How Social Media Fuels Your Cumulative Advantage

Leveraging Cumulative Advantage

What makes someone successful? Is it money, education, connections? Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint the turning point in someone’s life.
Mark Schaefer, Chief Operating Officer of B Squared Media, says that it’s not necessarily one thing that acts as an advantage. The initial advantage that people experience can be as simple as a singular conversation. He says that whatever this one initial advantage is it can lead you down an entirely different path in your life. “If you have this original advantage…you can build unstoppable momentum.”
Mark’s book Cumulative Advantage is based on the work of sociologist Dr. Robert Merton. It follows the idea that those who have some advantage can continue to benefit from it at a much faster rate than those who don’t.
Mark talks about his own experiences and advantages and how they led him to where he is today. He shares why it’s so important to try new things and find your “seam” in the status quo.

In This Episode:

• 6:00 – What is cumulative advantage?
• 13:45 – How internal narratives can hold people back
• 16:50 – Why it’s so important to try new things
• 18:05 – Mark reveals why loving your own ideas too much can be a problem
• 19:51 – How sometimes our marketing strategy is dictated to us
• 20:31 – Why marketing strategy is about finding a fracture in the status quo
• 22:53 – Mark shares why great marketing is about non-conformity
• 25:34 – Why following your passion isn’t the only thing you should do
• 28:45 – Mark shares the idea behind a “sonic boom”
• 31:15 – How to build your own brand with a sonic boom
• 34:31 – The important balance between maintaining consistency and excellence
• 40:28 – How Mark defines mentorship
• 44:40 – Mark’s top tip for social pros

Quotes From This Episode:

Reach up and reach out to people who you admire. Click To Tweet
“If you have this original advantage, if you play your cards right and observe this pattern, you can build unstoppable momentum and distance yourself from your competitors.” – @markwschaefer
“Momentum almost always begins with a random event. It always begins with something normal, like a conversation.” – @markwschaefer

Resources:

• Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce
• Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners
• Download Upfluence’s Brand Influence Ranking Report
• Find out if your website is ADA & WCAG compliant with help from accessiBe
• Cumulative Advantage by Mark Schaefer
• Marketing Companion podcast