I am participating in a contest.  It’s called the Firepole Marketing Great Scavenger Hunt.  It’s being run by Danny Iny and the team at Firepole Marketing and is sponsored by Prosperity’s Kitchen.  I don’t anticipate being the leader in this race. Fortunately, I also don’t expect to end up dead last. The great scavenger hunt has been a great learning opportunity for me.  I’ve learned that I’m more social marketing savvy than I thought and that I have more marketing resources at my disposal than I ever had imagined.

Unfortunately, I’ve also learned that some social marketing challenges exist for me. I have learned that I am uncomfortable talking about myself. Case in point, I have not yet updated my About Us page using any of the wonderful suggestions in a Firepole Marketing blog post. That’s pure procrastination – a sure sign of anxiety. I also have learned that I am camera-shy. A few of the scavenger hunt tasks involve filming oneself and posting the videos on-line. These are the tasks I have yet to try. Why, oh, why, gods of social marketing, am I so unwilling to promote myself?

Nevertheless, the scavenger hunt has been rewarding.  Despite my natural reticence toward self-promotion, I have learned that I do have a powerful marketing voice. I can speak for my company even though I don’t always feel comfortable doing so. I cannot say I will ever become a great social marketer; but, I feel immensely more comfortable with what I can and am willing to do to promote my business online. I’m in a good place with it.  Thank you, Danny, for challenging me to challenge myself.