Why does someone on Twitter ask me if I am one of their 5000 connections on LinkedIn? Then make it sound like it is my fault if I am not by saying..”if you are not you are missing out?”
And how about the people asking you if you need more Followers on Twitter? Geez, why don’t they ask me if I need more Spam?
Or even with Facebook posting on your homepage people you should be friends with? Now they are telling me who should be my Friend.
What is all this getting you and why would anyone want to have 5000 complete strangers connected to them in any manor? All of these questions I ask of people and some of the answers I get are absolutely unbelievable anyone really believes in them.
Answers I Receive
How else are you to make effective use of your time online if you do not have a few ten’s of thousand people to market to? All of these social networks were designed to connect to as many people as you can so you can point blank pitch and market your products or services to them. If they were not designed for that then what value are they to anyone?
I am really not interested in who the person is as much as they being interested in what I have to sale. I do not have the time to shilly-shally around out here online. I am here to market to as many people as I can.
When someone connects with me on LinkedIn I have been given their permission to send them information on the products I sell. If they are not wanting the information then why did they connect with me?
Why Connect?
Why Do People Connect with strangers?
It seems there has obviously been some illogical information sold to literally thousands of people. This information really is not helping anyone, either the person buying the info or the person they are, more or less, spamming. It would be great to think that EVERYONE online is out here to be friendly, cordial and have some sort of business ethics, but more and more people who have no ethics are coming online making the online experience miserable for those of us who are here to build trust.
Why would you want to risk your reputation and the trustworthy image you worked hard to establish to have a few thousand people Following you who are only out here for themselves?
I would like to think going into the New Year I would not have to talk about all the wrong doings going on here online. I would hope that more people would start challenging people who pop up on Twitter and posting things about getting more Followers on Twitter or more connections on LinkedIn. These number games are not working for anything other than turning the volume up on Spam and running off more good honest people.
What Works
What REALLY works out here in La-La-Land is the exact opposite of what is being sold to people. I say sold, because I have had a number of people over the past two years tell me their Business Coaches they are paying $75 an hr are telling them they Have To connect to thousands of people online to “Be Somebody”. I will not dispute that the number of connections and followers does validate popularity to a certain extent but only when they are at a modest levels.
All someone is telling us when they have 37k followers is there are a lot of people following them who are not being communicated with effectively. This is wasting their time and destroying the person who has 37k followers image.
To go out and solicit ANYONE to connect to you or Follow you really does not do anything in securing an audience to solicit. Nor, does gaining these people as followers or friends validate true popularity. However, having several hundred connections and Followers or Fans who know you more than a cartoon character or logo posted as an avatar is much more powerful indicator of true popularity.
What works is communication. Conversation is the best form of communication. If you have conversation with all your contacts then you have communicated with them, and them with you. That contact, follower or fan connection is then based on Trust and not popularity. Having a connection you Trust is far more valuable than several thousand connection you do not know. That one trusted contact is going to go out to their hundreds of connections and network about the trusted connection they made. If all your trusted connections where to network your trustworthiness to all their connections….how many trusted connections do you REALLY have? Think about this when you ask..what the heck am I doing out here..I only have 100 followers..is this really all worth it? It is if those 100 connections trust you.
Stop the insanity in thinking you are marketing your products or services to thousands of people on Twitter. The stats are starting to show that posting anything about a product or service on any of the so call social networks get less attention that a Billboard on Highway 66 in the middle of the desert.
Again, I would hope this is my last word on this subject but it probably is not. As long as I can help a few people get a better understanding on what games are played out here in La-La-Land I guess I will keep on passing on my experience. So, Let me know how I can help.
Everything in life and in social media comes down to two things: communication and relationships. The amount of followers, friends, connections, etc., doesn't mean squat if you are not communicating (connecting) with them and forming real, actual relationships. If you form lasting relationships and communicate with your friends, family, connections, etc., you will have opportunities to help one another and to make a difference; possibly the opportunity to make a referral.
You must spend the time developing these relationships to make any of this work.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Alena