May
12
Twitterati Douchebags and the Stoning Of The Infidel
I am so mad I could spit.
I haven’t been this mad since I read Seth Godin say in Linchpin that there is no map. (Of course there’s a fucking map. It might be a stupid map and you might realize, having followed the map, that it would have been more fulfilling to figure out the way on your own. But don’t tell me there’s no map.)
I have a client who has amassed a fairly impressive Twitter and Facebook following, despite having not used either service in over eight months. Somehow, thousands of people have decided to follow her or become her fans. She doesn’t know why, she doesn’t know what to do now, but she knows she’s sitting on a substantial resource.
It occurred to me that I know of absolutely NOTHING out there that can help someone with this problem.
Laura Roeder’s stuff is pretty cool, but it’s also fairly intensive. You buy Laura’s stuff when you want to take this shit Seriously with a capital Seriously.
Nathan Hangen did a class called Twitter Rockstar, but he did it back in 2008 and a lot has changed since then.
There’s also a bunch of total garbage out there for people who want to build a massive Twitter/Facebook following without doing any work or contributing anything.
But where the hell is the stuff for people who don’t get it, want to get it, but aren’t willing to turn social media into their life’s work?
New people are terrified to ask. Jesus, Forbes magazine named me one of the 20 top women in social media and I’m afraid to ask. But today I put my big girl panties on and DID ask, and here are some of the answers I got:
“Uh… interact with them?”
“Join the conversation.”
“Substantial numbers don’t mean anything. It’s not about the numbers.”
“Start helping people.”
“Social media is about being social.”
Can somebody please explain to me what the hell those even MEAN? I mean, I get it. But why don’t we present that advice to my 54-year-old beige-loving mother and see if SHE gets it?
This is not somebody who wants to game the system. This is not somebody who wants to get 20,000 followers by tomorrow by pushing one shiny button. This is somebody who really wants to help people but grew up in an era that didn’t have Twitter in it and doesn’t really know what to DO.
The social media gurus parrot incredibly stupid, vacuous, and repetitive shit and deny that there’s any strategy involved. Because once you add strategy, it’s not about connection anymore. You’re not making friends, you’re making money!
Eww! Stone the infidel!
Guess what, people. Money fucking matters. Numbers fucking matter. You want to get a book deal? You don’t send a book proposal that says “The number of Twitter followers I have isn’t relevant — everybody knows it’s not about the numbers — but what’s really important is that I truly interact with them.” No, you say “I have 23,000 Twitter followers and am on 1021 lists of experts in my field.”
This woman isn’t looking for friends. Or connection. Or authentic transparency. She’s looking for fucking TRAFFIC and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The condescending assholes of the Twitterati
With a few exceptions — notably Laura and Nathan, above — the only people out there telling people how to use Twitter are the people who have nothing better to do than get morally superior about how to use Twitter.
It’s like when bestselling authors tell you that all you need to do is just write. Granted, there is a certain type of person who just gets writing. They just get rhythm and cadence and structure. They just get storytelling and description and the right amount of detail. It’s the way their brain works, and good for them.
But the rest of us mortals have to figure out how to teach our brain to work that way. The rest of us mortals have to figure out how to teach our brains to think in 140 character snippets that other people might be compelled to read. We have to figure out what makes one Twitter user delightful and the other one annoying as fuck, even when their outward behavior is essentially the same. It’s not that simple for us.
Nathalie Lussier sells information to people who want to switch to raw foods. She does not charge you $97 to tell you that switching to raw foods is really rewarding and that in order to get the benefits of a raw diet you should immerse yourself in the culture. She sells you fucking menus.
Richwood Script and Media sells script doctoring. You go in with a broken script, you pay them some money and they fix it for you. They don’t sell you ebooks telling you how awesome it feels when you’ve written a script and that the only way to get a script made into a movie is to make the movie of your heart. They teach you how to write scripts.
Scribe SEO sells how to write SEO copy. They don’t tell you that if you just keep creating great pillar blog content, your awesomeness will speak for itself. They tell you what to say and where to say it so you’ll actually get some goddamn traffic already.
Can we do this for Twitter? For Facebook? I would pay very good money to have somebody explain Facebook to me. I get Twitter intuitively. Facebook makes my brain hurt. I don’t understand it. I want to understand it. I think it would be really cool to use it for something other than sending my 11-year-old presents on Farmville. But about two years ago, I stopped trying to get help because I figured there simply wasn’t any help out there.
If it’s this bad for me, what’s it like for the newbies?
In closing…
1. If you’re being a social media douchebag, please stop.
2. If you’re thinking of becoming a social media douchebag, please know that social media consultants aren’t making nearly as much money as they say they are.
3. If you know of any decent TACTICAL social media classes, courses or coaches, PLEASE send them my way. The people want to know.
The parroting the fine advice that doesn’t really tell anyone how to do anything is what gets me.
I have to explain – almost daily – what I do to people who have no idea what the ‘net is in the first place. To them, Twitter sounds frighteningly bizarre, incestuous and incomprehensible. Facebook? Forget it.
I don’t bloody well blame them.
Yes, yes, a million times yes.
And Naomi, I’m sorry if my answer came off that way. I truly do wish I knew just the resources to point you to, but I think you’re right that there’s nothing out there. I’m almost tempted to suggest that between my tech and your marketing we could make something of this. There’s certainly a market for it.
I totally can’t help you with Facebook. It hurts my brain too.
But I do have some solid advice that could help your client with Twitter. Have her check out Art Heroes Review No. 009, Selling art in 140 characters or less. It’s written for artists but will pretty much work for anyone who’s trying to actually build real relationships that also *convert.*
The audio is free, the magazine issue is $15 for 27 pages of concise writing, with pullquotes and action items at the end. Check it out here:
http://store.artheroesradio.com/2010/03/art-heroes-review-no-009-selling-art-in-140-characters-or-less.html
Hope that helps!
I have to agree with you on this one. Whenever I see someone claiming to be a “social media expert” I generally roll my eyes. The world of social media is changing all of the time, and the people who created Twitter still haven’t found a way to make money off of it (right?), so it’s hard to claim to be an expert in making Twitter or Facebook make you money. I feel like both are fairly intuitive to me, since I grew up in a world of computers and the internet, and yet are either making me money yet? Probably not. This post does have my wheels turning… wondering if there is a better way to explain how to engage people on Facebook and Twitter. I see posts about the subject all of the time, but I agree with you, most are just parroting the same old, same old.
Actually, Twitter is already profitable. They struck a data-sharing deal with Google, Bing, and Yahoo last year that made them profitable, and earlier last month they introduced Promoted Tweets as a Beta test, which will bring them more revenue.
Maybe the problem lies in the inherent trial-and-error nature of using social media. At least that’s what it’s had to become for me because no one did sit down and say step 1 through 90 is this.
Maybe people aren’t sure they can pen a step by step guide when they feel like it’s going to be a learning by doing experience regardless. Having said that, would a step by step course sell? Uh…YEAH!
P.S. If you have one, please tell Naomi about it.
You are FUCKING amazing! In fact, I was about to give up on trying to find an online business via Internet Marketing until I READ YOUR BLOG a year or so ago. Finally a real kick ass woman who tells it like it is!
