How to Avoid an Epic Failure in Social Media for Dance Studios

Today is Day 51 (Wow! I can’t believe it!) in our 90-Day Social Media Success Challenge for Dance Studios, and I’d like to give you some advice on how to avoid epic failure in social media for your dance studio.

First let me say that, there’s no need to aim for perfection in social media for your dance studio. Just relax, take a deep breath, and dive in. Will you make mistakes along the way? Sure. Will you learn through trial and error? Absolutely. Will it be okay? Yes!

Trust me, along with you, I’m also learning the ins and outs along the way, and doing my best to gain more knowledge about social media everyday for your benefit, and mine as well.

There’s no one person who knows everything about social media. It changes too quickly, and there is something new to consider everyday. However, what does consistently stay the same about social media is the emotions of the people involved in it. People are people, so no matter how many changes in the technology of social media, the way that people interact and respond to one another will always remain the same, in social media and in real-life.

People’s dislikes in real-life:

– People who are always out to get something from you.

– People who lie, embellish, or exaggerate.

– Annoying and persistent sales approaches.

– Not saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’.

– Not respecting their space.

– Becoming too familiar too quickly.

– People who claim to have the one secret to “getting rich quick”.

– People who brag.

– People who are overly dramatic.

– People who only talk about themselves, and are not concerned with other people.

– People who try to gather personal information from you for their own benefit.

– People who have no sense of common courtesy.

These dislikes absolutely apply to, and are very much alive and well in social media too. These dislikes, I would suggest, become even stronger in social media because of the large population of people, spammers, and information that is published everyday. One wrong comment, or update, can turn people off, isolate you, and cause you to be labeled as one of “those” people. Those people being people who represent any of the characteristics mentioned above. You might consider this an “epic failure”.

So it’s important to recognize this, and treat and interact with people on social media, pretty much the same way you would do in real life. That means apply the following:

– Be courteous.

– Be genuine.

– Be honest.

– Be patient.

– Take the time to get to know people and build relationships.

– Say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’.

– Don’t talk about yourself (or your dance studio) ALL the time.

– Ask questions about others, and share interesting information that has nothing to do with you.

– Focus on the long-term benefits of building genuine relationships with people, and not a short-term goal of increasing your numbers via social media.

So in short, remember that people are people. Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t make them any less real. Make sure you treat people on social media, with the same respect, warmth, courtesy, and gratitude that you would treat them with in real life. If you do that, you will experience tremendous success for yourself, your dance studio, and your brand, in social media.