What is the relevance of having thousands of followers on Twitter? How many of these thousands read your tweets? How many of those would be driven to act on something you recommended?

Those who use Twitter and Facebook for marketing purposes believe that the more “eyeballs” that see their message the more likely they will sell their product or service.

Social media marketing cannot take the place of creating a product or service that is needed and wanted. Throwing mud at the wall and hoping it sticks is old school marketing. People today are bombarded by offerings, information, options for just about everything they need, want and use.

It’s not about the numbers. It’s about finding those followers who want what you have to sell or teach them. It’s quality, not quantity. Wouldn’t you rather have a 100 followers who read your messages and take an interest in what you say rather than a 1000 who either ignore or skim the content? I know I would.

I attended a talk on social media a few weeks ago and one of the attendees asked this question: “I send out a newsletter every two weeks with free give aways, free webinar offers, and free consultations. My email list is over 1000 people and I use Twitter and LinkedIn to deliver the same message. My response rate is single digits. What am I doing wrong?”

No one knows for sure but my guess would be that either he has the wrong target audience or is selling something nobody wants or needs. Additionally, his communications with his audience are all one way – out. The lack of connection, human contact, and relationship building – critical to growing a business – all contribute to this lack of response.

So how should you use social media?

– Make sure what you are offering is something people want or need.

– Use social media as tools, not as the only means of communicating your message.

– Relate, communicate, find out if you are hitting the right target.

– Modify your offerings as you learn from your active followers.

– Take your online contacts and turn them into real world relationships.

– Take your time.

What other advice do you have?

As an FYI, I read this great article in this week’s New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell, a favorite author of mine called Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. It’s a great read.

Utilizing her experience of over 25 years Mary Rosenbaum helps careerists and entrepreneurs position themselves so they can stand out from the competition. Get her free report Top Strategies for Getting Visible and Getting Ahead.

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