Hey, I’m 56 and a former journalist, broadcaster…I have PR clients. AND I want to understand how to retire and not end up a bag lady! From what I read my age group is the fastest growing group on Facebook. Could have fooled me..no one markets to moi.
I’m smart and sassy, I can learn. All I have is a laptop full of e-books and .pdf files. I keep looking for reviews, but hey, THEY get paid to review, so how the hell can I trust them?
I have a simple request. I want to find someone I can trust to really learn social media and some snazzy beginners help on setting up some strong passive income streams. I gotta retire with something!
Naomi, you’re spectacular…
I adore you.
I bought into the amazingness of Social media markting hype before I knew how to do it. I bought into the fact that all you had to do ‘was do it’ and then it would do amazing things. I have a close family friend who just turned 60, sitting on a mountain of amazing courses, books and poetry she’s never done anything with… I figured Social media would be the way to go, to start to build an audience.
But I didn’t really think that the social media itself would scare her and make absolutely NO SENSE to her. And when I went to look for something that said how to use it (not just how to set up your account and then game the system) I was lost too. I felt pretty stupid. I still do.
So I’m trying to do it myself, see how I do (if anything happens even) and then maybe I can offer some light at the end of a weird tunnel,
Hi Naomi,
Quick question: when someone phones your client up, do they sit there stammering, and going: “Err, ahhh, ummm, hmmm.”?
Maybe you’re overthinking it too much?
Cheers,
John.
John, interesting thought, but I think it’s better suited to someone who really is just starting out. Naomi’s client isn’t; she started using the services a while back and forgot about them, but by dint of awesomeness elsewhere she’s amassed a large volume of followers and now wants to tap the resource. Honestly, if I discovered that 5,000 people had called me up at the same time, then yes, I might spend some time going “er, ah, um, hm.” :)
I have a report she can have. It’s part of my Authority Blogger course. Just let me have her email and I will send it over.
Hi Chris,
I’m her:) I’m the client. I’m actually really grateful that Naomi did this post. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like this, and when I told her, it’s great to see how helpful people are.
Here’s my email:
marinakuperman@gmail.com
I would so appreciate everything you give me!
Thanks for the shout out Naomi! I actually think she should give my course a fair shake, even thought it might be too long. :p There is a dedicated session to saving time on twitter, AND a dedicated session on selling and marketing on twitter (which is what it seems your client is looking for).
To anyone who wants more info on that, here’s the link: http://twitterwebinar.com/go/
Here’s my short answer: create targeted opt-in content which could be squeeze pages like http://twitterwebinar.com or blog posts and promote them regularly on twitter via hootsuite.com. Schedule about 1 per week (remember you are promoting free stuff so you are not spamming people) along with your regular tweets about new blog posts. Change up the tweet, don’t make it the same every time. An example is “check out my free vid on using twitter in just 10 minutes a day here LINK”
Make sure to go through your backlog of (still relevant) blog posts and schedule tweets about those as well.
Respond when people talk to you, and ask your audience for what you need. Maybe you want to be interviewed, maybe you want to guest post, maybe you want them to watch you on good morning america, whatever.
That should get her started. :)
“Schedule”? Eek, you just mentioned automation! Ohnoes ;)
Hi Laura,
I’m going to check out your stuff now. Funnily enough, when I set up my account eons ago, I did set up an automation of my posts, and that seems to be the main reason I’m getting followers, but I so haven’t followed up on anything, because I don’t want to sell anything to anyone, it’s not in my DNA.
I feel weird constantly promoting myself, and feel very unnatural making small talk with people on twitter, which seems to be the biggy. I trying to figure out the most natural mode of getting into it.
Laura since whan is free not spam?
If it doesn’t interest or touch me it is spam.
Promotion for free stuff is the same spam as promotion for paid stuff.
Oh, and there is Chris Brogan’s Social Media 101 print book
People, people, people, let’s not forget that social media is just another communications platform. Facebook, Twitter, this blog – all the same thing, just different modes. I come here because I like irreverent business commentary (and I like seeing the f-bomb in print), I follow you on Twitter because I like seeing the random shit that you get excited about. Facebook is really just a blog with a crappier comments section, but it allows readers to post stuff on your wall. For a business, seriously, think about it. That’s all Facebook is.
The way I see it, there’s 2 strategies. 1) you drive traffic (to your website, store, whatever) 2) you try to get famous (which then goes back to driving traffic, so maybe there’s really only 1 strategy). Within that, there’s a bajillion different tactics. I don’t see how anyone can ethically and honestly promote a Twitter Tactics class, when each business really needs to invent their own tactics, and adapt as they go. Tactics are more suited to one-on-one consulting.
If I had to recommend something, it would be Laura Roeder. It’s not the always-on stance you’re talking about here, nor is it the “Twitter in 10 minutes a day” she talks about. I figure you can do pretty good on 2 hours/day. 20% of your day reaching out to prospective customers and driving traffic? I’d say that’s a good deal.
Ummmmm, wow… I guess I thought someone HAD figured all this out. There are, after all, lots of experts out there. I see Twitter as a mini-IM; you can kind of chat with people and meet people. I see Twitter as a mini-Craigslist; you can advertise your stuff like your products or posts. I see Twitter as nothing more than a mini-version of other things that exist. And therein lies the problem because you can’t really sell much with 140 characters. I suspect the best use of a list is to advertise the other places you have, like telling people to go to your site to read a new post or look at a new product. You could meet new people you may not have met before. But ultimately it is a stepping stone to get people to your site or blog or email autoresponder. I cannot imagine how else you could use it simply because there aren’t enough characters to build trust.
If someone can tell me otherwise I’d love to know.
Yolanda, I think you’re both right and wrong. No, you can’t only use Twitter by itself and expect to sell anything. But you can build trust. I did it by sharing lots of links, retweeting stuff that other people found valuable and by having conversations with anyone who wanted to converse. Took a lot of time, but I ended up in a community of people who trust what I say. Now that I have a blog (I didn’t before), I get to share even more and I keep getting more and more readers. We’ll see if that eventually translates into sales, but the built-in trust from Twitter is what brings people to the blog. That much is for sure.
One question that came to mind that might colour what she (or many business folks) wants/needs to learn — is she planning to at least try to manage these presences herself, or will she have help from the get-go?
In any case, the first thing I got curious about was why were all those people still signing up to follow her, even if she wasn’t saying anything for months. There be gold in them thar hills.
“But where the hell is the stuff for people who don’t get it, want to get it, but aren’t willing to turn social media into their life’s work?”
I’m nearly done on something for these very people – happy to give you a preview…
Mark, we should talk :)
E-mail on the way…
I WANT AN EMAIL TOO!
I’ll be honest. I do too. Anything Mark would have in the works has my brain light up.
I asked first *pout*
Right ho, on the way…
Hey where’s MY email, eh? EH?
As if I could refuse you anything, James…
Ditto? :P
Er… what about me? Someone keeps telling me I need to talk to you, and I’ll settle for an email right now. :) If you’re willing…
Naomi, sounds like Mark has some good stuff. How about making it a blog post and passing it on. Or, with the big names in the above group, how about using Twitter and adding a hastag so we can all follow the conversation.
ps. You might like this: “Why I Want to Delete My Facebook Account”.
http://ariwriter.com/why-i-want-to-delete-my-facebook-account/
Hi Mark,
I’d love to preview it and be your experimental tool:)
As God is my witness, when I saw your earlier tweet re: client with huge Twitter/FB followers, I wrote a note to ask Naomi: How the hell does Twitter work for beginners?
