Why businesses should stop comparing on social media

I met with 2 separate business owners this week who both brought up how they compare themselves to their *competitors* on social media – how many followers they have, how many comments they get, how often they post, what competitions are they running…

One even considered whether it’s a good idea to buy followers to catch up (!)

[ Firstly ] The *vanity* metrics such as how many followers a page has, doesn’t always give you a true indication of how the business is actually performing. They might look social media savvy but how is it actually transpiring into their business?

[ Secondly ] Each business is actually *unique*, and if you think you have a competitor who is identical to you, you should do some work on what’s called your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which will really outline how you are different, and what clients you really want to attract – You’ll probably be quite surprised as to how different you are from your so-called competitors.

[ Thirdly ] Every business starts somewhere, and that includes *when* they jump on the social media bandwagon. If you pay attention to your business goals and use social media to help get you there, that’s the best way you could be using social media to leverage your business – not worrying about how quick/slow your or other businesses social media pages are growing.

I’d love to know, do you play the comparing game with your business on social media, do you think it helps in a positive or negative way?