混個(gè)臉熟就能賺錢，了解一下新型創(chuàng)業(yè)導(dǎo)師
Laura Entis
2018-08-09
Illustration by Sam Peet
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作為創(chuàng)業(yè)者成功學(xué)導(dǎo)師，克里斯·溫菲爾德會(huì)定期舉辦會(huì)議，傳授自我推廣的藝術(shù)，而對于他本人而言，生活和教學(xué)內(nèi)容已經(jīng)混為一體。長期以來，上下班的路程都是他錄視頻的背景，他在視頻里滔滔不絕地談?wù)撋虡I(yè)成敗并放上Facebook。每當(dāng)有進(jìn)賬，他都會(huì)發(fā)Instagram，激勵(lì)粉絲。和女兒去逛糖果店，他也能受到啟發(fā)，思考堅(jiān)持的意義，還會(huì)放上社交網(wǎng)站和粉絲分享。溫菲爾德的感想大部分都是泛泛而談，簡直像是勵(lì)志海報(bào)上的節(jié)選。 溫菲爾德絕非唯一一個(gè)把生活變成LinkedIn主題真人秀的人。這一策略是由像精神領(lǐng)袖一樣的商業(yè)人物加里·維納查克推廣起來的，在一些創(chuàng)業(yè)群體中十分流行，尤其是那些把自己定位為導(dǎo)師或者咨詢師的群體。內(nèi)在邏輯十分簡單：成功和曝光度是這枚閃光硬幣的正反兩面。曝光度造就成功，成功帶來更多的曝光度，不斷循環(huán)往復(fù)，過程中還必然伴隨著在社交媒體上發(fā)起超級(jí)話題、引發(fā)文化潮流、發(fā)布視頻片段。 如果覺得這種生活聽起來就很累，你不是一個(gè)人。瑞貝卡·赫蘭是名品牌戰(zhàn)略師，說話溫柔，曾就職企鵝、聯(lián)合利華、紐約大學(xué)斯特恩商學(xué)院，生了二胎后決定闖蕩一番。最近交了2500美元參加了溫菲爾德一場一天半的會(huì)議，學(xué)習(xí)如何“顯著提升曝光率”。 赫蘭說很高興她去了，因?yàn)樗錾狭艘恍┯幸馑加殖錆M活力的人，還因此又注冊了溫菲爾德的另外兩場活動(dòng)。但她也意識(shí)到，溫菲爾德式的自我推銷簡直無處不在。一刷新Facebook，全部都是她在會(huì)議上結(jié)識(shí)的人們在發(fā)推廣資料。“每次我打開Facebook主頁，都能看到有人發(fā)了視頻，我有點(diǎn)崩潰。”她說。最近，她決定暫別社交媒體喘口氣，這樣也好專心維護(hù)現(xiàn)有客戶，和現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的朋友多來往。總體感覺好多了。然而這一切和她知道她應(yīng)該要做的事情恰恰相反：她應(yīng)該生產(chǎn)更多內(nèi)容，這樣才能和粉絲多互動(dòng)，才能漲粉。換句話說，她應(yīng)該更像溫菲爾德。 也許這些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)本來就不對。畢竟，沒有證據(jù)表明自我營銷做的好就能當(dāng)個(gè)好導(dǎo)師。品牌公司Vivaldi的首席創(chuàng)意師湯姆·愛杰羅說，當(dāng)然，對于咨詢師來說，維持廣泛優(yōu)質(zhì)的在線活躍度非常重要。 但永不停歇地活躍在社交媒體上能取得的效果可能被夸大了。“人們盲目相信維持個(gè)人品牌（的重要性），但這會(huì)占據(jù)從事其它活動(dòng)的時(shí)間和精力。”康奈爾大學(xué)助理教授及《用你的愛好（不）賺錢：性別、社交媒體、勵(lì)志》的作者布魯克·艾林·達(dá)菲說。 想獲得新客戶，口口相傳和每天在社交網(wǎng)站上更新狀態(tài)發(fā)視頻效果一樣好，而社交網(wǎng)站上的信息很容易沉沒在達(dá)菲所說的“不害臊的社交媒體和個(gè)人營銷狂歡”中。赫蘭的大部分客戶都是別人推薦的，這是她一開始誤信的策略，因?yàn)檫@種策略和用寫滿她優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)的博文轟炸社交媒體主頁相比，沒那么主動(dòng)，成功也更偶然。 但對于大多數(shù)的導(dǎo)師和咨詢師而言，“做企業(yè)過程中最重要的并非推廣，更重要的是提供有形的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)，幫助人們提升現(xiàn)在工作。”社交網(wǎng)站戰(zhàn)略師及數(shù)字咨詢公司Digimentor創(chuàng)始人希瑞·斯林瓦森說：“多不一定意味著好。” 最好能停下來想想你的目標(biāo)是什么。如果目標(biāo)是用你的專業(yè)、經(jīng)驗(yàn)和技能為固定數(shù)量的客戶提供實(shí)實(shí)在在的服務(wù)，斯林瓦森建議你從小處著眼，再有組織地逐步擴(kuò)大規(guī)模。有針對性的社交戰(zhàn)略可能有用，但并非必須，尤其是那些已經(jīng)建立了強(qiáng)大線下網(wǎng)絡(luò)的人更不需要這么做。 溫菲爾德的故事卻并非如此。在他和別人共同創(chuàng)辦的搜索引擎優(yōu)化公司2013年破產(chǎn)后，他重新調(diào)整了個(gè)人定位，把自己定義為一個(gè)在個(gè)人發(fā)展、生產(chǎn)力、公共宣傳領(lǐng)域提供指導(dǎo)的導(dǎo)師，最終在各種平臺(tái)上都聚集了數(shù)十萬的粉絲。他靠的不是原有客戶或硬資歷，而是個(gè)人經(jīng)歷，通過上傳日常對于失敗、感恩、“相信過程”（“失敗不是從點(diǎn)A走到點(diǎn)B……而是離開點(diǎn)A。”）的思考和視頻來提供指導(dǎo)。“我把自己當(dāng)成活體實(shí)驗(yàn)。”他說，而且他覺得有義務(wù)和粉絲分享自己的掙扎和勝利。 “最終我想傳達(dá)的信息是希望人們可以建立更多聯(lián)系”，他說，“希望人們能和其他有創(chuàng)造力的人們多建立聯(lián)系，希望他們能和自己最大的潛力建立聯(lián)系。” 換句話說，他賣的是指導(dǎo)性的哲學(xué)想法和方式，而非任何確切的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)。我問他每天都在做什么，他告訴我“我的大部分時(shí)間都用來幫助別人，和別人對話。” 溫菲爾德是個(gè)導(dǎo)師，又指導(dǎo)大量的其他導(dǎo)師按照他的形象進(jìn)行自我營銷，他把自我推廣變成了一種商品，用舉辦會(huì)議和研討會(huì)的形式出售，這是種非常現(xiàn)代還帶點(diǎn)循環(huán)性的商業(yè)模式。 但斯林瓦森提醒道，這不見得是個(gè)適合所有人的商業(yè)模式。如果你不想在網(wǎng)上“沽名釣譽(yù)”，想要實(shí)實(shí)在在地當(dāng)好導(dǎo)師或咨詢師，或許更好的策略是少花點(diǎn)時(shí)間在社交網(wǎng)站上更新日常，多花點(diǎn)時(shí)間為現(xiàn)有客戶提供幫助，建立線下網(wǎng)絡(luò)，發(fā)展有針對性的（而且可操作的）社交戰(zhàn)略。對于絕大多數(shù)創(chuàng)業(yè)者、導(dǎo)師和咨詢師而言，“成功不是源自對個(gè)人生活的夸夸其談。”他說。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)） 本文另一版本發(fā)表在《財(cái)富》雜志2018年8月1日刊，名為《影響之下》。 譯者：Agatha |
