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On Facebook And Twitter, Numbers Only Tell Half The Story
It’s not how many people follow you on Twitter, it’s how many people are paying attention to you.
It’s not how many Facebook likes you have, it’s how many of those people are giving you their attention.
Starting to see a trend?
It’s true of all marketing. You don’t have a message if no one is paying attention.
Yes, you need to get a critical mass of people who are connected to you but that number does not have to be large. The tweet that went viral when the Osama bin Laden story was breaking came from someone with about 1,000 followers. But he had credibility and that is what moved the dial.
There are many ways to game the system and get lots of Twitter followers, especially since many people on Twitter have a policy of following anyone who follows them. On Facebook there are ways to bribe people to “like” you or pay for followers by advertising. Those connections are not meaningful and you don’t have any clout with them.
Instead, build your network with people who naturally gravitate to you. Then share in a way that makes it worth their while to pay attention to you.
Image source: flickr (4everyoung)
Stephanie Schwab
Stephanie Schwab is the founder and on the faculty of Social Media School. She has been creating and managing corporate social media strategies and presences since 2004 and blogging personally since 2005. You can follow Stephanie on Twitter @socialologist or visit her blog at www.stephanieschwab.com.
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The Social Media School blog covers business marketing topics – social media marketing, internet marketing, entrepreneurship, small business issues and more.
