How To Avoid The 'Facebook Effect' Don't let perceived realities – of your business or those of your competitors – derail your strategies.

As a young entrepreneur, I received my first bit of publicity from a daily in Durban. It was massively exciting and stroked my ego tremendously because after all, what I had achieved was considered newsworthy enough to be published in a newspaper.

There was a big photo of me on page four, with my interview where I talked about the success of a promotion I had conceived and implemented. My friends saw the article and called to congratulate me, and in my distant social circles people discussed my story and congratulated me too.

What they didn't know was that my business was barely breaking even at the time. The perception of my success was very different to my reality. I proudly showed the article to my mentor (naively expecting a pat on the back) and instead he asked: "Do you believe what they say?" "What do you mean?" I said. "Do you believe all the things the journalist has written about you in the article?" he asked again.

I didn't answer him because I knew deep down that they weren't all true. I wasn't the hugely successful businessman that I was portrayed as in the article.

"If you believe all the good things the press write about you, you'll also believe all the bad things they say. Be grateful for the press, but do not let it govern your emotions."

Beware curated reality

In today's era of social media, fake news, memes, and overly filtered photos, it's very easy to become envious of the perceived lives that others showcase.

Much like the envy we experience when scrolling through our friends' posts of their expensive destination holidays — where they can be seen showing off their tanned, ripped bodies while sipping expensive champagne — the same type of envy occurs between business owners when they scroll through competitor's company timelines and witness their competitors winning great awards, attending glitzy launches and receiving kudos from the press.

In my experience, the perception created by these often-boastful social media posts is seldom close to reality. Like the article on my Durban business, what my friends perceived was nowhere near my financial reality.

Be cognisant and sceptical of this curated reality, so that you as a business do not react in one of two ways to a competitor's posts:

1. Don't try to emulate their strategy based on what seems to be working
2. Don't end up feeling depressed based on your jealousy of this curated reality.

Instead, your reaction to witnessing these posts should be to:

1. Frame your competitors' posts simply as marketing

They have carefully curated these posts to only show followers the great things about their businesses, products and services. The "make-up' hides the imperfections.

2. Use your emotions to make a change

Use the energy their posts ignite inside of you — not the content they project — and pump that energy into YOUR strategy to reinforce it.

3. Drive your differentiator harder

Make sure your business stands out as being unique and a thought leader in its industry and not one attempting to copy others. Your differentiator should not be influenced by what you are seeing either positively or negatively.

Always remember, your competitors' posts represent selective truth-telling because they curate what they want you to see online. They will never post when times are tough and they are losing clients and not making a profit at the end of the month. Don't believe everything you see, and most importantly, don't let these "perceived realities' affect you or your business strategy in any way.