Can Introverts find Internet Success?
This is a guest post courtesy of Sherrie St Cyr, you can catch her full bio at the bottom of this post.
I’m outing myself today – I’m an introvert. An INFP, if you want to know all the details.
So, who cares? Maybe you, if you are an introvert trying to navigate your way through blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and all the other noise on the internet.
The Challenges
First, let’s take a look at how the internet is a challenge for introverts:
- it is 24/7/365 – it never shuts down – NEVER!
- there are a lot of noisy people making small talk and chit-chat
- “everyone” is telling us that we have to participate and master this chaos in order to be successful
If you are an introvert, you realize that the things I just mentioned are the perfect antithesis of everything you feel comfortable with – meaningful conversation, short periods of interaction with a small group followed by “enough” time alone to recharge, and an internal focus whereby we define success for ourselves.
Just opening Twitter is enough to overwhelm me. All those people, all those topics, all coming so fast! Where to jump in? What to say?
Making sense of the senseless
So, how is an introvert to navigate this chaotic world we call web 2.0? Relax, as an introvert, your natural preferences actually predispose you to success in this arena. Here’s why:
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You value quality and connection over numbers. Unless you are just wanting a large audience for the sake of having a large audience, most experts are now admitting that it doesn’t matter how many followers, readers, or fans your have.
What matters is your relationship with them and how much they like and trust you and, if you are in business, how much they buy from you. What’s the best way to develop a relationship with your market, so they like you and trust you and buy from you? Consistent, meaningful, targeted information.
Just what introverts excel at.
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You are reflective and think about what you are going to say before you say it. Whereas an extrovert, who draws energy from lots of interaction with lots of different people, might just keep writing to keep the interaction going, you think about your audience and what you want to say to them, crafting a clear and consistent message.
This means that you take time to think about how each post, tweet, or comment helps you and your audience. Great plan!
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You maintain a sense of distance. When something is available every day, it becomes mundane. Cut it down to once a week, though, and a certain amount of mystique and value becomes attached to it.
It will be savored.
Most likely, because you think about what you are going to say, and you maintain a select group of people you interact with, you aren’t going to be posting every day or spending 6 hours a day on Facebook and Twitter.
So, when people do hear from you, they will know to expect something well-crafted and useful. And they will pay more attention. And they’ll assume that you are doing something really cool while you’re away. And since you don’t say much, you won’t contradict them on that last point, right?
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You prefer working alone. Blogging, at least, is a somewhat solitary pursuit. Yes, people come along and comment, and yes, you have to market what you’ve written. But the brainstorming content and writing content are basically just you. Introvert heaven!
Watch Out
OK, enough ego-stroking and validation for all you introverts reading this. There are a few pitfalls you should be aware of that can stop you from sharing all your awesomeness with the internet world. You can get around them, of course, but I think it’s only fair to point them out and share some tips to get past them.
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You value quality and connection over numbers. At some point, if you are using your blog to market a service or product, you are going to need to expand your reach if you are going to make more money.
This means moving outside your comfort zone a little. You can still focus on the quality and connection and remember, you can control the noise by only opening one communication channel at a time. Focus on the communication in front of you and make sure you schedule time away from the stream.
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You are reflective and think about what you are going to say before you say it. Otherwise known as perfectionism, this trait can become a negative if you take it too far.
Stretch yourself and be willing to accept “good enough”.Set yourself some kind of schedule and stick to it.
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You maintain a sense of distance. A certain amount of self-disclosure is necessary to increase your “trust factor”.
You only need to disclose enough about yourself so that your audience realizes that you understand them, that you are like them in ways that matter to them. Again, stretch yourself to disclose enough to help them feel comfortable.
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You prefer working alone. There are a lot of tasks involved in promoting any sort of business or cause on the internet. If you try to take on the things you aren’t good at just to avoid having to collaborate, you run two risks.
The first is that you will spend a lot of time learning things that aren’t profitable for you.
The second is that you will ignore the things that are profitable because you’ve spent all your time elsewhere.
I’m repeating myself, but the only way around this is to challenge yourself to find someone to whom you can outsource your “weaknesses”. Also, you can build a lot of social standing by being the connector.
Although you may only work closely with a small group of people, if you help them build their connections, it will build your credibility, as well.
All right, introverts, it is time to unite! (Oh, I forgot, we don’t like large groups, do we?) Well, OK, it is time to march off one by one to your little nests and recharge, so you can introspectively plan your world domination!
Sherrie St. Cyr is a confirmed introvert who blogs about life after the wake-up call at www.3zacharm.com. You can receive her life-altering report warning of the “5 Pitfalls of Personal Development (and how to avoid them)” through the magic of email. Just visit her blog and type your name and email address into the small box provided.
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