the three keys to social media marketing

[The “Life Is Too Short” print. The image was the first one I sent out on “Hugh’s Daily Frickin’ Cartoon”. UPDATE: As of January, 2010, I am no longer publishing new cartoons on gapingvoid. From now on, “Hugh’s Daily Frickin’ Cartoon” is the place to see them, Thanks!]

1. Figure out what your gift is, and give it to them on a regular basis. 2. Make sure it’s received as a real gift, not as an advertising message 3. Then figure out exactly what it is that your trail of breadcrumbs leads back to.

Every weekday morning I send out out a new cartoon to my e-mail list.

My daily “gift” to the world, as it were…

One gift per day, that’s my quota. Anything more and I get too swamped. I also work hard to make sure that it feels like a gift on the receiving end. I try to put some heart and soul into the exercise, otherwise people would unsubscribe in droves.

If enough people like the gift, it’ll build up goodwill, they’ll tell their friends, and the list will grow. The more the list grows, the more people discover the trail of breadcrumbs that leads back to the work I actually get paid for.

And even if people don’t follow the breadcrumbs the vast majority of the time, that’s OK, too. I’m happy if people just dig my work, just value the gift. Not everybody’s in the market for what I do for money- I’m not in the market for everything my friends do, either. That doesn’t mean I don’t value them or their gifts highly. It cuts both ways.

It can’t be selfish. It can’t expect something back in return. It can’t huckster. People can tell, you see…

Everything I do now professionally begins with the act of gift-giving. You?

1. Figure out what your gift is, and give it to them on a regular basis. 2. Make sure it’s received as a real gift, not as an advertising message. 3. Then figure out exactly what it is that your trail of breadcrumbs leads back to.

Just do these three things, and all your social media marketing dreams will come true, I promise.