Stop asking for more followers: try being interesting instead
By Jeff White: May 23, 2012
Filed Under: Jeff, Social Media
Just about once a day, usually more often than that, I see a Twitter post (or a Facebook ‘Like us!’ campaign) that looks something like this:
“We’re almost at x followers! Help us get there by retweeting this!”
At which point, a bunch of their followers retweet this crap and clog up everyone’s stream with what is ultimately, a ridiculous and vain attempt at popularity.
What I’ve often wondered is: what happens at 1,000 or 400 or 3,500 followers? What benefit does that entity receive from the additional followers? Virtually everyone who follows that account is hoping for a follow-back, which in the end is a net-zero contribution to the social media ecosystem. At x follower count, does that Twitter account immediately get pushed into entirely new territory, where the wine tastes better and the projects are more lucrative?
Not a chance. In fact, what you end up with is a Twitter account that’s quite possibly even more useless, because the owner of said account now thinks that the path to growth is to simply ask for more friends. Instead of being useful or interesting, they’ve chosen to be needy. My immediate reaction is generally to unfollow these users right away, as they obviously don’t get it.
Some say that social media is a lot like high school (in other words, I should hate social media). In lots of ways, it is—ever see the comment threads on the popular page of Instagram? But, the people who truly make a difference in their community are the ones who post valuable, interesting and useful content. That’s who’s worth following.
This is the case with a lot of ‘metrics’ in social media, such as Klout, the world’s stupidest metric (I also unfollow anyone who posts anything related to Klout). In the end they measure nothing useful if you’ve put nothing useful on the table. What does it matter if you have a thousand followers if all those people can expect to see is requests for more followers and other navel-gazing? You’ve given nothing to the community.
That’s not what social media is about. Social media is about contribution, more-so than consumption. What value are you providing? Why should I follow you? Sure, it’s a relatively painless thing to see these inane tweets go by—but what expectation does it set? I certainly don’t expect to see great content from someone who isn’t willing to post great, useful stuff in order to grow their following. Most people won’t take the time to unfollow an account like this, and so the owner of said account thinks that what they’re doing is good.
Here’s the truth: don’t worry about how many people follow you. Sure, it’s great to have a large number of followers as an ego boost every time you look at your Twitter profile, but how many of those people actually give a shit what you’re saying? If you grow your follower count by asking for more followers instead of gaining them organically by posting great content, helping people who need your knowledge and/or being funny and interesting, you’ll find they’re significantly less engaged and interested in you. In the end, you’re of little value to them, and that all-important warm connection never materializes.
In short, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Start being interesting, and find the droids you want instead.
May 24, 2012
9:22 am
Great post. I couldn’t agree more.
Case in point: A friend asked me to “Like” her new wedding planning business – in Atlanta. Well, I don’t know anyone in Atlanta and have no connections to Atlanta whatsoever other than this woman. I cannot fathom how my “Like” will be of any use to her other than for a “Like”-count. Needless to say, I declined her offer.
May 24, 2012
11:08 am
Talk about measuring all the wrong things. Sheesh!
May 24, 2012
10:25 am
So true, Jeff. Regardless how many twitter followers I have, the active, engaging conversations happen with a couple of dozen people. At most. Who they are changes over time, of course, but the sheer numbers are so much less interesting than what people actually have to say.
Most of the followers people are so excited to have are either spammers, bots or people who haven’t tweeted (or even lurked) in months anyway, so…
May 24, 2012
11:07 am
Agreed, every once in a while, I’ll go through and trim the inactive people that I follow.
I think there’s still potential to connect with a broad range of people on Twitter and get real clients/connections simply by being interesting, honest and useful. Good stuff spreads. People connect you to others because they trust you.
May 24, 2012
2:10 pm
Bingo, Jeff. Well said. What many companies don’t realize is that social media is an opportunity to provide customer service on a stage for all to see. I stop following people on Twitter who don’t engage in conversations and I block companies that follow me for no apparent reason other than that they must be hoping that I’ll follow them back.
May 25, 2012
5:24 pm
I agree. But please don’t unfollow me.
May 26, 2012
9:49 am
Totally agree with you with the exception of one topic… Klout.
I routinely use Klout to find people on Twitter that they believe to be influential on the topic I’m researching.
9 times out of 10 these people are not using Klout. Regardless, I can not count the amount of incredible useful content I have found following people found using this tool.
I don’t think Klout is a black and white issue. While I completely agree that a vanity metric such as Followers, Likes, or Klout score are, in almost all occasions the absolute wrong metrics to analyze, they are part of the overall story the numbers tell.
As a marketer, I do care about what types of content get clicked, retweeted and commented on, and the larger number of people that have opted into follow me, the better the chance I have at getting those results. This is of course assuming the content I create is focused on connecting people to valuable information and not boosting my numbers.
That all being said… Are you even listening? I said Klout in the first sentence
@mattc
May 26, 2012
11:07 am
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Matt.
I’m sure it is possible to find good content using Klout as a starting point, I’m just not sure if it’s the best way.
In the cases when I’ve looked at it, the ratings and ‘knowledgeable about’ tags were completely inaccurate, unless the user has been specifically using social media in a pointed, targeted way to influence their ranking. In most of those cases, I have an implicit distrust of that individual because it’s so obvious that they’re trying to game the ‘system’.
Still, it’s an interesting consideration to use it as a search engine for specific topics.
August 14, 2012
12:34 pm
Hey all you guys n’ Gals out there in the Twitterverse – I’m going for 1,000 followers today! Please Retweet to all your friends!
August 15, 2012
8:49 pm
So true Jeff!
Thanks for the great read.
Cheers,
Mike
August 15, 2012
8:52 pm
Thanks Mike.
Check out Mike’s post that puts forward a whole bunch of methods for getting new Twitter followers that are WAY better than asking for them.
August 20, 2012
4:14 pm
Thanks for the shout out.