Do these three things to stand out in a crowded market:
1. Make something worth noticing. Are you asking your audience to buy something or buy in? If you’re not asking anyone to buy in, you’re in trouble. “Buy in” means that if they follow you, you will lead them somewhere. “Buy from” means you sell something with features and benefits for a price, and Amazon or some other tech company or discount provider will kick your ass. Twice.
2. Share it generously. Give your audience as much free and valuable (useable) content as possible. Martha Steward became a billionaire doing this (and it’s a good thing) and you can too. When someone benefits from ‘knowing’ you and they haven’t even paid you – and you made it easy and you offered more – you’re going to stand out.
3. Repeat. Social media isn’t something you do all day long, but it is something you do every day. I spend about an hour a day on this tops and even then I think I could get it down. Post every day, keep your audience connected. Every day means 7 days a week, by the way. For a long time, I was a Monday through Friday social media pro, but I’d take weekends off. Not good!
We do business with and support those people who have earned our attention. Post blogs, videos, comments. Comments are probably easiest.
We are loyal to our friends, to certain businesses, shops and restaurants. We love our brands, our bands and our TV shows. We love our towns, our neighborhoods and our secret-hole-in-the-wall places. We feel like we know them. Our relationship and appreciation goes beyond the product or service.
We seek out those people who tell us stories that resonate, who share our values and who delight us or reassure or surprise us in ways that are positive and bring joy and satisfaction to our lives. The more valuable someone’s attention is, the harder it is to earn.
So who gets heard?
The people we choose to hear. The people we will miss. The people or businesses that stand out, or that stand for something.
We love the innovators and shun the duplicators.
In a marketplace that is open to virtually anyone, that which is remarkable stands out. No one talks about the boring, the predictable or the safe. We marvel at the authentic and the genuine. We treasure it. There is a revolution going on out there and now more than ever we value the weird, the wild, the different, the delightful, the remarkable.
Who will you miss? That’s who you should be listening to.
What will your audience miss if you stopped showing up? Do twice as much of that.