FOR ENTREPRENEUR and success coach Chris Winfield, who holds regular conferences on the art of self-promotion, life and content blend together. His commute is the backdrop for a series of videos—live-streamed on Facebook—in which he spouts stream-of-consciousness musings about success and failure in business. A journal entry doubles as a motivational Instagram post. A visit to the candy store with his daughter is the impetus for a lesson on the importance of persistence, a conversation he broadcasts to his followers. Many of the takeaways are so broad, they feel ripped from an inspirational poster. Winfield is far from the only person to turn his life into a LinkedIn-themed, one-man reality show. The strategy, popularized by guru-like business figures such as Gary Vaynerchuk, has become widespread among a certain entrepreneurial set, particularly those who market themselves as coaches and consultants. The underlying message is simple: Success and exposure are two sides of the same shiny coin. Exposure begets success, success begets more exposure, and the cycle repeats in a flurry of hashtags, memes, and video clips. If that sounds exhausting to you, you’re not alone. Consider Rebecca Horan—a soft-spoken brand strategist with experience at Penguin, Unilever, and NYU Stern School of Business—who decided to strike out on her own after having her second child. She recently paid $2,500 to attend one of Winfield’s day-and-a-half conferences, which was marketed to attendees as a way to “skyrocket your exposure.” Horan says she’s glad she went; she met some interesting, energetic people, and has since signed up for two more of Winfield’s events. But she has also learned that Winfield’s brand of self-promotion can be overwhelming. Her Facebookfeed is now overrun with marketing material from people she connected with after the event. “Every time I open it up, there’s a video playing,” she says. “It kind of wears me out.” Recently, she took a break from social media, which allowed her to focus her attention on existing clients and reconnect with her real life friends. She felt better overall. And yet it ran counter to everything she knew she was supposed to do: generate more content, so she could engage her followers, so she could grow her audience. In other words, be more like Winfield. Perhaps these are the wrong metrics. After all, there’s no proof that being good at self-promotion makes you a good coach. For consultants, having a broad and well-optimized online presence is undoubtedly important, says Tom Ajello, chief creative officer of the brand-strategy firm Vivaldi. But it’s possible the benefits of nonstop social media activity have been overstated. “People are encouraged to put their blind faith in [the importance of] maintaining a consistent personal brand, but this draws away time and energy from other activities,” says Brooke Erin Duffy, an assistant professor at Cornell University and the author of (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work. Word of mouth is often just