Maybe I’ll have to check with Laura…oops, maybe not,–I can barely afford you!
Hopefully by month’s end, you/I will know!
Congrats on the formidable Forbes thing.
I know of one social media for business specialist who is on Twitter and Facebook. She offers exactly what your client seems to be looking for; tactical, practical advice on how to use social media to advance your business and interact with clients. Her website url is http://spidercatmarketing.com/. Good Luck! And please tell her I sent you to her, she’ll be all kinds of happy about that. :)
Thanks Malinda, I’m going to check it out!
And congrats on making the Forbes list. That’s awesome!! :D
Those who are good at something are often rotten teachers. It’s often those of us who need to learn step by step the way to do it who are better at explaining.
Yes, I’m saying that finding the best at something may not be the person to go to for teaching (however much we want to copy them).
The experts often are ‘naturally’ good at something. So they give advice like ‘just do it’ etc. Not exactly a big help.
Lots of Twitter users (ok, mostly in organisations) use it as a minimal, low-emotion, broadcast-only way of alerting people to new articles/new products/events.
‘New event coming up bit.urly.tawddle’…
It’s not the law that you have to lose your life there.
Minimal Twitter. Twitter on 20 minutes a day.
I’m fascinated, though: what are the followers waiting for? A sign? A joke? A special offer?
And in other news, I have a completely blank black avatar. It’s almost like I don’t want anyone to know I’m there. Oh wait.
Hmm…she could survey them to find out what they really want/need to know from her, and create a product that fills that want/need.
She could become an affiliate of a lot of things and promote the products to her followers.
She could organize flash mobs. Or become a cult leader. (McSweeney’s recently offered a guide on how to cope with that gracefully: http://mcsweeneys.net/2010/5/10carlyle.html)
Hi Christina,
A cult leader, that would be pretty fun, however, I don’t know if Costa Rica travel is too culty. Although, I’d love to figure out a way to make it so:)
First – Yes! Enough with the wishy washy stuff!
Second – I think this is the first time my menus have been referred to as fucking menus, and I couldn’t be happier. ;) Ahem, that should be on the menu too.
Third – I took Laura’s course and it really does rock. The first session is a little technical (read: basic if you’ve used twitter before) but then you get some really juicy “take action” and “get results” type stuff. :)
Instead of coming into the conversation with “I’m working on something for this”, I have to say that I agree with what you’re saying Naomi. There isn’t really anything out in the market at the moment that’s very simple and down to the point for social media, web 2.0, whatever you wanna call it, that’s in an online course type format.
A couple weeks ago, I left a comment on Jay Baer’s blog and Jay responded with something I HAD to write a post about: “The trouble with social media isn’t that it’s hard. The trouble with social media is that it’s complicated. We all need to do a better job of cutting through that.”
I’m a social media consultant (not an expert or any of that nonsense by any means) and a lot of us can make things complicated. Not to self promote but I do my best to make things as simple and easy to understand as possible.
Yes, for people who do it all day it’s easy to speak all this different lingo, but when it comes to speaking with and helping someone, both sides need to be on the same page and level of understanding. If you talk quantum mechanics to a gym teacher, you’re just wasting your breath and wasting their time.
At the end of the day, it comes down to what the person knows and their level of understanding and putting together information that speaks to that level.
I am in the process of teaching a 6-week class on social media. Two of the modules are on Facebook and LinkedIn. Most of my participants are new and I think I’m doing a pretty darn good job of breaking things down.
I am going to sell these modules separately once the class is over and you’ve just given me some great ideas on how to make them even better for beginners. Should I use a title like “Facebook that Doesn’t Hurt Your Head?”
I’ll get back to you in a couple of weeks, Naomi…
I love this post with every ounce of my soul. Thanks for the outstanding read.
Thanks for the mention Naomi, I really appreciate it.
Believe it or not, Twitter Rockstar was my very first course, but it’s been the most successful solo project I’ve embarked on (second in business to Beyond Blogging).
I haven’t seen @lkr’s course, but I’m sure it’s good. In fact, I bet our strategies are similar.
Twitter Rockstar is slightly technical in some parts, but much of it focuses on using things like searches, brand monitoring, and social media funneling strategies to your advantage.
In fact, I’ve got a video on YouTube with some of what I mean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbttmONS_3g
Really though, outside of the technical stuff and some of the “aha!” moments people have when reading the course, much of being successful on Twitter has more to do with being a likable person than having a strategy.
Twitter isn’t esoteric…it’s simple. Be cool, respond to people, don’t be elitist, and have fun. That’s what works best for me.
Chris Guillebeau and Gwen Bell have a cool book called the Yoga of Social Media (don’t quote me on the name), and it’s good, although slightly more esoteric than what Laura and myself do.
I’ve got an ebook called the Twitter Marketing Manifesto that I’ll give away for free to anyone that’s interested. I’ll make it part of my Blog’s 2nd b’day bash.
Facebook is slightly more time intensive I think. Things like groups and pages work great, but you have to be there to keep people interested. I find that Twitter followers are much more interested in buying than Facebook followers.
OK…sorry to plug myself so much there (wait, that doesn’t sound right), but I think I covered it all.
Will be interesting to see what Mark comes up with too.
Hey Nathan,
I’m very interested in your book! Can you send it over to me? I’d really appreciate it!
Forgot to mention that Shama Kabani’s book – Zen of Social Media Marketing is a great primer and would be great for someone looking to get started but not do too much.
I understand facebook and twitter well enough to be in complete and utter awe of what is possible.
There is one thing that really has me hooked, though: I like to feel connected to people, but I don’t actually like communicating directly with them much.
Facebook is great because I can be “in touch” with a whole bunch of people I used to hang out with and sometimes wonder about but not enough that I would put much effort towards finding. I can “hang out” with them again by replying to things, or even just listening, and then going off to say my own completely unrelated things.
Similarly, I think most of the people I follow on twitter are ones who just randomly say interesting things, not expecting responses nor encouraging them. It’s not about interacting for me, just connecting, absorbing, and emitting my own stuff.
Maybe the person with uncertain twitter personality just needs to figure out what kind of things would be enjoyable to emit, and that the followers may enjoy absorbing. When in doubt, ask the followers why they’re following. If there’s really that many of them, surely at least a few will answer and say, “I follow you because I like your ______.” (Now imagine a non-dirty word in the blank.)
A connection doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. It just needs to reassure people that there is a real human being behind the posts, saying things, doing things, thinking things, maybe even selling things and maybe that’s okay, because everything’s okay, at least a little bit, at least between people whose connections are blissfully uncomplicated.
I have a very practical and detailed book called “Friends With Benefits / A social media marketing handbook” written by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo.
http://www.friendswithbenefitsbook.com
It covers a lot of ground so it probably fits more into the ‘make this your life’ end of the spectrum than what she’s looking for, but I figured it’s worth a mention here anyway. The chapter on Twitter covers basics concepts, mini case studies, and 10 ways to be a jerk on Twitter.
“Friends with Benefits” is a hysterical name for a social media marketing guide. Love it.
