Maurice Harary, CEO/Co-Founder - The Bid Lab
Maurice Harary is the CEO/Co-Founder of The Bid Lab
Can you give our readers some background on the main social platforms you use to grow your business?
Paid Ads: Paid ads can either be your best friend or your worst nightmare. If not managed properly, they can ineffectively represent your brand, be served to the wrong audience, and do nothing to attract the type of customer you are after. (We’ve been there.) If executed effectively, they can tell your company’s story, reach people whom you wouldn’t have touched otherwise, and track every single interaction. (Now we’re here!)
Can you share a memorable example of how you leveraged social media to achieve significant business growth or a specific marketing objective?
Organic Content: More than half of our leads are from people reading our articles. It’s a long-term investment because our 100+ articles have taken us years to develop and refine, but they pay huge dividends. Plus, we’re constantly refreshing our content with new information. In our article Why Should I Search for RFPs Online we provide multiple options for updated, online RFP search engines.
What strategies or tactics have you found successful in building and engaging your social media audience?
As people evolve, they become more sophisticated in their understanding of when and how they are being marketed to. This is why it is more important than ever to be authentic and honest in your advertising. Much like the de-influencer trend on TikTok, many people are looking for more authentic examples of how to live their lives and thus respond to more genuine, human, and even “messy” marketing. Don’t be afraid to add the imperfect or perfectly human into your advertising approach. People make lifelong connections to brands that are relatable and your honest humanity in marketing will be your greatest asset in a world craving more authenticity and less perfection.
Are there any quick fixes that anyone can make to instantly improve their personal or business social profile?
Guerilla Marketing: Find cheaper and nontraditional ways to advertise your services to really make yourself stand out from the crowd of competitors. We just launched our new RFP search engine, Bid Banana, so we’re sending banana gear to clients. This quirky form of advertisement creates a lasting impression and really sets us apart, while also conveying our spirit of fun and positivity.
Is there any one tactic you'd recommend to people who want to grow their business using social media?
Marketing approaches can vary across different cultures; what works in one culture may not necessarily be effective in another. Straight-forward marketing strategies employed in Japan might not work as well as they would in the United States, for example, because Japan is a high-context culture. In high-context cultures, communication tends to be more indirect, and marketing messages may rely largely on visual imagery and symbolism. Meanwhile, in low-context cultures, communication is more explicit. Marketing messages may focus more on the specific features and benefits of a product. The differences don't stop there. Japan has a more individualistic streak, whereas a country like China values collectivistic messaging. Companies will do better marketing personal benefits on an individualistic level than they will in China, where a company would want to think about promoting benefits to society as a whole.
Are there any accounts you follow to find inspiration for your own content?
I was greatly impacted by the book The Go-Giver by Bob Burg. That book specifically focuses on taking the attention off of getting and redirecting your intention to giving. It’s a powerful foundational shift.
Can you share any insights on creating compelling and shareable content on social media that resonates with your target audience?
Fear is the number one aspect that holds people back from getting out of their comfort zone. And for good reason. Being vulnerable and authentic takes work and it is scary. It’s been said many times because it is so very true, you can’t let fear win. Often, we are afraid to be who we are in the world because we fear rejection, but it’s far better to be rejected for yourself than for someone you’re pretending to be. And every failure, every rejection just gets you one step closer to success.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts and how often do you do this?
We recently launched our new RFP search engine, Bid Banana. We wanted to make searching for RFPs both easy and accessible, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. I am beyond proud of what we have been able to accomplish. We’ve created a search engine that pulls RFPs from all over and puts them into a user-friendly interface. You can search by RFP due date, keywords, location, etc. We even added a favorites feature so you can save multiple bids and compare them to see which one is the right option for your business. Allowing small and medium-sized businesses access to RFPs in an easy to comprehend format really emphasizes what we are most passionate about - helping businesses grow to achieve their full potential.
Finally, looking ahead, what emerging trends or changes do you foresee in the social media landscape, and how do you plan to adapt your social strategy to meet them?
There is an old Japanese proverb: “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” Throughout the years as we have continued to expand and grow, there have been inevitable hiccups along the way. The key to overcoming these hiccups is that we EXPECTED them to happen. You have to be prepared for and accept bumps in the road when you are trying to do something great. What’s great is that we always get back up, even if the fall was so hard it sometimes takes a second to heal.
