I've noted before the problem with "easy" numbers. Easy numbers are any quantitative measurement that can be gleaned without difficulty from a basic analysis of a marketing strategy. These numbers provide little to no real value, but are simple to measure. For instance, the number of people who registered on your website, or how many downloads of the online coupon there were, are easy numbers.
How many fans or followers your company has on your Social Media platforms are easy numbers.
Social Media is in right now and your business looks cooler if you have a lot of fans or followers - or so many businesses think. And it is so easy to say, "Our biggest competitior has 1000 fans, but we have 2000!"
A Twitter pal who shall remain anonymous points out that, "It's a battle to explain to higher ups that our dedicated fans are more valuable than XXXXX random followers."
Traditional marketing dictates that more numbers equals more audience. As a result, I see a lot of companies who spend their Twitter time telling me to follow them on Facebook. As rpguy_ad says, "It's like being told "hear what we have to say, but drive to our office across town first!" There's only one point in asking Twitter followers to fan you on Facebook - to bump your numbers up and make you look cooler.
Don't waste your precious time and your tenuous connection to your audience by talking about somewhere else they need to be. You have their attention, right now, wherever they and you are, in that very moment. Don't ask them to contact you by email with the details, or join you somewhere else.
Your audience is not a tool.
Your business is probably not the Pied Piper. (Exceptions to this do exist, but aren't as common as ou might believe.)
Social Media is not a flute to be played across the Internet to create a line of followers that drag behind you wherever you go.
Social Media should be used to connect to the market you have and the audience you'd like to reach. Don't make "Follow Me! Follow me!" your message. In fact, forget your message altogether, and just talk to your audience.
Talk to people where you and they already are.
Make the interaction on each Social Media site authentic and unique.
If you make that your primary strategy, then you won't just look cool - you'll be cool. And then you might even have that string of followers after all.
4 comments:
Thank you for such clear insight. A conversation is the goal. I don't like going to parties where the host invited so many people they never even see that I arrived.
@nvanreece Another excellent analogy.
...at least at a party you get food. :-)
I've heard the argument of quality over quantity of fans/followers before, but here you've given the best reason to look for quality. It made me realize my business has always been about a few quality relationships, not preaching to thousands of nameless faces. So why should my social networking strategy change that? I think I may want to look at my current Twitter and Facebook connections to see where I may have a valuable connection lying dormant. Thanks for the food for thought, Erica.
Best,
Bob
@Bob Donohue - What an excellent foundation to build on, Bob. Well put. And thanks for the great idea - it's never too late to build a relationship.
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