The concept of pride is one that I struggle with on a day-to-day basis both on a personal level, and a professional level. Pride is a concept that many businesses struggle with on a regular basis as well, and it is this one concept that has deterred many businesses from embracing social media to promote their organization. I regularly come across business owners who say they don’t want to be too pushy or talk too much about their business, so they forgo utilizing great tools like social media. I work with some great people and some great companies who fall into this category of wanting to use social media, but want to make sure they aren’t using it to brag about their success. While it is a fine line to walk, social media can be used effectively to tell the story of your brand without showing unnecessary hubris.
Telling Vs. Bragging –
There is a difference between telling your business’ story and bragging about it. You can usually tell the difference when you read a post or an article. For example, if you are sharing about a recent project success, using phrases such as “we are proud to be a part of this project” speaks to your humility and gratitude to be a part of such a project. Compare this phrase to “check out this sweet project our firm completed”, which speaks more to your pride than to the opportunity of being a part of the project. It’s all in your tone and your attitude. When you have an attitude of gratitude, it will reflect through in the way you speak about your work.
Tell Them & They Will Come –
Once you decide on the language you want to use to portray your business and your attitude toward your clients, you can spread the word about your business with full confidence. The biggest opportunity that social media provides you is an opportunity to tell hundreds and thousands of people about this thing you love to do and that your company does that thing well. But you have to tell them! Someone may never know that your business specializes in a certain type of work until you share a post about a similar project. At the same time, have you ever seen someone so excited about a passion of theirs that they cannot help but tell the world? Social media is a great place to share those passions with your peers and followers. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to tell others about what your business does best!
Be Real –
One of my big rules on social media is to be positive, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t reveal some of the everyday, not-so-glamorous parts of your business. People use social media to socialize with the business and get a VIP/behind-the-scenes look at what happens at your company. Showing some candid scenes from your company may do more to boost your company’s image than a hundred carefully crafted posts.
Tell Them, Just Not Too Much –
Wait, what? How do you know how much is too much, and how much is enough? Some of that comes with studying your industry on social media and watching what others do. Some of this comes with instinct. Yet sometimes still, your company learns the hard way by seeing people unfollow your pages. I’m sure you have seen the company that is screaming, “look at me” on what they post and they scream it every time they post. Yet, look around at the business posts on social media that you enjoy following. I’ll bet that you can find a few companies who have their expertise oozing out of everything they post, but it isn’t screaming in your face each time. They have a well-balanced social media strategy that tells you what you need to know about their expertise, but makes you feel like a part of that story. Balance is the key and a good social media manager will help you find that balance.
The marketing and advertising world tells you to shout your message to the world and use social media as your megaphone to do so. For some companies, this strategy is wonderful, and in fact, recommended. However, many businesses have succeeded on the premise of trusted integrity, quality of character, and expertise of work. Social media can still be a major tool for you, but not necessarily in the way that traditional advertising models might suggest. Get creative with a social media manager who will listen to your company’s values and help you create a strategy that maximizes the benefits of social media alongside those values.
-valerie, tintero creative