10 Ways To Get More Followers Using Social Media

In one of my previous posts, I made the confession that I am a late adapter to using social media tools, let me confess something else…I severely dislike “Top Ten” or “5 Things You Can Do To…” list blogs. I, on occasion, go out of my way to avoid them. I find them overly simple and appear, in my opinion, to be mildly targeted to those in the “know” of using these tools.

There are a few exceptions. I kind of like Jeffrey Gitomer’s lists, but that’s mainly due to the tone and attitude of his writing. There are a few others that manage to pull this off with some class, but most come off with barely a personality.

Maybe that is what I truly don’t like about them. Information without a sense of personal connection, as if the person actually lived the list and is speaking from experience and not regurgitating, and often rewording, other successful blog posts content?

Maybe that is what attracts me to social media and its varied tools?

Maybe I am just ranting and should get on with the post.

What brought me to writing my first “10 Ways” list was really based solely on a conversation I had at work today where I honestly gave a rough version of this “10 Ways” to several people who have no idea what social media tools are let alone how to interact with them successfully. I was asked to explain, in the simplest terms, how we could use these tools in a way that would “build the army”.

What I said was pretty simple and straight forward. Some of these ideas are common sense, and have been written about by others, but I think every person has their own view and experiences. So here are my “10 Ways to Get More Followers Using Social Media”:

1. Truly understand what it is you aim to accomplish by using these tools. Just because everyone else is isn’t a valid reason. Jumping on board the Trend Wagon may not be what you’re company should be focusing on. Then again if you begin using social media with a clear understanding of your goals, you’ll be happy to know you will be far more successful.
2. Decide which social media tools you are going to use and take some time to really understand what it is they do. You may find in this first step that some tools aren’t used by your core audience. You may find that this is exactly where your core audience is talking and waiting to be heard.
3. Once you start using these tools understand that it will take time to grow your list of followers. Social media isn’t the silver bullet to great number, but it is a great set of tools for connecting to people who want to hear you.
4. Remember that your first follower, unless it’s yourself, is just as important as your 1,000. This isn’t a numbers game where you’re stacking followers like trophies. This is a group of people who have decided that you have said, or are saying, something they feel is worth listening to. You should respect that.
5. Listen to what others are saying. At first, the best thing you can do is listen more than you talk. Your future audience will tell you the things that are important to them. This is an opportunity to make conversations about what you do a two way street rather than you standing on a digital soap box.
6. Be part of the conversation. If you fully intend to use social media tools to spew out your information without expecting to listen then you will fail. Remember, social media is a two way street. Unless you are a news source, and that is all you provide, then you really need to be in the trenches with your people asking them questions, providing them answers, and letting them know you are a human being not a news bot.
7. Be a human being. I know your representing your company, but people like dealing with a person…not a sales pitch. Let people know when you find something funny, when you disagree, and generally have a personality. Just like in sales, people are buying from you…in social media they are listening to you.
8. Remember you are building trust in your audience. Abusing that trust with over hyping your whatever it is you do is a sure fire way to start losing your audience. You can tactfully announce what it is that you are doing, tactfully make people aware of your specials, and answer questions about what it is that you do, but remember…turning these long term relationships off early could costs you greater advocates later down the road.
9. Remember it’s not all about you…so share other peoples content. In Twitter it’s called ReTweeting, in Facebook you share it to your profile, you can Digg someone’s blog, and a ton of other things you can do to help spread the word about someone else’s content you feel is relevant.
10. Monitor your time. Check back in with yourself from time to time. Remember your goals, check how your followers are reacting to your information, and keep a pulse on social media, but not a vice grip. You have other day to day things that you need to do to keep your job running.

These are the 10 Ways I have operated in social media and gained the followers that I have in the media I choose to interact in the most. My goals were pretty clear, my choice in tools had more to do with the amount of time I was able to give, and I have given you advice that I live by myself today.

Until next time, as always, thank you for reading and stay wicked.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.