10,000 Twitter Followers. Who Gives A &^%$#@
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Have you gotten caught up in the all the social media hype? I know that I'm on a bit of a rant today but it seems like the only thing people talk about these days is social media. Don't get me wrong, I use social media as much as the next guy - but I'll be the first to tell you that it can be largely overrated.
I was recently talking to a friend about Facebook. He told me that he had over 500 friends. I quickly responded by telling him that I had more than 700 connections on LinkedIn. He fired back telling me that he had over 5,000 Twitter followers. I laughed out loud and told him that I'm flirting with 10,000 followers on Twitter (@mfleischner).
Then he asked the most powerful questions of all, "What's the point?"
And he was right - for the most part. The reality is that many of your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Google+ circles, and so on will never really account for more than a number. It's true that you can leverage your base through some type of linear dialog but don't expect to be going to ball games with people on your list. The typical back and forth can be somewhat meaningless. You know, the I post something, you post something banter! But at the end of the day, many of these people are not your friends and will likely not buy what you have to offer.
How to Use Social Media For Profit
The question I seem to get a lot is how to build social media for profit. Even though my general accounts are a mix of friends, followers, and lookers, other accounts that I've developed are small but focused. For example, those following this blog are all interested in marketing, Internet marketing, or SEO. This is a homogenous group that I depend on for feedback and interaction. In fact, I use your comments to shape what I talk about on this blog.
When you have a voice in a specific group, focused on a specific topic, the audience is much more likely to pay attention to what you're reading, what websites you use, and even the products your buying. That's typically how you can earn affiliate commissions or promote your own products.
Getting Started
The best place to start with any social media marketing campaign is at the beginning. Think through what your goals are, what you will cover, and specifically, who your target is. Regardless of objective, belonging to your social media circle is going to have to produce value. What makes you unique? What information can you provide that no one else does? What's your draw?
After you've started to generate content for your audience and share information or resources that create value, then, and only then, can you start to monetize your social media accounts. Posting information on products or services, ad revenue, and other streams of income are possible if you have an engaged audience. Keep in mind however, that you'll have to nurture relationships if you want to make the most of your social media accounts. Said another way, social media isn't a used car show room - its a place where you build relationships.
Think 2 step marketing. Using social media is really all about relationships. Once you've developed a relationship the next step is to spend more time together and share what you have. For example, when I launched my book, SEO Made Simple, I gave away a full SEO chapter of the book on the Marketing blog out of respect and appreciation for my readers.
From my perspective, this is the best way to build relationships over the long term using social media. In addition to getting the word out, social media has a lot of benefits even if a large portion of your audience isn't all that engaged. Social media isn't about numbers, it's about relationships!
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
30 comments :
Michael - great post. To often people get caught up with how many followers or friends they have. But if you can't utilize that resource for your benefit what does it matter?
If you are not able to interact and do something with that mass amount of followers, it means nothing.
Hi Michael,
Is as if you had read my mind! On my main Twitter account I'll be reaching 10,000 followers soon and although I interact frequently with them, I haven't actually monetize my relationship with them. Same thing goes for Facebook and LinkedIn. I was thinking a couple weeks ago that at the end it goes back to basic marketing and how to acquire new leads from within your networks.
Currently I'm writing a book and just like you, I've been thinking on giving away one chapter to all my readers. When I release it, I'll tell you how I did.
Thanks for the post.
This is very factual.. regardless of how many followers, of FB friends you have , if you don't build any relationship with them it is no use to have that many connections. Social media is not just collecting numbers of followers and likes... it is connecting with them and interacting with them as well.
Michael, this the first time I have read your blog. I enjoyed this post.
Regarding Facebook, I often say to friends why do you have so many friends on your list who you don't speak with or social with? Their response being 'I don't know'. I do not see the point in having so many friends on my list.
Thanks for your share
I couldn't agree more. I used to think it mattered, but now that I've got more than 12,000 Fans on Facebook, I have to ask myself, what do I get out of this? The answer is... I have 12,000 fans on facebook. Waste of time. I'll spend my time reading SEO Made Simple and actually make some progress :)
Mr Credit
Hello Michael - what a great article on social networking... I am old school and putting it off since it's been pretty intimidating to me since I know very little about it and how it works but just this week I started my first site on twitter and facebook and so when I read your subject header and first paragraph, I said oh s... I did this all for nothing!? And so I read and so glad I did. You lit up the ole lightbulb and for that I say, thank you.
Hi Michael,
My question is that if I don't have the sufficient friends and followers than how I utilize social media.
Like some of the others here, this is my first time seeing your blog and I like where your heads at. I'm not sure I COMPLETELY believe that having a lot of fans is good for nothing... it makes for an INCREDIBLY targetted ad criteria. For instance I have 10,000 fans in one of my niches, and I use that to target facebook ads towards ONLY those people who liked my post... Gets me REALLY cheap ads...
Otherwise, I agree... likes mean NOTHING if you aren't using FB ads...
