A friend of mine, who also runs her own business, posted on social media recently that her style doesn’t suit everyone. She is completely OK with that, but conceded that it has taken her a long time to get to that point. Like many of us, in the past she thought she needed to adapt or curb her natural mode of operating to suit others. She was trying to be all things to all people. But instead she has now found her ‘client niche’ and is reaping the rewards of that.
Your social media content is another great example of this. We all use social media for different reasons and respond to content in different ways. Some people will love your witty Facebook posts – the same posts will annoy others. Some people will be bored by a stream of factual posts – others prefer to read only useful information. For some businesses, a combination of both types of posts might work. But for most of us, we need to provide content, and provide it in a particular style, suited to our audience. Your social media followers decided to follow you for a reason: they liked what they saw. They won’t remain followers if the content strays too far.
This is not to say that your service delivery has to take a ‘cookie cutter’ approach and treat everyone exactly the same. Some people need more help than others. Some people need more information than others. My swim coach described this well to me recently. He stated that he tailors his feedback and advice to each person. There is no point demanding the same changes to technique for each person, when they are at different ability levels, or have bodies that are incapable of making that particular change. However, his approach and coaching style is the same with everyone.
You can’t be everything to everyone and not everyone is going to like you. Assuming you aren’t the world’s meanest ogre, you are going to find customers who respond to your way of operating and relating. Do not adopt a style that is naturally not ‘you’ for the sake of attracting customers. You won’t be authentic and it is not sustainable.
