Introverted in online marketing

Use your superpowers as a quiet person in online marketing

We all know them: The superheroes from the comics who save the world. Who are equipped with special abilities. Whether that’s the flying Superman, the super-fast Flash or Aquaman, who can breathe under water. They all impress comic readers and moviegoers with the superpowers they use to survive their adventures.

But these superpowers only benefit them in a specific context. What use is it to Flash that he can run so fast when he has long since arrived? Or Aquaman when he’s in an arid region with no bodies of water? Then even his special abilities don’t help him any more. On the contrary: they can even be a weakness when the exact opposite would be required. Superpowers are therefore context-dependent.

Introverts sometimes feel similar. These “quiet people” often feel like superheroes in the wrong film in everyday business life. Because the business world prefers the loud people.

Extroversion is the ideal in business

People who are the first to pitch an idea in meetings, who effortlessly connect with everyone at networking parties or who thrive on hectic hustle and bustle in open-plan offices are over-represented in companies – or at least they stand out more.

• Teamwork,
• insensitivity to stress and deadline pressure, and
• flexibility

are standard features in many job advertisements. For introverts, this sounds like a description of a highly unproductive work environment.

Introverted in a noisy world

But what actually is introversion? It is often confused with being shy, withdrawn or even reclusive. But this is a common myth. A core characteristic of introversion is being turned inward. “Intros” draw their energy from themselves and not from the environment. While extroverts need interaction and exchange with people like the air they breathe, this exhausts an introvert faster and he/she needs quiet and seclusion again to recharge the batteries. Then we go out into nature – or even just into a quiet room – and are alone with our thoughts again … and they can keep us busy for quite a while. Because a lot is going on in our heads.

Perhaps the pandemic has also brought this topic to the forefront of society’s consciousness. Because during the lockdown, these two personality traits became particularly apparent. While some sorely missed socialising with other people, going out, to museums and concerts or simply meeting (many) friends, others were not at all unhappy that they no longer had to find excuses when they preferred to spend their weekends alone on a quiet walk or with a good book. The extroverts clearly suffered more than the introverts during the period of contact closures.

How can you tell that you are an introvert?

If introversion does not mean “shy” and “afraid of people” – how does it express itself? You can tell by these typical characteristics whether you are also one of the quiet people:

• You like people – but you also need retreats to recharge your batteries.
• You can be good alone – you are seldom bored because your head is literally bubbling over with ideas and thoughts.
• You like to think about topics in a structured way. Talking without thinking is not your speciality. You prefer to have thought through all the facts instead of giving a quick, thoughtless answer. Meetings are therefore not your speciality, especially if you are asked for your opinion spontaneously.
• In general, you prefer to express yourself in writing. There you can calmly prepare the appropriate arguments and find the right words. That’s why you often have your phone muted – if it was important, the caller will probably write an e-mail.
• You often don’t feel comfortable in groups of people. Too loud, too hectic, too much to distract you. That’s why open-plan offices are a source of constant distraction for you and not conducive to your productivity.
• Superficial small talk is not your thing. That’s why you only feel comfortable at networking events if you can engage in deep conversations with individuals. But then you can also “chat away” and forget about the time.

Do several of these points apply to you? These signs may indicate that you also belong to the “quiet people”. This is a personality trait that is anchored in your biology and that you can only change to a very limited extent.

For the sake of completeness, it should be emphasised that introversion/extroversion is a spectrum and most people combine characteristics of both sides. Of course, there are also introverts who are quick to speak up in meetings or who have discovered small talk for themselves. There are also quite a few introverts among the speakers, actors and moderators who like to be on stage. And conversely, extroverts also need their breaks and rest. But a basic tendency in one direction or the other often emerges.

By the way, if you are exactly in the middle of the spectrum, you are said to be ambivert. A special state, because then one combines the strengths of both extroverts and introverts.

Your superpowers as an introvert in online marketing

It’s obvious that we “introverts” don’t always have it easy in the loud, spontaneous business world. Especially the topic of acquiring new customers can become a challenge. Particularly as a self-employed person or entrepreneur, visibility and networking are indispensable. Without being seen and making contacts, it becomes difficult to find new clients – you can’t always rely on recommendations. But live networking? Getting in touch with strangers at events? Cold calling on the phone? For most quiet people, the very thought of such conversational situations gives them goosebumps and a stomachache.

But we can also see introversion as an opportunity and use the qualities associated with it as strengths. Because fortunately, live events and cold calling are no longer the only way to meet new contacts and gain visibility. Online marketing is the magic word. Social selling on social media, to be precise.

Social media¹ is made for introverts to present themselves in their very own way. Here we can use our very own strengths, I would even like to speak of superpowers:

• We can prepare well. Working in a structured way is second nature to us. Creating a social media strategy – and sticking to it! – is one of our easiest exercises (okay, the first time we might still need a little push and some guidance). And we also find it less difficult than others to prepare our topics in a way that is appropriate for the target group.
• Because of our ability to focus on something, we don’t get bored so quickly. Discipline, stamina, staying power – this helps us extremely to become sustainably visible in social media. Because social media is a marathon, not a sprint. Keeping at it is therefore also one of our superpowers.
• We are experts in our field – it’s in the blood of introverts, so to speak, to acquire deep expertise. Creating content that benefits our readers is not difficult for us. With us, there’s not just hot air, but real substance. Content marketing? No problem, we can draw on a wealth of experience.
• We are excellent at written communication. We get straight to the point, but we are also able to read empathetically between the lines and thus adapt to our counterparts. This applies to social media posts as well as direct messages to our contacts via the messenger function.
• In asynchronous communication, we can calmly prepare our conversation strategy: Research about the contact, analyse the pain points, work out a solution proposal – we can do all this between the contact points and are not forced to give spontaneous answers.
• The 1:1 conversations that then come about are fewer in number than with extroverts, but they are also less cold. They are pre-selected. And thus they can also be mastered excellently by introverts. Because we already know that there is mutual interest, and can get right into our topic, offer solutions – and close the bag.

With these superpowers, we introverts can make social media our tool to become digitally visible without being loud. In our own rhythm, in our own style, we get to know the contacts that are important and right for us, present ourselves as experts in our field and can acquire new projects.

For a successful business as a quiet person – use your superpowers!

Notes:

[1] Social media, by the way, is not only created FOR introverts, but also BY introverts – Mark Zuckerberg, for example, founded his Facebook network to be able to learn more about his fellow students at Harvard University without having to address them directly.

We are happy to recommend the beautiful German blog by Dr. Tanja Bernsau, where you will find many interesting impulses: https://www.tanjabernsau.de/blog/. It’s worth a look!

And if you like this post or want to discuss it, feel free to share it with your network.

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