Have you ever wondered why some of the most successful professionals seem to be everywhere… being quoted in magazines, winning awards like they are going out of fashion and generally catching all the limelight?
But it’s not all glitz and glamour because before these professionals could harvest this bounty of credibility and public endorsement, they had to first be active within their professional communities.
One of the principal laws of success is that you should give before you expect to receive (or said via one of my favourite sayings, you ‘reap what you sow’).
An essential but often overlooked element of creating effective online influence is to first build effective offline influence. In our industries, an effective Social Strategy is all about building reputation and credibility, and few things achieve this faster than professional recognition by peers and industry bodies, and in turn the conventional press and media.
Most professionals sit back and view their professional bodies and associations as service providers, instead of understanding that those associations are designed to represent them. What one gets out of these associations is only as good as what they themselves put in.
Every professional has a chance to take ownership of leading their industry and at the same time understand that the effort can actually provide opportunities to create significant leverage through Social Media.
There is nothing wrong with receiving a self-benefit that comes as a result of FIRST providing a benefit to others (and this is the essence of all great business and in fact, all relationships). We are a social species and in order to prosper, we need to both give and receive.
So as you read this I would like to ask, what have you done lately to contribute to your profession? How much have you given to your peers and your industry before asking for something back?
So I challenge you, instead of wondering what you might get out of attending your chosen Association event(s), why not think about what you can contribute?