Monday 20 October 2014

Knowing Me, Knowing You..who are you following, and why?

If you're reading this, the likelihood is that you're using social media. That's the obvious part. But I'm also hedging that you're more into social media than the perfunctory browse, swipe and tap. I'm also betting that you may be familiar with a certain Nordic pop group, who were Sweden's biggest export during the 1970's, and wrote hit after hit, for nearly a decade. But that's not important right now.

What is important, is that when time is at a premium these days, you can feel the cut and buzz of information whizzing by you, as you switch from social media toolbox, to social media interface (e.g. from blog page or WordPress to twitter and Instagram). Consequently, you need to know who you are following on your chosen networks and why.

I'm not talking about romance ( there are other websites for that), but who is it that you are connecting with ( or trying to connect with), messaging and what is the intention behind it?

Think about it. If you're going on twitter, for example, then why are you tweeting? If it's as simple as letting your followers know what you're doing, then that's fine; you've in effect, kept it all simple. 

But if you're pushing yourself and a product or service, then what is it that you're conveying?

Is your message authentic and congruent with your project, task and your business? More importantly, is it authentic and congruent with you?

If it is authentic, then you will see the reciprocals sooner or later, cause you've communicated clearly and your idea/concept, will have reached your effective target; the rest will be a matter of time. 

One thing to avoid, is getting into the concept of  'buying followers' or similar, as this will give you an uplift for a short period, but it won't create sustained traffic and interaction; the interest in you and/or your message, product or brand will suffer over the long term. Also, other skilled social media users will spot the false follower numbers boosters within seconds, which  I wrote about here

As already mentioned, sustained effort pays off dividends on social media. Yet ironically for such a fast moving and growing medium, tangible results don't normally occur overnight. however,  there are some fantastic, glorious exceptions to the rule, but they're just that..exceptions . 

The reasons for this are obvious; there is a lot of saturation or 'noise' on the platforms, amongst all the mineworthy information and people. So it takes a more concerted effort to reach your audience. 

So if you take regular dashes of sheer brilliance in your sharing and posting, and mix together with luck,( and/or good karma) and you should be well on the way; almost like a wash, rinse repeat, and wait . All of the aforementioned can be generated by everyone, but to sustain this all, requires patience, which is the hardest part of the formula in my opinion.

Does some of the above sound obvious? I hope it does, even though it might not be an immediate realisation. We all coast, and coasting is fine for a while, but when you need to grow onwards and outwards, you have to keep a consistent momentum going. That applies across the board; just like flexing a muscle, and keeping it in shape.

If something resonated in you and made you think, smile, and ponder for a while whilst reading this, then pass it on to others by retweeting/emailing it to others who you feel will benefit from it.




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1 comment:

  1. Authenticity: yes, that rules the "real people" on social media. Of course, we all have agendas and that's fine. But it's way too important to just occasionally say "how are you" or "have a great day" and mean it.

    You, my friend, are that kind of person on social media. Thank you. And truly hope all is well with you.

    Blessings,
    Stan

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