Every client has a specialized fit. I think a “social media expert” would be capable of matching their client with an action plan based on their capabilities/audience. There is no one answer, because you are interacting with people, and people are chaotic and dynamic.
But there are generalities out there that you can parse into these specific strategies – it’s really just up to you to create them.
Guys, I think you might find point 5 is apt from this ->
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/websites_stop
The thing I forgot to say, relating it to marketing and schtuff:
If I like a person for who the person is, I’m automatically interested in what that person is trying to sell. I may even refer other people to that person, because of who that person is. Even if I haven’t bought anything yet.
So a way to use a whole bunch of followers as a resource? Just keep them around, and without getting pushy, mention products once in awhile.
Being anti social media has sort of jumped the shark.
There are a lot of “experts” and “gurus” out there and by and large it is a dog and pony show.
But…what they are dealing with isn’t rocket science and it is your ability to understand how to connect with your customers that shows if you have success with social media.
The tools can make it easier and more effective. But nobody is going to put the magic ticket in your lap. The people that expect that are just as bad as the people sell it.
I read in another comment Twitter being compared to Craiglist or IMing which I don’t feel was representative of its potential. If you want to go with analogies then Twitter is like a Chamber of Commerce if anything. It facilities making connections.
At the same time I try to explain the value in this way…
If you are a business owner in a room full of people how much is it worth to you to hear all of their conversations? Taking it a step further, can you put that ability to your advantage? If not, then don’t throw the dbag social media guru under the bus for just trying to do the hustle and make a few bucks. The power was in your hands the whole time.
Here’s my take on what she should do. It doesn’t have much to do with Twitter at first, but it ends there:
1) Audit her audience. This will suck. Audits suck. But you can’t do shit unless you have some basic idea of who you are trying to squeeze money out of.
2) Audit her content. Blogs, interviews, videos, conferences, bowel movements, hand-drawn images of hairy unicorns, whatever. If she doesn’t have obvious content, follow the yellow brick road of how she got 5000 followers in the first place.
3) Write down two things on a piece of paper:
A) the one action her audience might take that will make her the most money
B) the content that the biggest slice of her audience would be interested in
4) Draw lines between action A and content B. Those are her Tweets. What she says on Twitter is the sweet spot, a-ha moments, and other sexybean stuff of legend. They will lead to content, which begets conversions.
5) Once she starts doing this, new ideas will be condensed into Tweets, which will generate content, which will make money.
Douchebaggery? Mayhaps. But a strategy that starts at the beginning at least.
Trevor, thanks for this. Logical and do-able. Don’t know if it will help Naomi’s client,but it helped me :-).
Hey Trevor, I’ve copied and pasted your comment to make sure I follow it word for word! Seriously!!!
Looking at your post, Naomi, and the comments, it looks like a ton of buzz (still) about social media, a bunch of frustration, and a zillion methods as to how to use it. And I am one who uses it and don’t have a bloody clue if I do it right or not.
mike
Trevor – I like your rundown. It’s someplace to start, like you said. And it doesn’t ‘seem’ like it would be having to make it her ‘life’.
Random-surfed onto this site. I’m certainly not an expert, but as a consumer of media and user of social networks, I can tell you the biggest ways that both Twitter and Facebook are used successfully to reach me. I use them, and I think many people in my peer demographic do, as something akin to a headline ticker/rss feed for what people I’m interested in (and friends/family) are doing. For the most part, this means friends and family and the occasional webcomic author.
Some webcomic authors are particularly good at using this format – they link when new content is created (sometimes a few hours earlier than the regular update), refer people to interesting articles or the like, and even occasionally provide special deals on merchandise or links to content not available from the main page.
Basically, they not only save me the trouble of having to remember to check back every day or so to see what’s new on their website, but are providing me with additional value for following them. Granted, it’s mostly in the form of links and the occasional sketch or what have you, but it makes me feel like following them is worth my time. Twitter is excellent for this, Facebook tends to be like this writ large – but it also tends to lead to information glut. Too much, too fast and it no longer blends into my information stream seamlessly.
Don’t know if this is at all interesting or helpful, but thought I’d throw in my $.02 from the social media consumer’s perspective.
I’m a huge believer in starting to use it.
That will help your friend huge. It’s pretty interesting on how much you can learn when you just watch some people. Remember people are using twitter and you can see how they use it (minus the dm stuff).
I bet there are some secret ninja moves with regards to direct messages. Still super lost on why some people use a DM to reply instead of an @reply when they arn’t following you. Pretty rude if you ask me (there’s a pretty good tip)
You could probably watch chris brogan, ellen, johnathan fields, or any superstar social media crazy and realize how they are using twitter.
But I still haven’t figured it out!
I should do a screencast of Chris Brogans Twitter Stream.
All Brogans Tweets about is himself.
Well, call me a FanBoy — but if Naomi ever gets that restraining order and I have to quit stalking her, Chris Brogan is next on the list.
Between Trust Agents, Social Media 101, his newsletter, the Blog, and his willingness to actually ANSWER tweets — he’s an education in himself.
Plus you can find lots of video around of him giving expensive presentations in fancy English Castles that you can watch for free.
Naomi -
There are two products I’ve reviewed for Twitip – The Twitter Success Blueprint by Sarah Prout and the Twitter Marketing Guide by Marko Saric. There are way too many products targeted at newbies but none for those that get twitter intuitively and want to rock it further.
I actually just released a workshop which has a module on twitter. The focus is about how to network via different outposts rather than just broadcast. Could send a copy to the ninjas if you wanted.
Sorry to plug myself but you did ask ;)
Scott – Chris asks enlightening questions and gives valuable information. He showcases why he’s a thought leader. So it’s not exactly ‘easy’ to just ‘do’ that.
Jade – I agree – so much is targeted at newbies. And i think that’s cause right now, that’s where the market lies. And likely will for awhile. And the non-newbies… well do they feel they’re past needing material to master it? Hmm.
Bravo Naomi! I love this post. Most people who are teaching social media are on social media 9 hours a day. That doesn’t work. People have real shit to get done.
I have a couple of new e-books I’m going to send you. They are douchebaggery-free.
Thank you :) I’ve resisted for a reason, did buy the douche bag crap. Am getting into Laura Roeder & she seems to be genuine with good info on how not to be a douche bag. So this is where i am, getting my message across with some sincerity. the real deal for me is translating into numbers. I’m in real estate & find it hard to connect tweets with actual home sales.
Maybe I should sell an e-book on “how to get your home sold from twitter” now i wold be the douche bag in your article.
Long live the Infidel!
This post is great because it’s about asking “HOW?” but only getting answers to ‘why’ or ‘when’ or ‘who’ or ‘what’ and the worst is when “HOW do I… (speak Chinese)?” is answered with
“Start talking! Go, meet, chat, help, engage!”
It reminds me that I take my intuitive skills for granted [Note to self: get Pace+Kylie's "The Usual Error"], and that might’ve been hard on those newbie-boomers I’ve trained on the HOW and the WHY to use twitter, start blogs or run FB Fan pages. Hm. Good lessons from one problem solver to another in every box of IttyBiz.
The comments are, as usual, enlightening.
Your Client’s lucky that you’ll guide her on the WHY of using So/Me for her goal, even as you find better HOWs. With your eye on her specific purpose and prize, it’ll prioritize the learning of the HOW and make it easier, relevant, and productive sooner. She’s in good (infidel) hands.
