I was involved in a conversation with a new business owner the other day.  He knew that he wanted to use social media to grow his business and was discussing how he planned to set up a blog and post multiple times a day.  Sounded good, blogging is a great way to increase your web traffic and create a presence for your business.  But something wasn’t right in my mind.  Here was a new business owner, networking to grow word of mouth referrals, and a novice to web marketing.  I didn’t see a clear connection between his efforts to start blogging and growing his business.  I also know – from experience – that when you start blogging and the hits don’t immediately come, it can be frustrating.  Too often I’ve seen fired up new bloggers loose their passion when they didn’t see immediate returns.  I was concerned that my friend might become a victim to this syndrome.

As we talked more about his business, I discovered that he works in the landscaping business and specializes in doing landscape designs for home owners.  He’s networked with outdoor gardening shops and worked hard to get his company noticed.  His company will create a landscape layout for a very reasonable rate (if you’d like more info on his service, email me).  It seemed like a great business model.

So my brain started to process what he offered, and how I might be interested in his service.  To be honest, I do not have a green thumb, so I’m the last guy who’d spend a lot of time on my landscaping.  However, I do enjoy watching those HGTV shows where they talk about landscaping and remodeling.  I also know that I love to see fun pictures and videos of my friends on Facebook as they remodel or update their homes, landscapes, etc.  A little light went on inside my head…

What if, instead of spending lots of time blogging, he just took a camcorder, went to local garden store and talked about the various plants and how they can be used to improve curb appeal.  With very little effort, he could create short video segments that would have a great deal of interest to novices who need to upgrade their home’s look.  By creating a YouTube page and posting his videos on Facebook, it seems natural that he’d get some traction and web traffic.  If he could cultivate this traffic by getting folks to sign up for a newsletter or video of the month, he could begin building his tribe of fans, customers, and referral partners.  With a little creativity, he might be able to get the garden shop to pitch in a few bucks in exchange for sponsorship mentions.  Bada boom, Bada bing.  Business is off and running.

The key here is to use social media and web tools to reinforce your DNA.  Don’t try to change who you are to fit some ‘conventional wisdom’ of what you should do.  In this case, there is much more potential interest in fun, fact filled, videos than in blog posts.  In addition, if he can feature his customers and real life case studies into his business, he’ll create a ‘buzz’ that only helps to grow his exposure.

That is the best way to look at social media and the web.  Ask yourself, what would I like to see a company like mine put out?  Then have fun with it.  If your fun is blogging, great.  If it is video, fantastic.  Maybe it is Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook…  It really doesn’t matter.  Just find what works for you and go after it with a passion.    Your tribe is waiting to hear from you.