"Ideas can help people change the world, and now anyone can become powerful enough to be a catalyst for what matters to them."
- The Impact Equation, page 7
"Just as this is the era of media democracy, it is also the era of idea-creation democracy."- The Impact Equation, page 59
One thing is for certain – if you aren’t building a platform for communicating your ideas, it is very difficult to have impact. Developing your channels of communication, whether blogs, vlogs, YouTube videos or other products and tools, and tying them together for your audience is critical to adding impact to your voice.
Having one great idea to start the process is important, but it takes work to continue to build, add to, and refine your message. And it takes bravery at times to put yourself and your ideas “out there” for everyone to view, and often critique. This is where Contrast and Articulation come into play. Are your ideas generating new thought leadership? What’s your angle? How clearly are you explaining your thoughts?
Building a platform in the social and digital age is easy – sustaining it is more difficult. Being strategic about what you do and how you do it will help you see the results and impact you desire.
“Once you decide to be the actor on an idea of your own creation, then the rocket ship takes off.”
Once you have your ideas carefully crafted and your platform established . . . now what? How do you expand your impact?
"...if you are not trusted, if you are not credible, you are nothing."- The Impact Equation, page 197
Reliability is the first step in establishing credibility as you build your platform. If you say you will blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you need to do it, even if initially you are writing for an audience of one. Establishing editorial calendars and a regular writing schedule can help you deliver your message on a reliable basis. Doing what you say you will do is an important element of credibility.
Trust is another key element of credibility, and it is tricky to define, difficult to establish, and easy to lose. You will often see bloggers and writers provide disclaimers on how they are being sponsored to write a review or provide details of their experience with a product. The authors see quality as the core of trust as well; as more and more people like the work that you do, trusting you and what you say become natural extensions of it.
"...very few successful ventures exist without understanding the human aspects of impact."- The Impact Equation, page 190
Some of the most popular blog posts or videos that go viral resonate with us because of their personal, emotional, and human impact. Being human in the work that you do is part of establishing your unique voice, and separates you from others. Use Twitter to make introductions, help others, and expand your community. Your audience will know when you are writing from the heart, and those posts will often generate the most impact for you. Human nature weaves through the Trust and Echo elements of the Impact Equation in significant ways, and it is important not to overlook how you are connecting with people and ways to increase the personal elements of your work.
There are so many tips and tactics within this book, which makes it extremely useful for building your own impact, even if starting from scratch. It can be a great resource for those starting to build their platforms, as well as others looking to take their impact to the next level.
JULIEN SMITHWebsite: http://www.juliensmith.comJulien Smith is an author, consultant, and speaker who has been involved in online communities for over 15 years – from early BBSes and flashmobs to the social web as we know it today.