Thanks for always being the Emperor’s Mirror —
~ @TheGirlPie
I’m reminded of the Simpsons episode spoofing exchange programs and the immersion theory of language acquisition: Bart is sent to an exchange school in France without a word of French, on the idea that he’ll just pick up what he needs while he’s there. The “exchange school” ends up being a vineyard where he’s forced to crush grapes all day under slave-driver vintners, but when he finally manages to escape he discovers that he’s fluent in French because they’ve been talking it around him the whole time, confident that he didn’t know the language.
Just a little random aside.
One thing about Twitter is: it’s all there to be seen.
I would go check out 40 successful-ish people’s Twitter stream, and see if you can see a pattern.
How many RT and on what? Did they add comments?
How many @ replies- and in reply to what (noticing the banal nature of much of it)
How many promotional tweets and how many just about stuff?
Also: what are people doing with their bios?
Then I would also just get Tweetdeck or whatever and watch her stream- for a few days if necessary.
Then start talking- I don’t know: 3 personal tweets, 3 RTs, 3 @replies, one link a day.
Follow the conversations that happen. Unfollow the weirdos. Follow people who people she likes RT.
Allow it to take time to get a feel for it.
Without being glib (well, maybe a little) none if us knew what the hell we were doing when we started.
Oversimplifying? Not simplifying enough?
You have no idea how many customers come to me and ask what the hell they’re supposed to do with Twitter and Facebook. Most of them look at it from a personal level (and y’know what – I’d never tweet a day in my life if it weren’t for my company).
Every time I get a question like that from my customers I think of those commercials where the chick just starts spouting off a bunch of information because she has internet search overload. There’s just too much “do this” “don’t do that” and people are confused with a capital C.
When I have clients who don’t know a thing about social media I send them over to http://www.commoncraft.com. These dudes make awesome videos about (among other things) social media and it explains things in a very simple manner.
The truth is, most people don’t give a shit about why they need to use Twitter or Facebook. They just want to know what to do and why they should do it. A recent client told me that if it ended with dollars in her pocket she’d do it.
Some common questions I get:
Question: Why would anyone want to use Facebook? It’s for kids and those crazy people who play Farmville.
Answer: Because you just need to be – so let’s get you set up with a fan page.
1. Google indexes them – that’s good.
2. Millions use Facebook and I’ll be that at least ONE of those people would have never found your site if they didn’t find it on Facebook first.
Question: What am I going to put on Facebook?
Answer: Anything you want, but don’t make a complete replicate of your website. Sure there are people who will never visit your site (see point two above)but there are plenty of people who will follow both. The point of having a business is to be a freaking supernova not a match in a sandbox. When people see you everywhere, AND see that you have a large following everywhere you’re just cool.
Question: No really, what am I actually going to put on there?
Answer: Okay, here’s the map of the big stuff.
1. We’re going to do a custom landing page. Remember, Google indexes it so we’re going to link up your Fan page and your web site. Got a product? We’ll put it there and sell it. Got a newsletter? We’ll put a sign up box.
2. We’re going to give you a Fans only tab. We have a sneaky bit of code that will hide the information that you want only fans to see. And since I know you’re going to ask what you could possibly put there, let me give you some ideas: information that people can’t find anywhere else. Make it good because you need to give people a reason to LIKE your page. Stick a coupon code there for one of your products. Add a free download.
3. We’re going to upload whatever videos, pictures and audios you have on hand. Why? Because people love multi-media.
4. Since we know you’re going to be stellar, we’ll add a “tell your friends” box that will make it easy for people to tell all their friends about your awesomeness.
I just want to second the recommendation about Common Craft. They are insanely skilled at breaking down concepts and technical tools into visual analogies — which is my favorite way to learn.
Hi Dawn,
I’m the client that is being talked about, and I like your map breakdown, but I’m still a bit lost!
I’ve made a few comments, to your points.
1. We’re going to do a custom landing page. Remember, Google indexes it so we’re going to link up your Fan page and your web site. Got a product? We’ll put it there and sell it. Got a newsletter? We’ll put a sign up box.
Where does this all go, are these links on my fan page and facebook page, or can you actually do the newsletter sign up right on facebook?
2. We’re going to give you a Fans only tab. We have a sneaky bit of code that will hide the information that you want only fans to see. And since I know you’re going to ask what you could possibly put there, let me give you some ideas: information that people can’t find anywhere else. Make it good because you need to give people a reason to LIKE your page. Stick a coupon code there for one of your products. Add a free download.
This requires a good knowledge of code work, I’m not at all savvy in that department and don’t have that much money to hire someone for my facebook account. Is there an easier way to go about doing this?
4. Since we know you’re going to be stellar, we’ll add a “tell your friends” box that will make it easy for people to tell all their friends about your awesomeness.
Is this a face book application, how do I do that?
Tactics are nothing without a strategy. Strategies don’t mean squat without tactics.
We need to stop treating social media like some sort of intricate, mysterious, delicate system and start thinking about it as what it is…just another communications channel. The only difference between social media and traditional media is, we went and made it really damn easy to get started, so now any bozo can do it. And that means, like most things that have a low barrier to entry, it’s often done really, really badly. Fortunately, it’s often done really really well too!
Community and interaction and engagement are fun and all, but all the Kumbaya in the world isn’t going to put bread on my table.
People need to get their heads out of the clouds, and the rest of the people need to get their heads out of the sand , and the remaining ones need to get their heads out of that other more unsightly place. We need to stop apologizing for the fact that many of us are out here to help ourselves and our clients (so ultimately ourselves) make money.
I can be authentic, helpful, nice, interesting, and relevant out here till the cows come home, and I try my best to do that. The thing is, so can everyone else, if their heads aren’t otherwise occupied in the clouds, the sand, or where the sun don’t shine. There’s room for all that interaction and warm fuzzy, AND there’s room for selling our stuff. The two work hand in hand. To me, that’s the super cool thing about social media in the first place – you know, humans.
Naomi, I only found you a few days ago. But already you are rocking my world, lady.
It’s all about the numbers. Wait.
No, it’s not. Hey, is it… Tuesday? Let’s check our Google feed reader today… who posted…
Oh… right. Yes. [NODDING] It’s about the numbers. [CALLS OVER SHOULDER] Honey, it’s the numbers!
Dude. This is why figuring out “How to do Social Media” is so damn hard. It’s not that there isn’t a manual for how to do it.
There are already too many.
For every guru who tells you that you want large numbers to get traffic and hits, hits, hits, hits, there’s another guru telling you that it’s the *quality* of the hits that’s important.
1,000 true fans. Your Right People. Your audience. Velvet ropes.
Connections. Relationships. But get those numbers up there, people. And ABC. Always Be Closing.
Hmm. I wonder why people are confused and nervous about this.
Well, my take on the whole social media thing is like this: social = social. Which means not strictly business.
All the ‘how to make money with social media’ buzz is basically people trying to shoe horn making money into a medium that’s not designed for it.
I mean – it’s called ‘social media’ right? Not ‘social business.’ Perhaps we should coin a new term here folks. :)
Since when is Media not about business? Social is about 2-way, about connecting, about making new friends. Not without a reason for me and my clients. Reason: attracting clients.
