There have been many conferences and client phone calls where I was eagerly asked, “what is the next big thing?”

The next big thing. Also known as the next shiny object.

As if there was some secret sauce to digital marketing that I was have hiding in a trunk somewhere in the depths of Jersey. For the record if I did, it would be guarded by The Boss Bruce Springsteen and not Snooki – I’m from the real Jersey Shore.

There is no secret sauce or pie or roast. The key to digital marketing success boils down to three factors:

  1. Consistency
  2. Relevancy
  3. Engagement

At the most recent conference I spoke at, I proposed an idea that allows any business to hit all three points and find digital marketing success. The starting point? Stop thinking like a business, start thinking like a consumer.

Let me start by saying that the top social networks, that are most likely the legs your current digital marketing strategy stands upon, were never intended for businesses.

I don’t recall for the rest of my college years ever connecting with any businesses on TheFacebook.com, which was later changed to Facebook.com and opened up to the public and now I think my mother is on the site more than I am. Even starting a career in digital marketing, I’m still hesitant to connect with businesses that are just so eager to sell to me morning, noon and night via the same social networks I use to keep in contact with my loved ones.

A New Social Strategy: Bring Back the Basics

Facebook was created for students first and when those students graduated it expanded into the general public. Then one day they decided that maybe businesses should join the fun and have their own feature on the site, Facebook Pages. Such is the story for every popular social network.

Over 80 percent of marketers believe that Facebook is “critical” to their business and they can’t get their hands on enough articles about how businesses can use social network properly. Webinars, whitepapers, blogs – it is endless.

Why don’t we go back to the basics – back to the beginning – and start using Facebook and the rest of the social networks like a user? Why can’t we use our own staff as digital faces of our business instead of profile photos being boring buildings and emotionless logos?

Title your new digital face of the business how you please – blogger, social media specialist, online personality – and have them utilize every social network and website out there as if they were a user except they are a user representing your brand. You’re now a person and not another logo or brick building. This opens up your online strategy because now you’re not just writing and posting about your products. Their experiences at your business and in your community are now content.

Think about it. Every social media critic jokes about how these online communities are just average people talking about the weather, what they ate for lunch that day, or if ‘Hunger Games’ is like, way better, than ‘Twilight.’ And then on the other side of the spectrum we have businesses banging their heads against the wall looking for content that works.

Stop thinking like a business, start thinking like a consumer. Stop using social network like a business, start using them like a consumer.

This is my secret sauce.

About the Author

Brian Pasch is the founder of PCG companies. PCG provides customized marketing and training solutions for businesses that are committed to dominate their local market.