Consistency Helped Captain Sully, and it Can Help Your Blog
In talking to some of my peers about the importance of consistency, one question came up repeatedly. “Would you rather have consistency or occasional moments of greatness?” It’s a tough question — and one to which I’ve given considerable thought. As much as something inside tells me that consistency is the “correct” answer — our society places a great deal of importance on moments of greatness.
For example, who’s the most famous airline pilot in America? Could it be anyone other than Captain Chesley Sullenberger, the man who saved the lives of 155 people when he successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York City, on January 15, 2009?
Sullenberger’s moment of greatness certainly trumped consistency, or so it seems at first glance. But just a small amount of research reveals that Sullenburger’s 40-year career as a pilot — first in the United States Air Force and later for commercial airlines — was built on consistency. In the year of his graduation, 1973, Sullenberger received the Outstanding Cadet in Airmanship award, as the class “top flier”, and his career blossomed from there.
One comment, made during an interview with Katie Couric said it all. “One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience: education and training. And on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.”
It seems that in the world of social media — and everywhere else, I suppose — people look to make those large withdrawals prematurely. They want to take principal and interest from their social media accounts before making the appropriate investment. Building a community — whether on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or with a blog — takes time and effort. There are few shortcuts, and consistency is one of the most important ingredients necessary for success. Here are a few of the areas where consistency really pays off:
Consistency of message — Determine what your goals are with respect to building a community, and commit to being consistent with your message. If your community is built on providing solutions to people interested in WordPress, by all means stick to the topic at hand. Your fans came to you because they liked what you were talking about — don’t drive them away by changing the topic on them.
Consistent delivery — If you write a weekly column, make a point of delivering a column every week. Don’t let your deadline come and go — even if you are your own editor. Your readers are expecting you to come through for them, and if you don’t deliver, you’ll lose them.
Consistency creates habits — Just like a runner builds up his endurance by running, a blogger sharpens his skills by regularly exercising his blogging muscles. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it gets to write when you write regularly. You’ll also be surprised how in the world of social media, one blog post leads to a Facebook post, which leads to a Twitter update, which leads to your next blog post.
The 80/20 Rule — You will probably notice that over time, 80% of your results in any endeavor come from 20% of your efforts. You will probably experience this in social media. Most of your SEO, comments and traffic will be the result of the occasional post that gets picked up by a major blog or website, or the video that goes viral. The problem is that you never know which one that will be. To increase your odds, consistently put out good content that has a chance coming through for you.
Despite Forest Gump’s momma’s comment about life being like a box of chocolates (“You never know what you’re gonna get”), people crave consistency even more than they desire quality. People want to know what they’re going to get.
What do you think has accounted for the financial success of McDonald’s? I’ll give you one hint — it ain’t that they make five-star hamburgers. McDonald’s entire success is built on the principal of consistency. People know, that no matter where they are, if they see those golden arches, they are going to get a consistent product for a consistent price. They also get consistent service, decor, and overall experience.
If you strive to elevate the quality of your blog (or whatever it is you produce) to a level above that of McDonald’s, so much the better. Just don’t drop the ball when it comes to consistency.
Chris S. Cornell is the Director of Social Media at Thompson & Bender — a Westchester-based PR, advertising and marketing firm. He manages several online communities, and consults, speaks and writes about social media. You can follow Chris on Twitter, or join the community he manages on the Westchester Social Media Facebook page.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.