How Gretchen Rubin Uses Social Media to Lead The Happiness Project Movement

When speakers ask me how to get more exposure for their speaking business, I often advise that they think of themselves as the leader of a movement.

Why? Because when you’re leading a movement, then you’re about something bigger than yourself. By its very nature, a movement is about drawing people in and mobilizing them… and a movement is much more likely to generate exposure than an individual speaker.

No matter what you speak about, it has the makings of a movement — a movement of people leading a certain way, a movement of people living a certain way, a movement of people using technology in a certain way, etc.

Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 international bestseller, The Happiness Project, is a great example of someone who has established herself as the leader of a movement, and that’s one reason I asked her for some advice for my readers…

As you may know, she built a vibrant blog following before The Happiness Project ever released — which certainly helped it land at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release. Now, though, the blog is just one way she engages with her fans and followers. She also uses Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and even Instagram. Oh, and she also has daily and monthly e-newsletters.

But can one person keep up with at all? Surely she has a team to help her manage it, right?

“I get help when there are design needs, but as far as posting content, I manage that myself,” Gretchen said when I asked her that question. “Once you get it started, keeping it running is really not so hard. And you don’t have to do it all on day one.”

That’s an important lesson for all of us, isn’t it?

Every time you land on another speaker’s — or another business’ — website, it’s very likely that you’ll see some “shiny new thing” that you could use in your business, but pause for a moment… relax… remember… you don’t have to do it all today. (And you can’t.) Gretchen’s words remind me of a poster that once hung over my desk with this ancient Chinese proverb:

“If you chase two rabbits, both will get away.”

Gretchen went on to say, “Just start with one thing and then you can add more bells and whistles as you go.”

And remember, you can choose the channels you use to connect with your followers:

“There’s this thought that ‘everybody does X, so I have to do X.’ No, just figure out what works for you. I’m a writer and I love to write, so writing the content to post is a natural for me. If something seems too hard to do, find something else.“

Isn’t that freeing?!

Ask yourself: Is what you’re currently doing working for you? If not, is there another communication/engagement channel that would be a better fit for you and your followers?

Start with one thing. Do it well.

When you’ve got that down, add another.

Then another.

But you don’t have to do it all today. (Thank goodness!)

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