Will Your Halloween Costume Go Unnoticed?

Halloween. I used to love getting dressed up and hitting up neighbors for candy. It wasn’t so much about the candy, I was mainly excited about dressing up. Pretty soon, though, you realize there’s only so many things you can dress up as and then it becomes more about how creative you can get with your costume. Everyone can go to a costume store and pick out a mask, or copy last year’s favorites, but that won’t win you any prizes.

You may find that this is also a problem for content on your website. Everyone has a website, a blog, a Twitter, a Facebook, and on and on. There’s so much content out there and so many ways of spreading it! If you’re not standing out, you’re just adding to the noise – you’re just blending in.

So, a few ways you can rise above with your costume content:

1. Add A Little Bit Of You. Just like adding to a person-to-person conversation, add your perspective when you post. Show some personality, relate an experience you’ve faced, offer your insight – then it is immediately original. Here’s an example of a friend of mine who took a pretty normal dinosaur costume idea and mixed in his personality to make it his own – a “tranny-saurus rex.”

2. Take A Chance. Want a real, out-of-the-norm costume? I heard on the news this morning that Lady Gaga’s VMAs meat dress is now a Halloween costume, being sold for $100,000. What?! An extreme example, but she does a good job of using the shock value of her fashion to accompany her music. Without going over the top (read: no smoke and mirrors, no damaging controversy, etc), think of ways you can attract attention to your content by turning heads.

3. Make People Laugh. Use humor to make light of a given topic. When it’s done tastefully, and is actually funny, others will share. Old Spice had success with tying humor into their message earlier this year. I’m pushing for Parthenon’s own Steve Day to go as Isaiah Mustafa this year.

4. Repeat. You’ve got great content, you’re a thought-leader, and now that you’ve convinced others, keep them coming back. Just like a good Halloween costume, if it’s a hit, you’ve got a reputation to uphold.

There are a lot of proverbial ‘ghost costumes’ when it comes to content on the web. Don’t settle for merely participating, provide something original. Task yourself to come up with unique, quality content each time you post to your website, blog, Twitter, etc.

Now get out there and earn your candy! Happy Halloween!