You've seen the people with 5K+ followers - pretty impressive right? Then your eyes travel to their number of Tweets column which is more like 100K! Now I'm thinking - a) Does this person ever sleep? b) This person has to tweet 20 times in order to accumulate 1 follower...??
phew! - that sounds like a lot of work, and could be construed as only offering something of value 20% of the time.
It may be your lofty goal to reach the double or triple K digits - and that's great! But consider the impact you are making along the way - Contrary to what you may believe, it doesn't always relate back to the number of 'followers' you may have amassed.
I recently surpassed my own modest, yet strategic personal goal of 500 followers - but what I'm most happy about with this elite but dedicated bunch of folks, is that I did it in under 1000 tweets.
The way I like to describe this is your tweet : follow ratio.
T:F = The number of tweets it takes to gain one follower.
If I have 960 tweets / 501 followers = 1.9 (or 1.9 tweets to get one new follower)
- the lower your number, the greater your influence. Get it?
However elementary or dumbed-down this may seem.... you have to admit, it makes you think....
What it may help you consider is the impact of your tweets and their ability to UP your influence and credibility with less effort.
Now, I'm not saying that you can't get creative with your tweets and have some fun, or post a photo of an odd-shaped piece of fruit now and then... But I would rather know that I am making enough of an impression with one tweet to turn heads of the people I want, than to wonder if anyone is listening at all.
Here are a few ways you can increase your impact and use twitter to UP your influence and lower up your T:F ratio. Most of these things are nothing new:
- Create an Online Social Profile - which is a fancy way of saying, know your target audience or groups online. Where they hang, what they like, etc.
- Know your Key Messages - this not only helps determine WHOSE heads you need to turn, but what key words and messages will get them clicking.
- Every interaction is an opportunity - Don't throw them away. Also, Thank yous go a long way.
- Make me need you - When I hear from you, will you: point me to a relevant article, bring up industry issues, introduce me to people, alert me of events, provide advice that saves me time, money or frustration, even slide in a clever "inside" joke that only I would get....
“Now I know you’re talking to me. Now I’m intrigued. (Follow)”
This may also help take the pressure off of those who feel they HAVE to be on social media 24/7 or risk missing out on opportunities or that ONE BIG FISH! breathe.... step back, and rethink your 160 characters.
A great quote from Seth Godin and the book, Tribes "An individual artist needs only a thousand true fans in her tribe. It's enough.”