Several times a day, I get followers on Twitter who shout at me: ‘It’s REAL i can get 5000 twitter followers in just 1 Day!!’ I don’t even bother to look at their Twitter stream, because I know what I’m going to see. ‘Want to get 5000 twitter followers like me?? Visit ..’ . Sorry darling. I don’t even want to get 1 follower just like you.
Report for spam.
The majority of Tweeps aren’t deliberate spammers. But you know what? They might as well be. Because the ‘Get 5000 followers’ campaign actually works. When people get followed, they follow right back, usually without even looking at who sent the message and what they have to say. Sometimes they delegate the job to an autoresponder.
What’s the result? Their Twitter stream is a never-ending cacophony of TweepoBabble. Remember the days of analog radio when to find the station you wanted, you turned the dial? Remember short wave – when the channels were clustered so close together and reception was often so poor that you could spend 10 minutes finding what you wanted. That’s how many of us use Twitter – as an analog device. That’s why so many people think it’s a waste of time, as far as business is concerned.
It’s not a waste of time, if you take a digital approach, using hash-tags to target content you want, lists to target people – and I’ll deal with that in another post. But getting 5000 followers who know nothing whatsoever about me isn’t going to help me launch my new business and hit my first month sales targets.
Getting 50 advocates will.
What do I mean by an ‘advocate’? How do I recognize one?
- You know that they’re looking out for your new content. How do you know? Often they’ll tell you. They’ve signed up to your mailing-list, and they comment frequently.
- They’re active and influential in their online community. When you look at their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ accounts you can see that they’re popular and not just talking about wind and weather. They’ve got something to say. They engage with the kinds of people who might like what you have to offer.
- They’re excited about your content, product, services and regularly share it with others.
They’re not just customers. They’re customers with clout … and they’re gold-dust, especially for the micro-business. Until you’ve started generated revenues you’re probably (I think you ought to be) a one-(wo)man-show. My target is to get 200 customers as quickly as possible. There’s no way I’ll have the time to build one-on-one relationships with 200 people. But if I have 50 advocates endorsing my business, posting pictures of the products, encouraging others to join in the fun, then the customer target is relatively modest.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It’s not. First, you need to have the kind of web presence that’ll get people talking. That’ll be the focus of my post tomorrow, with a close look at the methods used by someone widely considered the web’s outstanding marketer. The following day, I’ll tell you how I’m identifying 50 key advocates for Coloring The Wind. And then, in the third post in this series I’ll explain how I’ll help my advocates to help me.
Have you been an advocate for someone on the web? Who? Why? Did anyone else that you know of take notice?
This is day 20 of my 30-day Business Challenge – to build a viable business from scratch. The business is Coloring The Wind and we’re selling ‘words of inspiration’. For the story so far, here’s a handy index. And to stay in touch in the future …
I’m almost at the 2000 mark where Twitter will not allow me to follow any more people until I get more followers. I have close to 1600 now. I do have certain criteria, however, depending on your business it can be tricky.
When I first started out, I was going to be a parenting coach. I’ve changed my focus but I followed back anyone who said they were a parent or other parenting experts.
I’m going to start purging the list soon to make room for more targeted names to follow.
I do love your approach to have 50 advocates. I have certain people that I will promote over and over for a variety of reasons. And because Color The Wind is a fine example of taking a leap of faith to start a business, I’ll be one of those advocates
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Julia Neiman (@parenttrainer) recently posted..20 Entrepreneurship Proverbs: Ancient Thoughts on Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Julia – I’ve found http://thetwitcleaner.com/ useful for cleaning up the Twitter account. Full of good insights, and unlike some other Twitter tools out there, not intrusive or spammy.
You and Jan Kearney – two fine advocates to have to start with!
As a Brit, I defend my right to tweet about the weather! lol
You raise a great point that many business owners miss – Twitter isn’t about numbers.
Buying followers is worthless, because they’re not interested in what you do.
Have I ever been an advocate? I’ve not seen myself in that light, but I do share a lot of things – on Twitter it’s usually via buffer or grabit.
Oddly, I went to a network meeting a couple of months back and a guy I had never met or chatted to online recognised my logo. He knew me as the woman who shares the articles and thanked me for some tips that pointed him in the right direction with his videos
So real people do listen even if they don’t chat – perhaps I should Tweet affiliate links!
Social aside, your journey fascinates me and I have often said (in mail, face to face and Facebook) pop over and watch what Alan is doing. I can’t wait to see Coloring The Wind and share it with others too.
Jan recently posted..Depersonalising Your Search (Show me something new!)
Jan – my words were ‘not just wind and weather’. You’re allowed.
And thank you for being an advocate already. I’m honoured.
Interestingly, I talk about centers-of-influence a lot. Might have even shared a few ideas with you along those lines, Alan
. Your advocate approach is a great idea. People do tend to get carried away with followers and likes and connections and other such things that mean little to the business bottom line. I tend to keep my circles limited to people I know (even if it’s only virtually). It makes it easier to tailor a message written specifically toward their perspective (or cull people out you know won’t be interested). Bucks convention, but it works for me.
And to answer your question, I’ve been an advocate for a lot of people. When I find a vendor I like I tend to contribute a huge portion of their income with referrals. I shout out about people and organizations that are exceptional. If I’m thrilled with a customer services experience, I tell others. I think we all play the advocate role every day – whether we recognize it or call it such or not.
Nanette Levin recently posted..Be unreasonable to develop good marketing concepts
‘I tend to keep my circles limited to people I know’. Strangely enough, I wrote the next post, saying exactly the same, and then came back and read your comment here properly after scanning it earlier. Are you putting subliminal ideas in my head
Yes, I know you’re a good advocate … but I don’t think that comes naturally to everyone.