For a while there, I worked in social media. It was during this career phase that I needed to create some joy for myself. I opted to post on a community Facebook group that I would host a conversation of two to three small-business owners who wanted to learn how they could use social media to grow their businesses. They would have to pay me. In wine.
While I was mildly surprised at how little some people understood the principles and technicalities of Vleisbroek* and the Twitters**, I felt that was something they could fix with the help of Google. I wanted to focus on content; something I’d rather they thought about outside of Google. Otherwise they’d be rehashing what everyone else is doing.
Every fish-and-chips shop will post specials and pictures of their fish-and-chips. Not many will show how clean their kitchen is and recommend the best way to get grease off counter tops. Just like every real-estate agent will post pictures of the houses they’re selling. But I have yet to see pictures of how people would live in that house; sitting around the table, someone chopping in the kitchen, a teenager lying on his bed in the second en suite bedroom.
I told the business owners to test every post with the question: “Am I giving people what they want to know, or am I giving them what I want them to know?” The best content will toe the line between both those principles. If you’re a fish-and-chips shop posting fish-and-chips, you’re blending in and hardly memorable. If you’re a fish-and-chips shop posting a simple recipe for a batter, I might remember you the next time I don’t feel like making that batter myself.
And if you think giving your audience a batter recipe is bad for business, then I’m not convinced that you know what you’re selling: You’re not merely selling fish-and-chips; you’re selling convenience, escape, relief and I-don’t-have-to-cook time. How great then that I can serve lovely home-made battered fish when I feel like cooking, and get even better battered fish from the same place whose recipes I sometimes use. Don’t give away your trump card, your own recipe; but feel free to suggest alternatives. Few things bring people back to your business, like their perception of the value they get from you.
Don’t let the fear of giving away money stop you from making a lot of it by giving away some things.
*Vleisbroek (literal translation from Afrikaans: meat pants), rhymes with Facebook. In my opinion, the entire platform’s name should change to that. It flows much more nicely off the tongue.
**No Noob***, this is not the right way to refer to Twitter.
***Noob – a mildly derisive term used by tech boffs to refer to newbies (n00bs). I learnt this the hard way; count yourself lucky.