Be Unique, Not a Copycat

You can win new business with social media, but you are not in the business of taking endless selfies like Kim Kardashian or copying other people’s work. Make your business stand out from the crowd by being useful and unique on social media.

1 Set Aside Time Each Week for Social Media and Stick to It

We are all busy, but we should never be too busy that we ignore reaching out and communicating with people. News items can be scheduled in advance, so pick a day of the week and a time when you know you won’t get interrupted and plan some updates. If your diary does not allow to check your social media during the day, allocate two days of the week to go through all the messages you receive and reply as necessary. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes per allocated day to keep on top of your messages.

2 Beware of Selfies

Use social media to help others see the world with a fresh pair of eyes: focus on something small like an insect or the magnitude of the sky. It is tempting to tell the world you have a celebrity client, for example, and have a selfie taken with them. What kind of reaction are you hoping to get from the picture? An ego boost? A flooding of bookings from new clients?

People have become wary of businesses using celebrity endorsements.

Be careful also to post selfies on your social media. While it can work for professionals in the fitness or modelling industry, taking selfies can be perceived as narcissism and may not help you build rapport with clients.

Group pictures with members of staff can, instead, be a great asset to show clients how you work as a team. For example, if you work in logistics, taking pictures of how deliveries travel from the depot to the client’s site can give a useful insight of your efficiency.

Sure, Kim Kardashian makes a living from taking selfies, but if you take the time to read the reviews of her selfies book entitled ‘Selfish’ the word “narcissism” is mentioned frequently.

The Narcissistic Nature of Selfies

3 Spam Is Dumb

Don’t spam. Simple as that. Yes, we know you love your product and you want to shout about it from the rooftops. Calm down.

4 Show Your Fans and Followers that You Care

It’s all in the simple gestures like a retweet or a like. It builds goodwill and it may earn you extra followers. The golden rule of social media is to listen more than you speak, so invest your precious time in reading what people need and how you can help them.

5 Beware of Death by Motivational Quotes

An over-supply of motivational quotes can run the risk of looking spammy. Do you have any original content to share? Your followers will be grateful. Sure, motivation quotes may score you a couple of retweets, but why duplicate content that is already out there?

Make Social Media Work For You

The message is clear: don’t be a slave to social media and its trends but make social media work for you by showing how you can be of service with your unique skills. Do you need help with your social media strategy? Email for a consulting session.