Henriette Weber learned to code DOS from her uncle when she was nine years old, but she was probably born a social media rockstar. Today she runs the acclaimed social web agency Toothless Tiger. Henriette’s guest post marks a proud moment in the history of this blog.
Creation is the most important thing out there - at least to me it is. When I graduated from Business School less than 10 years ago - I hadn’t heard, not even once - from my teachers that a viable solution to “competing” in a market was to be creating. You would sit down and do your analysis of past company behaviours because it was all that was documented and you would analyze competitive advantages and disadvantages. To me it was very far from the reality I live these days - running my own business where I truly don’t really care that much about my competitors. Most people who want to work with me anyway, want me. Not just a random person to do their social marketing.
They want Henriette Weber.
That’s something I embrace and see as a really big cadeux, because it also means I must be doing someting right. Right? So what have I done? I for sure haven’t spend my time bashing competitors and lowered my prices - hell no. I’ve spend my time putting ideas into actions that shaped me as a person and made people remember me (and highered my prices as a result of what I have created). I have something to show as a business owner. I have a thousand people who calls me “rockstar” on my birthday.
So both Jerry and I are in an industry that is filled with talk about social media this and social media that. What’s really important for me to state is that I believe that social media, generally speaking, can do one thing for you only: get you closer to the people who are in your surroundings. What I think is much more important than the media itself is the creativity that is so much needed in our actions, to be able to exist as companies in this space. We need to get with it and start relating to people. We need to throw away those fancy designed tabs on company’s Facebook pages that tells people to go to a website and sign up for a newsletter. It’s not the right place to do that. Social media is for being social with the people around you and not for billboards that tells you to do something else.
So how do you start creating as a company? You find out what you stand for, and you produce content surrounding what you stand for, that people can relate to, in some way or another. They might like it, or they might not. If they don’t - then they are gone. If they do, you get a stronger relation to them =) they like you more. And it’s really all about the love isn’t it? It’s about finding the trust in the relationship. How do you measure that ? One of the things I measure it by, is that if some of my international connections are coming to Copenhagen, I’m often the first person they ask to meet. Because they love to be around me I guess =)
So we’re sitting in this social media thing and it’s getting more and more filled up. As one of my client said the other day, one of those clients who works with me because I’m me, “I just really love your take on things”. If you don’t show people what your take on things is, if all you do is write and link to, what everybody else is writing and linking to. I’m sorry babe, but your insignificant. You need to start creating. it’s important. For you as a person, but also for the people who wants to connect with you, or might miss out, because you forgot to show them who you where in the midst of the battle of marketshares =).
Bli medlem i PR of Sweden!
