and fans. It doesn’t happen overnight and can seem like a full time job without much payment at first but just keep up those connections and the world will come to you.

People are People. How to find them?

Use old connections. Scour your email addresses and let people you may not have been in contact with awhile know what you are doing now. They may just know someone to help or can introduce you to someone. I have never formally “applied” for a job, all have been found through connections!
Events. Local Events, Networking Events, Social Media Events… anything that pertains to what you do or what you want to do. GO!
Search. I use Twitter’s search option frequently to see if anyone else is chatting about what I am interested in being “Greenville“, “Yams” or “Social Media”. If someone asks a question about something or I can chime in, I am quick to respond and have met some of the coolest people this way and most can usually introduce you to other people interested in the same things.
Be a trusted source. If you are giving out good information usually the people seeking this will come to you with questions. This doesn’t mean you have to be all-knowing just hone in what you know most about and give good solid advice. People will tell other people looking for this advice and they will ask you. I used to do my nails extravagantly back in college, I used to get complements then I would get their friends and other women asking me to do their nails. Word of mouth is powerful, be mouthy.

Help Is Not A Four Letter Word.

Well, it is. But if I told you dogs couldn’t look up would you believe me? I ask for help as much as I give advice. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or help! EVER. It’s the way I have gained the strongest connections with people is by asking them a question.

Use An Arsenal Of Powerful Tools

Some of the handy things I have in my social media utility belt are….

Tweetdeck- This is how I keep up with everything!
Twellow- Great for finding local tweets!
Addictomatic- Want to know what is buzzing about a topic?
Twitterface- Brand new, top secret interface still in testing.

So Now You Have 80,000 Followers, A Fan Club, A Popular Blog… What Next?

First of all, lego the ego. Being popular is not important, I have worked along side fame for years in the entertainment industry and has seen what happens when people stop caring about other people and only about themselves. It doesn’t matter how many people are following you if you treat them less than you. What is important is making connections with as many people as possible, it’s not about how many people I know but how many people I can share this whole experience of life with along the way. There are tons of amazing people hidden out there!

That’s what being a social media superhero is all about… changing the world, one tweet at a time.

We can be heroes,

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Post Tags: followers, marketing, miss destructo, networking, promoting, Social Media, social media superhero, twitter

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Comments ( 11710How+To+Be+A+Social+Media+Superhero2009-06-29+15%3A30%3A00Miss+Destructo )

[...] Dreams can come true, I might have a sleek black macbook instead of a gun but the life of a social media superhero is as exciting and the best part is…I can do it in my pajamas. Don’t get confused with [...]

Destructo Deviations - 3 Most Powerful Weapons of Social Media Superheroes. added these pithy words on Dec 27 09 at 2:34 pm

Thanks for the post (and for responding to my email swiftly). I never thought it was just about following as many people as you could, or adding yourself to every directory under the sun. Honestly, when someone follows me on Twitter and has two posts, follows 10,000 people, and no one is following them back — I ignore it. But when someone follows me, has a number of followers themselves, and a lot of interesting posts: I follow back and usually respond to one of their recent twitters.

So I guess I'm on the right path, I just need to push out there more. And, maybe, get over my fear of large crowds. I could go to DragonCon, probably cheaply, and I already know a number of artists there, but I get panic attacks. Maybe I'll spend the next year getting the comic up and going and go to the smaller cons that happen up in Charlotte first. :)

Once again: thanks! And I hope you find that house you're looking for. :)

Leigh added these pithy words on Jun 29 09 at 9:16 pm

That's pretty awesome advice Miss Destructo!

I've been slowly merging my two online personas recently and it has finally happened with twitter. I might as well go ahead and link my blog on my account, just to go ahead and finish the job. The thing I'm worried about is, will it help me get a "real" job or hurt my chances having an online presence? No one wants to get preemptively dooced.

Seth added these pithy words on Jun 30 09 at 6:51 am