I was not an early adopter to social media. When I moved to Nashville from Miami I was not on Twitter and wrote a blog post every few months. A month into my role, Dr. Rainer suggested I use Twitter and a blog. Because he is my boss, I took the suggestion as more than a suggestion and awkwardly jumped in.
I initially blogged twice a week and some nights I would put something together for the next day without a sense of where it was going. Yet it started proving helpful to ministry leaders and other leaders. I received emails from church leaders, Christian businessmen, and marketplace leaders saying they passed a post around the office. I would speak at an event and more people would ask me about a post than the message I just gave (I did not know if that was good blogging or bad speaking). So I started getting more strategic and thoughtful in my approach, bumped to five days a week, and now map out content usually a month in advance.
So I am here to stay and have diversified a bit—shooting a Facebook Live video every week and cohosting the Five Leadership Questions Podcast. I will share in a few days how all this works because it actually takes less time than you may think.
Some folks on my team, godly folks who are skilled in their roles, have jumped off social media. They found it impacting them adversely or taking too much time from more important things. So I know utilizing social media is something each person must navigate for himself/herself. But here are the three reasons I am here to stay on social media (for now):
1. Helps me connect with different people
Last week a leader in Latin America asked if he could translate my posts and use them with ministry leaders he is coaching. Chris Martin, who has helped me with social strategy, had lunch with a pastor recently who only knows me from Facebook videos. “Eric, he does not know of any of your books. Has never heard of you at all, but likes your Facebook videos.” Chris meant well. 🙂
2. Keeps me learning
Reading helps leaders learn to formulate thoughts and articulate a direction. Writing and speaking help leaders learn to communicate with more clarity. Blogging regularly is extra accountability to keep learning, keep reading, and keep thinking. Leaders who stop learning will eventually stop leading.
3. Holds me accountable
Many times I have written something and thought, “I must do better here” or “I have neglected this part of my leadership lately.” Putting thoughts out there provides extra accountability and reminds me that I desperately need God’s grace to actually live out anything I encourage others to do.
