Everyone wants to be a winner online as though they were vying for the title in So You Think You Can Dance, Canadian Idol, American Idol or whatever else. It’s all about how many “fans” you have on Facebook, how many people “like” you online, how many “followers” you have on Twitter, how many people viewed and shared your YouTube video, and so on. There’s a constant anxiety over issues like “what if someone unlikes me on Facebook?” All this reminds us of high school days when being the most popular person in school was so incredibly important.
In all fairness, it’s not completely a bad thing. Wanting to become popular online and using social media to build your fan following is a worthy goal. However, one needs to go beyond just hitting a target in numbers.
Step into the shoes of your target customer for a moment and think — if you were on a website looking for a home security product, for instance. Sure you may be impressed by a huge number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers that the company has. But would that convince you and make you feel comfortable enough to buy the product? Or would you look for customer testimonials, warranties, industry certifications, quality seals and other credibility factors?
The fact is, many business owners get caught in the rush of a new trend and find themselves overwhelmed when things change too fast; and not always for the better. As far as social media and online credibility is concerned, remember what I mentioned in my previous post, the truth will always prevail. So while you can shine and polish the surface, make sure that when your customers dig deep, they will strike gold.
