Dating web sites vs. Social Media

Now that the Valentine’s Day deluge of online dating web site commercials has retreated for another 11 months, I can safely troll a few popular sites for some social media R&D. What I hope these sites reveal are the parallels of the laws of attraction and truth in advertising compared to our social media effort. Like a singelton with an online dating profile, social media participants are putting it all out there for the world to see.

Let’s explore some of these parallels:

Profiles without a photo will not be considered

Dating site: People want to know who they are talking to. And let’s face it, attraction matters. According to Match.com, members with good profile pics get 15 times the attention of those with none.

Social Media: Putting a human face into your online persona sends the message that you are the genuine article, rather than an anonymous chatterbox. A logo is fine, but you might be missing the opportunity to be the real face behind the brand. Find a way to integrate both?

What do you have to offer?

Dating site: With dating sites, you have fill out (seemingly endless) questionnaires about your personality traits, physical aspects and interests. To attract your ideal match, you want to have a catchy screen name and clever, enticing intro paragraph. Unlike social media, an online dating service isn’t a conversation forum, but rather like a menu. You can hunt and peck anonymously for whatever appeals to you and never have to actually talk to anyone (or order anything). To form any kind of connection to someone that interests you on the surface, you must engage them with a “wink” or an email. Whether or not they get back to you can be a mild slap to the ego, confirmation of mutual interest, or a heartbreaker.

Social Media: With social media, its easy to acknowledge someone who chimes in on your conversation or @replies you – without the emotional commitment. Its also an unfortunate opportunity to try to sell you something right off the bat. Don’t be one of those people. Fans and followers – qualified fans and followers will be attracted to your online personality and flock to you because they want to. Like an elevator speech, a successful bio will capture the best you have to offer in a very short burst of self-promotion. Put your best face (and keywords) forward.

Tell me about yourself, but ask me about me

Dating site: What are your hobbies, interests, passions? Is there something you are passionate about? Tell me about it. Engage and entice me with our possible mutual interests.

Social Media: Its been said that the ideal ratio of non-self promotional Twitter tweets should be 12:1. That means ask me about ME. Share information about others. Ask my opinion of something that matters to you. Like dating: don’t just talk about yourself all day long. You’ll lose me five minutes into our relationship.

Getting that second date

Dating site: If you are lucky enough to really connect with someone at first blush, you want to give them a reason to see you again. Gush over them, compliment them, make a concerted effort to gain their trust and affection. Same goes for social networking.

Social Media: You want repeat business. Your first impression, further engagement and nurturing of the relationship from that first connection is key to gaining a return visit. Don’t just love them once and leave them, give your fans and followers a reason to check back in with you. Stay interesting, provide quality content and commentary, superior service and product, and they’ll be back – with their friends.

Can you find other parallels between social media participation and online dating web sites?

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