Setting your goals for online success – some words of wisdom

We live in an era where people and businesses are either being disrupted by innovative online technologies or they are being disruptive with innovative online technologies.  

This disruption is happening through the following innovative online technologies:

• social media
• mobile devices and apps
• the Cloud
• data analytics and artificial intelligence, and
• internet of things

Disruption in our lives can be a good thing if we are leading the change. However, it can be very disturbing if we are forced to change or we are being pushed out of our current position, whether that be going out of business, losing customers and/or losing our job.  

While the last two innovative technologies above are less likely to be used by small businesses and individuals, the top three most certainly should be as these are your keys to online success.

However, like anything in life, to use some or all of these innovative online technologies in your favour you need to be proactive by:

• knowing why you need online success, and
• knowing how you need to achieve online success

Knowing why you need online success

Knowing why you need online success usually comes from identifying and understanding the pain point you need to solve or the gain point that you would like to achieve.

A pain point can be:

• not generating enough sales or needing to get a job
• having to meet legislative or compliance requirements, or
• solving an important problem (versus a ‘first world problem’)

A gain (or pleasure) point can be:

• wanting to be the best business in your area or wanting to get a better job
• improving yourself/your status and/or being highly regarded by others for what you have (think Apple and Harley Davidson owners) or can do, or
• achieving a goal that you are aiming to achieve

Recognising why you need to change can also help you understand the areas that you need to improve, and how much change is required.

Knowing how you need to achieve online success

Knowing how you need to achieve online success requires you to think about what your business / your life would be like if you were to solve your pain point or achieve your gain point.  

This is done by creating a picture in your mind of what your life would be like, and how you would feel, if you solved your pain point (eg increased revenue) or achieved your gain point (eg improved status).

Once you have this image or your goal in your mind, you then need to record it in some way.  This can either be through:

• writing down your ideas using Evernote
• creating a ‘visualisation’ board using images in Pinterest, or
• recording yourself through the voice or video recorder on your mobile device

Stating your goal in a way which you can then measure it is best.  For example “I will increase revenue by 10% this year” or “I need to speak to 3 people this week about what job opportunities are available”.

Once your goal is out of your head you:

• can use the information to remind you what you are trying to achieve
• share the information with others to get feedback, and
• you can use the information to measure whether you are on the right track

So what might online success look like?

The following table outlines how the top three innovative online technological disruptors can be used to achieve your goal for online success:

Online technology	Increase revenue (Business pain point)	Improve status (Individual gain point)
Social media allows you to connect and have ongoing communications with lots of people in a very quick and interesting way	Create a social media page/profile for your business in a social media space where your customers ‘hang out’ online eg Facebook is great, but so is Twitter and Instagram	Ensure you have a professional online profile suited to your industry which showcases what you can do eg on LinkedIn, Tumblr or YouTube
Your mobile device allows you to update and monitor your online profile, as well as reply to others through social media, SMS/Instant messaging and email	Capture and create interesting posts for your social media page/profile which customers find interesting and/or useful	Connect and communicate with people in your industry through online discussions which highlight what you can do and what you know
The Cloud allows you to access your programs and files from any device as long you have internet. This means you can work and play from anywhere	Access and process information collaboratively with people in and outside your business from any location to improve your business opportunities	Be flexible and adaptable about when and where you communicate and interact with other widens where you can work from

Accountability is important

Now that you have some idea about why and how you would like to succeed online, set yourself some key dates about when you would like to achieve them by. but make them realistic.  

Depending on the size of your goal, this could be 3-5 years or it could be 3-5 months or weeks.  Whatever length they are, these deadlines need to be achievable with the time, money and resources that you have available or that you can get access to.

Also, use the method that allowed you to get your goal outside of your head to remind you what you are trying to achieve.  This will help you stay focussed on your goal for online success.

_______________________________

If you would like to learn how to be successful online, check out these great events being run for Eastside Business Enterprise Centre in Adelaide, South Australia and online:

• • Getting Your Customer’s Attention (using Social Media) – Workshop on 9 March

  • Blogging & Vlogging but not Flogging (How to Build Trust & Confidence Online) – Webinar on 17 March

  • Writing & Scheduling Your Social Media Posts (in under an hour per week) – Webinar on 5 April

Or contact us (email or 0400 732 270) now to find out more about how you can take these simple steps to online success.

Stay up to date with the latest in being successful online by subscribing to our Digital Capability  eUpdate or connecting with us online through Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.