It’s really not a mystery how people become a success. They provide something of value. All too often on the sites many of us frequent, such as Twitter, I find the majority of users thinking that if they just get their spammy message in front of enough people, the numbers dictate they will eventually get rich.
This is simply not true.
What these people are showing us, is that the only value they have to give is spam. Links from strangers who we don’t know or trust telling us to do something we don’t know why we should want to do in the first place… is pointless and disgusting. Ick.
Now, I’m sure these people do have actual value to give somewhere inside them – but just don’t know how to convey it. So, we’re going to start small with some tips. Future articles will definitely build further on this topic, as it’s becoming more and more necessary to get the message of value out there.
1.) Focus.
How many people do you know – especially on Twitter – who have a few hundred people following them, but are following 2,000 themselves? This tells me one thing right away – they click ‘follow’ on everyone’s profile, in hopes that they will get some reciprocal or auto follows. This is how many of the Twitter auto-spam scripts work. It also tells me they are interested, not in people, but in scamming someone. Whether this is the intent or not, it’s the message they’re sending.
So, your rule for following people should be: ONLY follow people YOU are interested in learning from. If that’s only 30 people, then that’s all you follow. You may have hundreds of followers by using tricks, but none of them are actually interested in anything you have to say so all of your scam effort has been useless. As far as the content of your posts, your rule can be: would YOU follow YOU?
2.) Have Patience.
Social media marketing, whether on Twitter or otherwise, should be treated just as marketing and networking in the real world – with patience and persistance. Building a smaller organic list of followers – who actually care about you and what you have to say is far more valuable than hundreds of followers who simply auto-follow everyone that follows them.
Having patience with this process is key. By providing value to your followers, you’ll recieve mentions on other people’s posts – which in turn, build your followers naturally.
3.) Give.
All-too-often online marketers do only one thing: ask for something. Click this link, come and follow me, visit my blog, buy my product, etc. No one, I repeat, NO ONE is intersted in listening to someone they don’t know, trust, or respect.
By all means, share a useful link. Re-quote a mindful thought you heard or read. Give a short tip about your expertise, or give away an entire product. Giving is the only thing the Universe accepts as paymet for all it’s done for you – and will do for you. Give, and you will recieve goodness back 10-fold.
The caveat to giving is that it must be done with the recipient’s best interest in mind. For example, if you’re giving only to get something back – that’s not really giving – that’s a scam. This isn’t easy if you’re not used to it and it may take an entire shift in the way you think, but figuring out how to make this little change in the way you do things day-to-day can impact your life forever.
In summary, your only focus online (and in “real” life for that matter) should be to give all you can. Provide true value to your network and that network will support and sustain you through the thick and the thin.
How do YOU provide value?
