Superhero Social Media: The LazyTown’s Guide to Social Networking
July 9, 2013
What could you possibly learn about social networking from a kid’s cartoon featuring a lazy villain, a vegetarian gymnast, and an eternally-optimistic, pink-arrayed young girl?
Lots.
Sometimes expert advice comes from unexpected sources…like LazyTown.
If you have young children, you just may have heard of LazyTown. If not, here’s the background story:
The residents of LazyTown had become inactive over time. That is, until a newcomer named Stephanie arrived and stimulated the town’s athleticism by constantly promoting exercise and health.
The town is also helped by local superhero, Sportacus, who is fiercely devoted to exercise. Sportacus helps to protect the residents from the community’s villain, Robbie Rotten, who opposes all forms of activity and works hard to restore LazyTown to its formerly-sluggish, silent state.
And just as Stephanie and Sportacus work hard to encourage and stimulate activity among the residents of the town, every social networker should strive to do the same for their social community. Unfortunately, many well-meaning social networkers have social media accounts that look like LazyTown.
In their defense, many of them aren’t exactly sure of what to do on social media. They haven’t quite learned what will stimulate activity on their social sites nor what will help them win loyal customers.
If the heroes of Lazy Town were to have a social media account, it’s sure to attract and engage a large community.
Here are five lessons we can learn from the admirable superhero and his sidekick who always manage to triumph over any challenges in the end.
Lesson #1 – Activity must be consistent in order to prove successful.
Just as the residents of LazyTown had to learn that to achieve positive results, their activity had to be consistent, social networkers have the same lesson. Posting or tweeting sporadically won’t get you the results you’re after.
Decide on an optimal number of times to update your social network and commit to it. Schedule it on your calendar and follow through. A minimum of 3 updates on Facebook and 6 on Twitter each day is a good target to aim at achieving.
Lesson #2 – Interacting with the town residents (your social community) is necessary in order to help them.
In order to keep their town’s residents motivated and engaged, Stephanie and Sportacus had to personally interact with them daily.
Automating some of your social media updates can be very helpful for those times of day you’re not readily available. But be careful about putting all of your social activity on autopilot. Your community needs your personal interaction too.
Lesson #3 – You can’t let your “villains” keep you too occupied.
LazyTown’s villain, Robbie Rotten, worked hard to keep Sportacus and Stephanie silent, and to discourage any form of activity among the residents.
Many distractions will threaten to pull you away from consistently sharing updates on social media. It’s easy to let the “villains” of busyness, tiredness, forgetfulness, and disorganization take over, and your community suffers as a result. To avoid low engagement and the loss of interest in your social community, be consistent and stick to your goals.
Lesson #4 – A good leader will strive to meet their community’s needs.
When she arrived in LazyTown, Stephanie quickly assessed that the residents needed to get active in order to be healthy. By watching what was happening in the town, she was able to see what their needs were.
To meet your social community’s needs, take some time to observe what’s happening in their lives. Ask questions and find ways to help solve their problems or inspire them to reach their goals with your posts and tweets.
Lesson #5 – Every superhero must have a special flair.
Stephanie is recognized by her solely pink-colored attire and Sportacus by his athletic prowess. They are easily identifiable wherever they show up.
You want your identity, or brand, to be just as recognizable. What’s unique about you that will set you apart from all the others? Love cooking? Share a recipe. Love reading? Share your latest read. Find what makes you you
and share it with your community.
These five lessons from LazyTown are just the beginning of the superheroes’ wisdom for social networking. If you’ve watched the show with your kids before, can you think of any other lessons from LazyTown that could be added?
