If you ask any ten people what are the top 2 social media platforms today, I guarantee that most of them will say Facebook and Twitter. If you’d asked the same question 5 years ago, I bet the answer would have been different – My Space and Facebook.
That’s a pretty significant shift in just a few short years. MySpace was considered to be a juggernaut in its day and it seemed impossible that it could be overtaken, and yet Twitter – the micro-blogging social media platform – now has over 100 million users and it too seems unbeatable.
A recent story in CNN talked about how a new company in the US is developing a competing platform for Twitter, and they hope that by resolving the most common complaints with Twitter (ease of use, character limits, etc) they would be the next big thing. The question that this immediately brought to mind for me was – why hasn’t Twitter fixed these issues themselves? Or, will they be forced to now?
The company that rests on its laurels is apt to be left in the dust as new competitors seek to create newer, more innovative products. How do you counteract that?
One is simply continuous research and development. Ask your customers what they would like to see improved and use their feedback as impetus to improve your next product or service.
Two is creating brand loyalty. I have a cousin who, despite the almost ubiquitous presence of Facebook these days, still insists on maintaining her MySpace page because she’s loyal to the brand and loves that particular community.
When you have a brand that your customers love, and you strive to constantly improve your product/service to make them happy, you can keep the competitors from nipping at your heels.
