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Monday, May 10, 2010
Is there a magic figure?
Numbers are certainly intriguing but often not as relevant as we think. At networking functions I attend or facilitate I sometimes feel disappointed by the numbers that actually turn up despite making the public pronouncement that numbers really don't do it for me. Funny enough it is often the smaller events that turn out to be the most effective, constructive and enjoyable. No doubt there is a middle ground in there somewhere but targeting an unknown figure is not much fun. I have certainly not set out to acquire vast numbers of friends on Linkedin per se as some people do, particularly using Twitter or Facebook. As I have written before I feel these online social networking systems only truly come into their own when facilitating meeting in person, not what is recorded on screen. However, in the last year from a standing start I have acquired over 500 Linkedin contacts. Have I met them all? No, not yet but the intent is there and the mindset on these issue is not only very meaningful and ultimately self-fulfilling but also introspectively instructive. But here's the horrible rub, I feel quite proud of my 500 plus friends. Does self-awareness obviate hypocrisy? I think not and I'll have to muse on that some more. Even so from a practical point of view it is fantastic. Given, amongst others, I make two bold claims in reference to my business, those being "there's not a door in this town I can't open" and "if I can't help you myself I'll know someone who can" then the greater number of people, not that I know but who know and trust me, the better. As these numbers grow my business becomes easier and importantly more creative. Now "creativity" - there's topic for this town! Cheers, Jonathan.
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Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying about large numbers of followers to some extent, but the main point about gaining many followers or friends is that you have a bigger audience, and the bigger the audience, the more chance you have of a bigger response to your social media.
On the other hand, I have done a few twitter experiments based around numbers of followers. I made a bogus twitter account and tried all of those "get 1000's of new followers" with the account. It now has almost 2000 followers, but the quality of each follower is very small. What I mean is that, every single post I make on that account has zero response (unless it's a thank you for the RT when I RT someone else's post). The 200 twitter followers on my real twitter account give some replies and have a bit of interaction, and that's because I don't use those "1000's of followers" methods, I get them only because of them being interested in what I have to say.
Your target markets have a lot to do with your social media strategy as well, you could be offering a worldwide information product to startup businesses, or a personal product that's only usable in your geographic area by mothers with 2 kids or more under the age of 5. The first one will see you getting many random followers from anywhere, and the latter, a specific bunch of locals that you could probably work better with face-to-face (when the kids are in school or daycare).
Good stuff Jonathan
Paul Groth
Thanks Paul and very interesting feedback, appreciated. I am avoiding Twitter myself and concentrating my efforts on Linkedin, it's all a matter of personal choice, what one is comfortable with and what works for you. When I say "comfortable" I don't mean staying within one's comfort zone but rather doing things that are consistent with one's ethos and "m.o." Cheers, Jonathan.
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