Real advice for your client? First of all, for the moment just ignore that follower list (stay with me–we’ll get back to it). I’d advise her to start by learning a little more about Twitter. Go to the search box and type in some topics of interest: sailing, knitting, publishing, lasagna. This is a good way to see who’s talking about things that interest you and help you identify some people to follow.
Then, try to find a Twitter chat on a topic of interest. Again, this will help you find people to follow and help her understand more about how people engage with one another. And since there’s a chat interest/topic at hand, the comments are often less random and scattershot than the entire live Twitter feed. There are groups talking about everything from education reform to leadership issues in community associations. Try Googling “Twitter chats” for ideas about what’s going on when.
I will try to avoid platitudes but, at some point, she will need to try to engage if she wants to start leveraging the opportunity that her big follower list provides. You really do get back what you put in. Responding to a comment, asking someone to elaborate on a point, or just laughing at a joke is a start. Retweeting people (particularly those who are not among the Twtiterati whose every tweet is retweeted dozens of times) is a good way to build bridges and begin to engage. You’ll often find that people will respond to a retweet, especially those who are new to Twitter or otherwise don’t have thousands of followers.
Then try going back to that follower list. I have found that asking a question is a good way to begin engaging: “What are you reading?” usually gets quick, interesting answers and can lead to further conversation. (One of the most valuable conversations of my career came when I asked my followers, many of whom are workplace trainers, “What’s the most useful feedback you ever got from a workshop participant?”) Choose a few followers at random, read their profiles, see what they’re talking about. Try to figure out why they follow you, what they are looking for from knowing you. Links to an article or website from a smaller outlet (not just Digg or the New York Times) are usually appreciated.
And unfortunately, you may find that many of those followers are bots, touting teeth-whitening, “escorts”, and dubious “social media marketing” campaigns. Your client should be able to cull them out pretty quickly, giving a better idea of who is really a “follower”.
Does this help?
Best,
Jane
YES! :)
OMFG! Naomi and the Goddess Bozarth know each other? It’s the end times. Dogs and cats, sleeping together.
Don’t either one of you believe a single thing the other one says about me. It’s a pack of lies, all of it.
OK. That was inspiring, Jane. I was just about to type a comment about how I dislike twitter and it feels like it’s just one other thing I need to do… yet I find it so low on the totem pole of satisfactory conversation and /or meaningful promotion. But, I think I’ll print your advice and post it on my computer screen for a while. :)
I actually feel like that too. That’s why it’s so hard for me to get into it. It feels so unnatural and fake, its finding the right voice and the right group to make it real!
Amen.
I see my comment was censored. Another reason you’re bunk.
Get a copy of Twitter for Dummies – its very well written and covers exactly this case.
Naomi,
You couldn’t be more right – there is a severe lack of content that teaches the how. I recently wrote about that in this post:
http://www.b2bbloggers.com/blog/a-problem-affecting-twitters-
b2b-marketing-adoption-it-aint-easy/
My belief is that the learning curve to using Twitter is steep for most people. This prevents them from going beyond the how to use the site and into in what ways can it be beneficial for my business.
I am making a concerted effort to address this lack of content and recently also had guest post published at the Connected Marketer titled:
Do’s & Don’ts for Building a Community on Twitter
http://www.genius.com/marketinggeniusblog/4143/dos-and-donts-of-building-a-b2b-community-on-twitter.html
I would certainly welcome your feedback and thoughts.
What I would like to know is how one keeps up with it all. I use Facebook all the time and used to use Twitter regularly, until my Tweetdeck started messing me up. So now I have totally fallen out of the habit of tweeting. Yet my market is VERY online – so Facebook, Twitter, and forums is where I need to be.
But with the actual growing business (thank you AGAIN, Naomi!) and the still-necessary day job, I’m lost as to how to maintain it all. And it’s not a “balance your life” question – it’s a “what tools can coordinate this” question, or maybe a “how to do this more effectively” question.
I have noticed as my Twitter numbers went up my interactions went down. I now get excited if just one person responds to me a day. That leaves me a bit perplexed. I try to mix up personal/links/retweets so that its not tedious. I am now thinking of something like HootSuite so I can schedule things and get offline more. When I needed to get some numbers on a book survey for a client my numbers were dismal. If I just posted crappy links every day I’d understand. So what is the answer when I think I’ve done what “experts” tell to do?
If I just wanted to automate the shit out of everything and take the personal out it would be easier. But I like the interaction and I am sad when it doesn’t happen.
On Facebook my one page is inhabited by women in my age range. On the other page the the mix is split m/f and half the age. Now what do I do?
I totally agree with you Naomi. There is a map. It could be a wrinkly one with a coffee stain on it, or a sexy laminated job all folded up nice in the glove box, but there IS a map.
The problem is that the people that have the map are never going to really sell it, becuase they understand viral marketing all too well. If you give away the secret, then there is no more business model.
So, instead we sell picks and shovels to the people that are looking for gold, because that’s WAAAY easier then looking for the gold yourself… ahhh, but the map, the map. Where is the real damn map?
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Don’t overthink it. Facebook is just a bunch of people who have decided to talk to each other. Thats all
Right on!
No one KNOWs how Twitter works–until they USE it–in their own way.
Took me months to feel comfortable. After all, why would anyone CARE about anything I could say in 140 characters or less? No one I personally know (my own kids included) even uses Twitter.
But you know what, I’ve found it useful. And fun. I participate in #DCTH every week–a Twitter chat for designers. I like these folks! We converse. Pass on tips and jokes and relevant links and support and jokes…
It’s my water cooler.
I use Twitter to stay in touch with industry peers and on top of tech news. Twitter helps drive readers to my blog, but I’m not being followed by thousands of people.
And I’m OK with that!
Oh. I guess you’ve answered my question about whether focusing on Facebook training as my niche is a good idea…. ;) I knew it was something people were looking for, but am now realizing how badly it is needed! :) Thanks for the confirmation!
Naomi, Loved your post. (Love them all!) First, because you unabashedly speak the truth – and loudly! Second, because it’s a bold thing to say you’re not sure and to ask others. That’s why you’re the guru- a true online heroine!
I did some self-analysis of my own tweets last week. Why? Twitter morphed into something more than I intended it to. I, too, refrained from using the automated tools to build followers. I just tweeted. That was about it. After 10,000 tweets I took a look back to see if I really met the definition of a “social networker”.
I analyzed my tweets, my followers, my friends and how the whole thing compared to Facebook as a social networking platform.
So, I provide this link, not in a self-serving manner, but to show that there is no science to social networking. No SEO or marketing ninja skills are required. Just tweet, reply, and actually interact intelligently with people.
Perhaps my viewpoints will strike a chord with others: http://bit.ly/10000tweets
The truth of it is, it’s confusing because everyone has different answers and everyone has different answers because there is no one way.
No two people’s facebook or twitter experience is going to be quite the same, simply because everyone has their own social graph that will colour the experience. While everyone will happily parrot “join the conversation” if it’s the traffic update twitter account I’m following I’m not there because I want to know what the folks there are eating for lunch – I’m following it because I want to know if the road is clear so I can make it to *my* lunch.
Getting down to brass tacks, the first thing your client needs to do is figure out who these people are that are following her.
