Unless you’ve been living underground, or possibly even if you have been, you can’t fail to have noticed the shitshow that Elon Musk is making of Twitter.
And Threads (by Meta) has jumped on the most recent furore, by launching their own short text social media app (possibly even before it was actually ready, from what I’ve seen so far).
The app gained over 10 million users in just a few hours, and is on the front page of most of the tech news today.
I can’t promise that you can gain the front page headlines, but I can promise you that by capitalising on something that someone else is doing badly, even if you don’t name them, you’ll create conversation on social media or via your blog.
A great way to find out what your competitors are doing wrong is by reading their reviews. Go have a nose on Trust Pilot, their Facebook Page reviews, their Google reviews, and see what people are complaining about.
Maybe you’re a member of an industry group or forum and people have expressed their opinions on there.
Or it could just be something a client or potential client has said in passing about why they chose you instead of another company.
You could:
- Address a specific issue – I recently advised a charity group to write about how transparent they are about where their funding goes, because another charity was in the news about the money not being directed to where donors thought it was.
- Write more generally – taking Threads as an example, have you ever launched something that wasn’t quite ready, and how did it work out for you? Did you ever see someone launch something too soon and suffer for it? Have you ever devised a package or list of services for your business based on what someone else has done? Has seeing someone else do something badly ever made you up your game?
- Think a little more laterally – Threads want to get to one billion subscribers before they start trying to monetise the platform, and want to do things better than Twitter. Why not write about your beliefs and vision or mission for your business? Who do you want to reach? Why? What are your values?
Why?
Specific:Â
Even without mentioning another company, if they’re in your industry specific news, people will know that you’re saying that you’re different. And if they’ve been feeling iffy about something that you put to rest, then they’ll think of you either now or in the future.
General:Â
Talking about your experiences and how you dealt with them makes people see you more as a person, someone that they know more about. It doesn’t have to be wishy washy, but helping people to know more about you helps them to make the decision to use you when they need what you offer.
Lateral:Â
When you write a website, you can’t always get all of the feelings and ideals into your ‘about us’ or ‘mission statement’ page. A blog or social media post can show more of your personality, and help people to know more about whether you fit in with theirs.
If you write something on this and want me to cast an eye over it before you hit post, pop it in an email to nikki@nikki-pilkington.com
This post was originally a content ideas post for all levels of my Content Engine Membership Group. Find out 5 reasons that you need it and join one of 3 levels here.
