Now That Every one is Social, How Do You Differentiate Yourself?
Posted: April 27, 2011
With nearly every one using social media, how do you stand out from the crowd? How do you ensure that your social efforts don’t end up being just another Facebook or Twitter profile with no rhyme or reason? Here are some tips on how to play the “It’s different” trump card for your social media efforts.
Facebook has over 600 million active users, and nearly 50% of those users are active on a daily basis. If Facebook was a country, it would be the third-largest in the world. Though hard to believe, it’s a reality that social media didn’t have any takers few years back and now there seems to be no room left on the overcrowded social media bandwagon. Twitter, too has come off age in the last couple of years, growing at a scorching pace.
While social media adoption in the business world is a mixed bag, it’s more of a norm rather than an exception in our personal lives. So, how do you stand out from the social media crowd? How do you ensure that your social efforts don’t end up being just another Facebook or Twitter profile with no rhyme or reason? Here are some tips on how to play the “It’s different” trump card for your social media efforts.
Be unique
The easiest way to differentiate your business from the social media crowd is to act differently. Recognition comes at a price and there’s risk involved. It’s important for businesses to chalk out a social media strategy which encourages innovation while having a risk mitigation plan in place.
Merely building a Facebook or Twitter profile and getting few hundreds of Fans/ Followers isn’t innovation. In fact, that’s the norm amongst businesses these days. Businesses need to think out-of-the-box and come up with never-before social media campaigns. Uniqueness is one of the biggest selling points of any social media campaign. Plagiarism for ideas, brand promotion or marketing won’t help your business. If anything, it will bring a bad name to your business.
Social yet personal
Social media can be used most effectively when it’s considered as a channel for dialogue. As a business, you need to establish a connection with your customers through your social media efforts. Whether that’s instantaneously offering customer service through Facebook or Twitter, or launching personalized offers, it’s important to impart that personal touch.
If your social media efforts lack the personal touch, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
You are the brand
I often say that customers tend to associated themselves with people, rather brands. It is who you are, and that’s what defines your brand. It is how you conduct yourself on Facebook and Twitter that has a telling effect on your followers. Define your brand and live your brand on chosen social media networks.
Tech Savvy Approach
Customers love techs savvy brands. Internet and smartphone are perhaps the two biggest technological inventions of this decade, so why not make the best of these for your business? Build a visually rich website for your business and back it up with appealing social media profiles. Similarly, it’s a fantastic idea to launch smartphone apps for leading mobile platforms such as iPhone, Android and Blackberry to offer an alternative access medium to your customers.
Customize
Customize your social media profiles and don’t be shy of innovating. No body likes plain boring Facebook or Twitter profiles. Add a custom Twitter background. Create a custom Facebook fan page. Add a custom welcome tab, add informational videos and other relevant content. Try and come up with ideas which your competitors are not using.
Biz Tip Source: Smedio
Author: Douglas Idugboe