Are they there because they’re hoping to get something or was this a brand affinity move (eg: I like your client and so to show the world I do I follow them).
That’s easy-peasy to discover. Give them a call to action and ask them outright, “who are you people and what do you want?”
If they’re not actually following, there will be deafening silence. Not a bad thing. It can be used herein to track sentiment towards your client. The more there are, the more popular. Should it begin to fall at a precipitous rate, then worry. Your twitter and facebook in this case are nothing more than your canary in the coal mine.
If they are actually actively following, then decide how to integrate these channels into your regular marketing and communications:
* drive calls to action
* spread the word
* crowd source for ideas
* bypass the gatekeepers/hierarchy and have a direct conduit
The goal is engagement. Not in a kumbaya, fuzzy warm kind of way, but in a “every time one of my followers talks to me that message also went out to the hundred plus people that follow them.”
Twitter and Facebook are all about BYOA (bring your own audience). You bring yours and I bring mine and along the way members of our audiences join in and then their audiences get roped in to things.
- Rob Clark
http://disclz.me/RobClark
Ha! Funny. But you forgot my fave “Make sure you add value.”
I absolutely agree with you. So much blah blah out there, and absolutely nothing is said.
I signed up for the Social Media Summit just because of this and to hopefully hear get some real advice “www.socialmediasummit10.com.” And guess what, many of the speakers actually DO have a strategy: complete with Excel spreadsheets, schedules, tactics, goals, teams – the works. And their strategies are working for them, they say.
Some of the useful tips I’ve learned from the summit are all ready here in the comments – see Jane Bozarth’s comment in particular.
If you want to see more tips (tweeted in realtime) from the summit, go to http://search.twitter.com/ and search the hashtag #smss10.
Here’s Guy kawasaki’s script for using Twitter. He has good tips on how to power search.
http://holykaw.alltop.com/twitter-as-a-weapon-demo-script
http://Twitter.com/marismith is a Facebook Page advocate and has some free ebooks and tips on her site. http://www.marismith.com. She also tweets furiously during the presentations.
Ditto JobJenny
“I love this post with every ounce of my soul. Thanks for the outstanding read.”
For me, it’s as simple as this: I live on the road. I use both Facebook and Twitter to let people know where I am and what services I am providing once I get there.
Hope this helps in some small way.
I get Twitter for what I want to do with it. IT’s Facebook that is EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING! I’ve been on Facebook for over year for personal connections. I have just added a “Business” page and am having all kinds of problems figuring how it should be set up. THERE IS NO SUPPORT FROM FACEBOOK… AT ALL!!!! I want a business page that is not connected to my personal page! My phop uploader doesn’t work…NO TECH SUPPORT AT ALL!!!!
Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!
Kevin
I swear, I was about to email you or DM you or publicly thank you on a highway billboard yesterday for never using the buzzwords “authentic” or “transparent.”
And then, here you did one better – you flogged them. Just a light paddling, but I noticed. Those words needed a taste of the switch.
Thank you.
I think it’s helpful to have a strategy, even if your strategy is “I am going to just noodle around & only talk about my cat.”
In case it’s helpful, here are some thoughts.
What I like in my Twitterstream:
When people link their stuff – if I’m following you, I probably AM interested in your blog post/latest art work or new e-book
People who are interesting and witty
Generosity – people who link, chat and engage with others
What I hate in my Twitterstream:
When people link to their stuff constantly & don’t post anything else, especially if they’re boring about it
Textspeak – use proper English or I will drop you faster than a whore’s knickers
Links to articles without any explanation about the subject
People who tweet too much – if you are dominating my entire twitterstream, I’m probably going to get rid of you
Justin Bieber – who the hell is he and why is he always trending?
@ Kristy–LOL! Justin Bieber is the newest “boy band” phenom for the middle school set…. :-)
I see social media this way and I may be waaay off but here goes,
There is not one map. There are many. Twitter, facebook, blogs are simply tools. We can each use them in different ways. I see social media as the new telephone….everyone has a phone, but we all use it differently. Different conversations, different ring tones, different calling plans. Same phone.
So the reason i think there is no clear “way” is because there is not one way. At the core there is so much data churning in Twitter that we need to analyze that and build business plans accordingly. My stream will be significantly different than yours and your client’s. EAch of us has a different business/money making opportunities inherent in that stream.
To make it simple–we can start by listening and interacting. Take what we learn about people’s needs and direct them to a place where they can learn more. Eventually we can offer a “for fee” product/service that meets the needs. Not sure it needs to be more complicated than that,but then again, I’m no expert :-)
As for Facebook–I have no idea how to leverage it. It gives me hives.
I love and highly recommend this book: 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form by Dom Sagolla. There are some tactics in there, as well as strategy. It’s also a great guide for writing short posts anywhere.
I’m all about tactics and love helping folks navigate and learn and grow. We should talk. :) I’ve found each person/biz needs their own kind of answer that’s best for them, not some recycled can from the social pantry.
Leslie Poston
Twitter @leslie
SKYPE: UptownUncorked
UptownUncorked.com Social Media Consulting: Bringing People Together, Founder
FilmPop.tv A Digital and New Media Agency for Independent Film, Co-Founder
You can read my work at Mashable, Style Career Publications, Technosailor, Media Bulls Eye, Louis Gray Blog, Blorge, Free Access Australia, Lost in Technology, Profy and now: Twitter for Dummies (coauthor: Fitton, Poston, Gruen)
I admit I haven’t read all the comments so forgive me if I repeat anyone…
The first question your friend needs to ask is *why* are these people following her? Does she share a name with a semi-famous author? Porn star? Anyone?
With social media *why* people follow you matters. If they are there for fuzzy bunnies you shouldn’t try to sell heavy metal death. I think you get the idea.
Then you need to know how many people are *really* listening. Some studies suggest that more than 80% of Twitter accounts are inactive. http://bit.ly/drPqCq
Now, subtract the active accounts that are just mindless spammers. There are too many of those on Twitter too. Don’t believe Twitter’s claims of cutting spam to 1%. http://bit.ly/atlBh4
That equals your *actual follower base*. From there you can expect 1-2% average sales conversions, assuming you craft the right message to the target audience (your results may vary – I once saw 28%!). The good news is that social media buyers are also repeat customers for future products/services.
If the numbers work, well… the business plan pretty much writes itself.
And if you can’t find the thread that ties all those followers together, you can always try to find someone to buy the account. It’s a guaranteed way to make money with very little risk.
As for Facebook, the best way to explain it is with a college story. In the dorms, students used to hang a small dry-erase board on the door (I’m not sure if they do this anymore). These were message boards so your friends could let you know they stopped by, or to invite you to a party, whatever. Basically, leave a short message.
That’s sort of how Facebook works. Except now everyone shares one giant digital board (Facebook Wall). You can write all you want on your board. But you need permission to see and write on someone else’s (Friends Requests). Once you make friends, you see everything they post and vice versa. Now add 400 million people each with their own networks of friends.
I agree. It’s weird. But that gives you an idea of how it works.
Please feel free to email me if anything doesn’t make sense. I’ll be happy to expand further, if necessary. louis (at) r2computing.com
*Takes some notes on some of the ideas and suggestions scattered throughout the comments.*
I ran into the same problem when I asked the questions you did. It was really drivel and not all that helpful. Even from some of the most helpful people I’ve talked to online, I ended up with squat.
