Serving Others through Social Media: The ‘Secret Sauce’ for Reputation
How can our presence on social media —seemingly revolving around our own content and experiences — be a channel for serving others?
According to Kudzi Chikumbu, Director of Creator Community at TikTok, focusing on how to serve others, rather than on how to amplify our own profiles, is a powerful strategy for expanding and improving our reputation through social media. After putting the building blocks in place for our social media strategy, concentrating on service is the “secret sauce” to take our online reputation to the next level.
But first we need to lay the foundation. In Kudzi’s view, managing reputation on social media breaks down into three main components:
- Intention
- Action
- Results
Let’s explore each in more detail.
Intention
As a first step, consider your personal goals with social media. Who do you want to be? What value would you like to bring? How would you like to help?
Laying out a clear intention at the start will enable you to direct your actions and outcomes. Importantly, consider how your authentic voice, experience, and personality inform the vision you create.
Action
Given your intention with social media, think about what you can do to promote it. How will you show up online? Which platforms will you use? What format of content will you create? How often will you share and engage?
Since platform audiences, content types, and other factors vary across social media, identifying specific actions that support your intention will help to prioritize your effort. You may also benefit from scheduling time to manage and track your accounts on a regular basis, avoiding unplanned time sinks.
In considering content types, don’t be afraid to go against the norm on a particular platform. For example, Kudzi shared the story of an entrepreneur whose personal videos on LinkedIn — which primarily involves text-based content — uniquely resonated with customers and investors alike.
Results
Finally, determine how you will measure the success of your efforts. What outcomes do you want? How will you track them? Over what time horizon will you monitor your results?
Whether aiming for followers, views / likes, comments, or some combination of these outputs, specifying your target results — and making sure they align with your actions — will set you up to fulfill your intention.
Putting It All Together: A Service Mindset
Now that you have developed your reputation strategy, what mindset will best direct your efforts for maximum impact? In Kudzi’s view:
“Being of service to others is the best thing you can do for your reputation in the long term … the results will reach far beyond you.”
In my own use of social media, I have often hesitated to share much content, feeling uncomfortable with self-promotion and drawing attention. But thinking instead about service — how I can support or amplify others — has changed the way I approach social media. For example, sharing an aspect of my story could resonate strongly with someone else, providing them with support and motivation through their own experience.
As I aim to apply this service mindset to my social media activity, I will err on the side of sharing more content and using my own platforms to amplify others’ endeavors. In doing so, I will leave myself open to be surprised by the results and the connections that could arise, appreciating how truly interconnected our world and our networks have become.