as effective in getting new clients as posting daily updates and livestreams, messages that can easily get lost in what Duffy calls an “unabashed celebration of social media and personal branding.” Most of Horan’s clients are from referrals, a strategy she mistrusted at first because it felt less proactive and more serendipitous than blasting her feed with superlatives about her qualifications. But for most coaches and consultants, “building a business is much less about promotion [than] it is about offering tangible products and services that can help people be better at what they do,” says Sree Sreenivasan, a social media strategist and the founder of the digital consultancy Digimentors. “More is not necessarily better.” It helps to stop and consider what you’re trying to accomplish. If the aim is to provide a set number of clients with a tangible service that aligns with your expertise, experience, and skill set, Sreenivasan recommends starting small and scaling up organically. A targeted social strategy can help in this regard, but it’s not always necessary, particularly for individuals who already have a strong off-line network. Winfield’s endgame is different. After the search engine–optimization firm he cofounded went bankrupt in 2013, he pivoted, repositioning himself as a personal development, productivity, and publicity coach, eventually amassing tens of thousands of followers on a handful of platforms. In place of previous clients or hard credentials, he relied on his own experiences, posting daily videos and musings on failure, gratitude, and “trusting the process.” (“Faith isn’t about going from point A to point B … It’s about leaving point A.”) “I look at myself as a living experiment,” he says, and he feels an obligation to share his struggles and triumphs with his followers. “At the end of the day, my message is that I want people to connect more,” he says. “I want people to connect more to other creative people, and I want them to connect to their fullest potential.” In other words, he’s selling more of a guiding philosophy and way of being than any specific product or service. When I ask him what he actually does every day, he tells me that “a lot of my time and my days are spent simply helping people and having conversations.” A coach who coaches legions of other coaches to market themselves in his own guru-like image, Winfield has turned self promotion into a commodity that he sells in the form of conferences and seminars. It’s a very modern, if somewhat circular, business model. But not, Sreenivasan cautions, one that works for everyone. For those who aren’t interested in online quasi-fame and instead want to build a reputable coaching or consulting practice, a better strategy might be spending less time posting daily updates and more time aiding existing clients, off-line networking, and developing a targeted (and manageable) social strategy. For the vast majority of entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants, “success is not driven by blasting out your personal life,” he says. A version of this article appears in the August 1, 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “Under The Influence.” |
