Dear LPNeur on Facebook,
This article touches a bit on etiquette but it is mainly focused on content for your Facebook business page. In previous articles we have discussed what the users of social media crave for as regarding posts in general but we haven't really gone into the details of a posting strategy. All Facebook page owners or administrators know that great content is essential and that engagement follows as a tool to keep the business or cause in potential consumers' minds. The next step is to take the person out of the social media platform and approach them via phone, email or even face to face.
When living in a small island like Cyprus many times business owners feel betrayed by acquaintances or friends who start doing as they do and they feel they are being followed and mimicked by a certain person. This is reinforced by the fact that it is common practice for similar businesses to start popping up around the same time in a given area. Why is this happening? On one hand, it is a small place and there aren't many options. Once someone tries something and it seems to work, immediately others follow. Is this fair? That doesn't really matter in the end, what matters is that it happens and it is not illegal, so basically there's nothing you can do about it.
This could lead to a lot of antagonism, not pure, healthy competition, but some kind of bitter, awkward feeling that takes a lot of energy from the person who is building up their business or activity. Since Facebook is nothing but the reflection of reality, many page administrators get the same feeling. The danger is that at some point administrators might start finding it extremely difficult to share original content and this might lead to inactivity.
We have to put things into perspective. There are people who are opportunists and there are the ones who sit on the side waiting for someone else to test an idea and then just copy. We have to learn to live with this and just carry on with our plan, focus on our strategy. One way of doing it is to invite these people to work with us (not for us) as we can all benefit from each other. If this is too difficult to pursue we can just ignore them but if we still can't then we need to understand that not only Cyprus or Larnaca but the whole world has become a small place for entrepreneurs. People are aiming more and more at working from home, spending more time with their families and being less dependent on someone else's conditions. The activities or services that can be carried out as new business ideas are limited. The most successful ones in the Facebook environment are the cute or delicious creations like custom jewellery or beautiful dessert ideas. Then we have the entertainers, beauty related activities and services of all kinds. This is Cyprus. Let's not allow this reality to take away our energy, determination and great ideas from us. Let's accept that others can feel attracted by doing what we do and they can do it their own way. It will all fall into place at the end. Not two beauty salons are exactly the same. When the person comes into contact with the service or product, there is a unique chemistry and each consumer will find his favourite place and at the end all business owners will find their niche. There is enough for everyone and we musn't fear or stop doing what we are doing because of others mimicking us. Let's create, share, express and include instead of the opposite. It is a lot more productive to congratulate our 'competitor' and even cooperate when possible than ignore or feel aggravated. Hostility should be completely out of the question. don't you agree?
How's your page doing? I haven't heard from anyone in a long time. I do get visits on my page occasionally. I would like to know if these articles are useful in any way or if you would like me to write about something specific. If it helps you it might help others too.
Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon,
Veronica
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