The discipline of running changes lives… and love handles… and even our approach to social media.

A few of us at Wild Hair Media have taken to running–not that we love it, we don’t. But we love what it does for us.

We’ve adopted the tagline of  Tripp Crosby and Tyler Stanton’s site Reluctant Runners: “we love running, just not while we’re doing it.”

Well said gentlemen.

I personally started running because I knew I needed it, not because I had an objective or a strategy of how I was going to reach a running goal. I was just building a base because I knew I needed that rhythm of my life to include exercise.

You might be at the same place with your social media participation. You’ve jumped in with no real objective or strategy, but now it’s time for you to step back and establish those goals now that you’ve built up a basic base of knowledge.

Running has given me time to refresh and rethink. I’ve realized that our appraoch to social media and training for a marathon aren’t all that dissimilar.

(cue Chariots of Fire soundtrack and read the rest of this post while listening to those epic swells and falls)

Practical Social Media Tips Learned from Running

1. You don’t see instant results.

The first time I ran after years of not running was brutal. I felt like giving up, walking, and never doing it again.

+I felt like a failure.

+I didn’t know what I was doing.

+I didn’t have instant results.

It’s the same for your social media strategy. You need to be in it for the long haul. To build your platform you need to enter a marathon, not a sprint. Expecting immediate results from a few blog posts and tweets is like expecting to run a 5K before you’ve even run your first mile.

2. You need to have a strategy.

Successful runners set daily, weekly, monthly, and sometimes even yearly goals.

+Runners know what they want to accomplish.

+They write down their goals down and ensure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals (read more on S.M.A.R.T. goals here).

+They seek out help from those that have gone the course before.

In the social media space, a clearly defined plan which tackles the who, what, where, why, when, and how goal-related questions will give an edge over those that are simply tweeting, posting and updating their social platforms haphazardly.

3. You need to change up the routine.

After pushing through those first few runs, I began to see a difference. The runs got easier. I was making progress. It seemed so easy, until… I hit a plateau. Running hte same routes, at the same times, and feeling underwhelmed.

So it is with social media strategy. Just as a body gets accustomed to the same running trails, at times the approach we take to our social media strategy must change to reflect variety and creativity.

Run the marathon race of building your social media platform with a strategy and a flexible, creative mindset. And then go outside for a jog. You’ll be glad you did.