Building Your Social Media Following
Okay, so this is a bit of a “me, too” post — it seems like everyone and their brother is telling you how to get better at social media marketing. I’ve been active with social media for about four years, and I’ve learned a few things. Mostly, I’ve found that, like everything else worthwhile, it takes time and focused effort.
Guy Kawasaki recently posted a new presentation on “How to Get More Followers.” With nearly 1.4 million Twitter followers and 391,900 LinkedIn followers, Guy has earned considerable credibility on this topic. His presentation included some useful techniques and ideas that are worth sharing, so here’s a summary:
1. Start yesterday. You’re already behind. Get busy.
2. Segment the services. The various social media services have different functions and connections. You can think of the functions this way:
3. Make a great profile. Look at other profiles for clues, and keep yours sharp and up-to-date.
4. Curate content and link to fresh new ideas.
5. Cheat—seriously, that is what he said! The cheat is to link to, re-tweet, and re-post content that is trending.
6. Restrain yourself. 95% of your posts should be interesting topics and ideas that you want to share. Just 5% of your posts should be self-promotion.
7. Add bling. Not just pictures of your favorite cat, but images that add interest and capture the imagination, giving life to your message.
8. Respond. This is a two-way conversation. You’ve put out a new idea, now interact so they know you are real.
9. Stay positive or stay silent. One colleague of mine said “it’s easy to be snarky in 140 characters.” But it really does not add to your followers, your message or well-being, so stay on the sunny side.
10. Repeat. It was good the first time, so now ‘”lather, rinse and repeat.” Keep it light so that you can keep up the pace.
Want more? Get the full recording here.