Observations from a Twitter Newbie – and My New Twitter Commandments

After creating my Twitter account about a year ago, I gave up rather quickly, feeling frustrated that I couldn’t get lots of followers quickly and that I needed to be on it for hours a day in order for it to work.  I now know that I was wrong, and have recently started really getting back into Twitter.  Now I think I get it much better than previously, and have vowed to give it another shot.

I have noticed a few things, though – there is a lot of clutter on Twitter.  It seems like everyone there is a social media or SEO expert, giving advice on how to succeed on Twitter.   Those who aren’t are selling programs for getting tens of thousands of followers.  I like to think that I’m smart enough not to fall for that.  How can there be any quality from buying your way to followers?

I’ve also noticed that getting followers is the end-all-be-all for many people, so everything they do has the sole purpose of getting more followers.  I fell for it myself for a while – retweeting something I really didn’t care about just to get noticed.  Complimenting someone when I didn’t really mean it in the hopes they’d follow me, and following people I had no interest in just so they would hopefully follow me back.  All that has left me feeling shallow and phony – if that’s what Twitter’s about, I want no part of it.

But I don’t feel that that’s what Twitter’s about.  I think that if you find your way through the fluff, you can find some quality people.  So here are my own commandments for proceeding with Twitter, my way:

1.       I will not follow anyone unless I am genuinely interested in them.  This may mean I will have less followers, but at least they will be genuine.
2.       I will not retweet something unless I really like it.
3.       I will not compliment someone unless I really mean it.
4.       Everything I do on Twitter will be real, not just in order to get followers.
5.       I will give to the Twitter community: quality posts, discussions, questions, answers.

So obviously these things apply to real life also – funny that it took Twitter to remind me to be real, to give, and hopefully I will get back.  Be a resource, and people will respond.  Only time will tell if this will work for me on Twitter.  Wish me luck!

Too Much Self-Promoting on Social Sites

One of our clients recently started a jewelry business and created a fan page on Facebook, so to support him, I became a fan.  Within minutes, I received the first status update: “I’m excited to announce my new jewelry business!  We offer a wide variety of gold necklaces, rings, and bracelets for any occasion.”  An hour later, I received another update which was very similar.  A few hours later: “Hi everyone!  One of our items would make a perfect gift for your loved one’s birthday!”  And so on for a few days, with much of the same on Twitter and LinkedIn.

He called me a few days later, extremely frustrated.  “I don’t understand why people aren’t placing orders!  My products are great! I’m trying so hard – you saw my updates.  Not one person responded!  I don’t know what else to do!”

Should he be surprised?  I’d be impressed if he managed to keep any of his connections from being totally annoyed.  I tried to offer him some advice, and here’s what I said, “Imagine going to a chamber or some other networking group, and being in a room with about 100 other people, all getting to know each other, passing business cards, and doing the typical networking. 

Imagine that in the beginning of the meeting, you walk up to the microphone and say, “Hi, I’m Larry, and I own a jewelry business.”  Then 5 minutes later you walk up to the mic and say, “Hi, it’s Larry again…remember, I have some great rings and necklaces for any occasion.”  Then a half hour later, “Hi, Larry here again…for the next 15 minutes I will offer 50% off of any items.”  And the same types of announcements every 10 minutes.  What would you expect people to think of you?  His eyes opened as he realized the point I was making.

I believe that the same networking principles from real life apply to social networking sites, except that with social networking everything is much more powerful since EVERYONE sees it IMMEDIATELY, so you need to be all the more careful .  Just as personal networking does not yield immediate results, the same is true of social media.  Remember, you’re planting seeds for the future, not prospecting for immediate sales - hunting vs. farming. 

Continual promotional messages are annoying, and no one likes someone who’s all about themselves all the time.  Just like networking in real life, the idea should be: get to know people, make sure they know what you do, keep in contact with them, and then when they have a need for your product or service, they will think of you and call you.  Annoy them now, and they never will.

So on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, offer some value to those you are connected with.  Give them a reason to stay in touch.  Engage them in conversations that are not about you.  Ask questions, ask for help when you need it, and offer help when others need it.  You can promote yourself once in a while, but keep this to a minimum.  Have fun contests and giveaways.  Do this and people will like you and keep you “top of mind,” which is what it’s all about.  Then when the need for your service or product comes up, they will think of you.