It’s all about… well, it’s about putting out there or social consumption what people *want* to hear/see/read and what they find interesting. At least… that’s what I’ve caught from observations. Some people have a knack for identifying these things right away, most people don’t and I think that’s why most of us (generalization but I don’t think I’m that far off) are fumbling around in the dark.
I’m not sure anyone can teach you how to strike on what’s popular and what’s not. Its very fluid and ever-changing so I’m not sure there’s any such thing as a golden ticket on this.
Checkout http://www.360degreesocial.com
They totally get it. And will help you get it. And manage it all if that’s what you want.
Ha! Yes!
(Though it pains me that every time I want to retweet something I have to do it manually. You need a retweet button. Please don’t stone me!)
Not only an entertaining read – all stuff that’s very true. While (thankfully) I don’t have Twitter teacher on my business card, I’ve taught quite a few people to get started inside companies I’ve worked for.
If possible, I’ve found it definitely helps to be there in person with them and see how comfortable they are with the technology piece and the interface, watch Twitter and let them ask questions. Usually, people ask about hashtags and URL shorteners (moms who love beige are often a bit confounded by this stuff). Some really like to minimize the technical piece, but it’s a very real hurdle for a lot of people who aren’t naturally attracted to Twitter (or something like it).
The other piece people struggle with that you identified is the strategy — most people want to have a reason for showing up to the party — not that they plan to be all business + broadcast all the time, but they want to feel as if they’re acting with purpose. Strategy will always be custom depending on what your other goals are, but I know you get this already.
An example of someone with a built-in audience on Twitter that wasn’t quite sure what to do with it is Roger Ebert. If you hate him, please don’t tell me about it because he’s been one of my all-time favorite writers for a long time. Not only that, but his blog posts and Twitter updates are ridiculously delightful. He resisted Twitter for a long time, but finally took the plunge when he was inspired to do so — when he wrote a one-liner he felt was good enough to be memorialized in its proper space. Here is his blog post on why he decided to use Twitter: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091006/OPINION/910069997
In this article on CNN, Roger actually talks a bit about his personal Twitter strategy: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/05/06/roger.ebert.food.twitters/index.html Some of it is the usual signal-to-noise bit, but there’s a lot of revealing information here about why/how he uses Twitter and what he gets out of it.
I’m very sorry I missed you at SOBcon this year, Naomi. I was really looking forward to meeting you in person but I had to leave the conference early. Hopefully next year :-)
Yup! I continue to want to have your children. I get social media and I make a living teaching Gen Y (we get it less than anyone, trust me) how to use it to get a job. HOWEVER. In order to learn it in the first place I spent months teaching myself online. 99% of the information out there is garbage and not only parrots everyone else but I’m so sick of the preaching! YES. I GET IT ALREADY. SHUT UP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. As usual, Naomi, you make my soul smile… while also encouraging it to give the finger to Twitter snobs.
I was wondering when someone was going to say this out loud.
This is exactly what the “social media gurus” want though. For free they’ll tell you that twitter is all about sharing and Kumbaya. (Do they have to keep REPEATING this though?)
For some ridiculous consulting fee they’ll tell you … ???
I know one business owner who is ADDING TO THE BOTTOM LINE with Twitter. Like for real. The big secret? VAs and analytics. Yep. Cold hard NUMBERS and some back-office assistance with the Kumbaya melodies. Am pretty sure this biz owner isn’t alone.
GASP! Such subversiveness amidst the earnestness.
You’re so right, Naomi. Biz is biz. We just have more tools now for enabling that know-like-trust thing. Too bad the “gurus” have made it all freaky.
Cheers,
Karri
Hi Naomi — JEEZ you have a way of kicking up shit storms…
I just wanted to say, I love you Naomi, and knowing how dead-simple smart you are about business marketing strategy i have ZERO sympathy for your facebook conundrum!
Here’s the deal as i see it: most of your FB “friends” really don’t give a shit about your business life and the 3 simple P’s of compelling marketing copy or whatever the hell you happen to be writing/tweeting about in relation to your biz SO — forget about your personal profile, unless you want to catch up with your auntie, or make philosophical statements about your breakfast. Just build an IttyBiz Fanpage, and treat it like your twitter account, basically.
OK? end of story — why the F do you NOT have one btw, i tried to find one and nothing…..!
- With love and adoration
THANK YOU for saying it! As 55 y.o. beige-hating mother, I seriously wondered if I was too old and slow to get social media marketing. I have learned a TON from you (THANKS) and others like Copyblogger, but FB has remained inscrutable and it’s certainly NOT intuitive.
Not sure if this has been suggested because I really couldn’t read through all those comments. There is a simple book out there to reference, it’s called Twitter for Dummies by Laura Fitton. It should help answer some of the questions/problems your client is having.
http://www.amazon.com/Twitter-Dummies-Laura-Fitton/dp/0470479914
Haha, I love it. I’m so sicked and tired of people hashing out the same bullshit response of “it’s about the conversation”. Oh, really? So then why do people autotweeting their RSS feeds and motivational quotes do so well?
I do agree in part that I much rather have a smaller following to reduce all the mindless chatter – I use it more as an open chat than anything else.
However, these people with 50,000 followers that do nothing but post old meme’s need to go.
This hits so close to home for me! It’s embarrassing how many social media books I’ve purchased and not finished reading, because I’m just not getting helpful information!
The social media experts that I know are saying they can help people “make money”–promoting their product/service–using social media as a channel to reach customers, facebook is just another media channel like NBC or Spike TV etc.
However, TV required something different from radio and print in terms of advertising techniques. So if we are being authentic to the medium then to use social media effectively, it’s best to be well, social.
From the social media perspective we can’t make it any simpler than “engage” and “get involved in the community,” because that’s literally what we mean.
It’s a new twist on PR, but unlike a press release there are no gatekeepers and unlike mass advertising your trying to reach people on a small scale, sometimes even one-on-one.
A great example of this “getting involved” thing is from the online game World of War Craft–Mountain Dew made a special branded character that players could get in the game. It was true to the medium, appealed to the community, and tied the brand to the players emotionally–e.g. “Hey, Mt. Dew gets me!”
Also, we could go on all day about the people who don’t use social media, but honestly that’s a played out discussion. If you look at the fundraising of Kerry in 04 to Obama in 08, hell even McCain 08, it’s easy to see that more and people are getting social media literate all the time!
It’s worth getting into, and it’s not going away. Even if specific platforms like Twitter and Facebook die out, the social idea is still there online and will continue to be a set of social media channels.
There is a lot of BS about social media and a lot of parroting from people who don’t get it. But, not everyone who does this is a douchebag.
Just sayin’
It sucks, but there’s just no way of telling people how to make friends. It isn’t wishy-washy to say “be cool” to other people and be yourself – there just isn’t a strategic way of going about doing those things. The minute you start developing a strategy to make friends, you just come off as disingenuous, which renders anything else you attempt to do useless.
The problem is that you can’t tell people how to make friends. Chances are good that if you don’t know how to make friends on Twitter, you’re not that great at it in real life. You might be better at developing just a few deep relationships instead of lots of “acquainta-friends.”
Note: My comment got a little long and actually ended up becoming a post of my own about social media.