This is very interesting as many are caught up in "how many following do I have on Twitter" probably now more so with Charley Sheen getting all the followers on Twitter. The medium is important to be able to communicate with your customers and relay some valuable information, but when you provide a service, especially, SEO, I believe a new client would laugh if I said, I have 10K followers, how about that!
I'm questioning the whole Social Media MArketing thing in its entirety, there is valid doubt here and I also recently read that even using FB ads is less successful that anywhere else on the internet. Apparently FB has a considerably lower click-through rate than other ads on the internet.
I was so impressed that I got around 3500 Twitter followers for a start and a couple of years ago when I used the account more I did get a few click throughs but hardly any conversions from it.
I figure now that I was using it in the wrong way, first of all now I am using targetted Twitter accounts around a specific brand that I have. I don't just approve anybody either it is about being hands on with the Twitter account rather than automating it.
I certainly don't link to affiliate sites or anything like that, more direct people to fresh content that we produce or point them to other useful info.
I much prefer Facebook on the social media side of things and see it as more of a good investment of time.
However all that said reweets of webpages do according to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz have a lot of benefit in pushing sites up the rankings :)
So social media yes but in proportion
Thanks
Lynne
Excellent tips, social media's impact can not go undetermined!
Hi Michael,
This is my first visit to your blog and I've been kicking around the idea of trying to monetize my twitter followers but who has the time to develop a relationship with a couple thousand followers?
I barely talk to the people I need to talk that I already have a relationship with!
I guess there's some practical value somewhere in there but right now I just don't see it.
Anyway thanks for the post and look forward to checking out future entries.
Like some others here is my first time seeing your blog and I like the head. I'm not sure I totally believe that fans have a lot of good for nothing ... allows a targeted ad incredibly criteria. For example, I have 10 000 fans in one of my niche, and use it to target ads to Facebook to only those who have enjoyed my message ... I get very cheap ... ad
Otherwise, I agree ... love means nothing if not the ads FB ...
You nailed it Michael, clearly reading the minds of social users everywhere. Facebook seems to me to be moving steadily in the direction of Myspace circa 2006. Is this the start of the end for that platform? -AR
I've never really gotten into social media myself, but I've been told that the biggest challenge is the time it takes to keep in touch with all of those friends/followers/contacts. I guess I'd rather have 100 loyal followers that I know me well and will be likely to convert than 10,000 that followed me because they liked my infographic.
Quality not quantity is the key here! The better the follower, the more likely to buy!
Unfortunately I have encountered this same issue time and time again, which leads me to believe that the number does actually bare some relevance.
Yes, we can talk about targeted lists and the quality of followers, but the truth of the matter is that people immediately look to the number of followers as a gauge of success.
Companies with only a few followers, no matter how loyal and targeted, can act as a negative reflection on the company and its popularity. The same goes for personal accounts such as LinkedIn. The more contacts you have the more you are deemed to be successful and credible, even if that is not necessarily the case.
Social media has unfortunately pushed us further in this direction.
id love to follow this blog, for sure there are lots of new and trending idea this blog can offer.
All of my twitter followers are in my industry, so i wouldn't necessarily care if I had 10 followers or 10,000. I won't be profiting off of other graphic designers any time soon so what's the point!
The numbers! good points and something I have wondered the entire time. Social Media plays into all of our egos and they HOPE we want to add more and more friends, likes and so on. Nothing more than a popularity contest in high school if you don't focus the group as you suggested. Why some are so obsessed with the numbers but they don't equal a sale is just mind blowing!
The point of concern is to get followers of your relevant niche. If you succeed in achieving that, it will be your huge success rather than getting thousands of followers from totally irrelevant niche and it will be all useless. The article contains useful info. Thanks
Having loads of on line friends and followers might seem at first sight as something big but if you'd generalize what Yury Mintskovsky says about the fact that roughly 0.1% of a website's viewers actually click on the links available on the certain site then you might end up with a small number of actually relevant followers. This being said, I'd say the more they are, the better the chances of your success.
Great article. I'm a big believer in offering a massive education up front. This is a great way of engaging with your audience for the long term. I'm also mindful that it is not all about the numbers, but the quality of followers you have on Twitter.
Great Article!!!! Twitter is completely useless, I track all traffic on my site and get nothing from Twitter no matter how much I tweet, follow or be followed. Not a good to for network marketing. Facebook on the other hand has resulted in new clients and traffic, but it also takes a lot of work to get a following.
Social media can do a lot of good to your business if you manage to build targeted followers.
Excellent article. I'm a big believer in providing a large training in the beginning side. This is an excellent way of appealing with your visitors for the future. I'm also careful that it is not all about the statistics, but the quality of enthusiasts you have on Tweets.
I got my strategy of getting 10 000 twitter followers. I am just buying theme from Buysocials :), grate service.
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twitter is the largest social network.So buy twitter followers for your business and get more traffic. Thanks for nice information.
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