“May I take your order?”
“Yes, I’d like a small Twitter presence, with 200 followers. And a Facebook Fan Page, but could you upsize that to 5,000 fans? And I’d like to add a side of 3 updates a day to each, and a daily status report.”
Amazingly, I got an email earlier asking for exactly that. This person wasn’t interested in a social media strategy, they wanted to know what I would charge them to create a Twitter presence with X number of followers, and a Facebook Fan Page with X number of fans.
This request really scares me for two reasons:
1 – That many companies think that number of fans or followers alone is a metric that indicates a successful social media effort. And they do, the above request is far from the only one I’ve received.
2 – A shady agency or consultant looking to make a fast buck will be all over this request.
Folks this apparently need to be repeated: The number of fans/followers your social media presences has is meaningless. If you want to have 500 followers on Twitter, then just start an account and follow 2,000 people (the follower limit for new accounts). You should eventually get about 500 follow-backs.
But unless those 500 followers either do business with you, or have some level of influence over the people that WILL do business with you, then they are all but worthless to you.
In the opening exchange, what’s the magic word that’s never mentioned?
Strategy.
Getting 5,000 fans on a Facebook fan page is NOT a social media strategy. Getting 200 followers on Twitter is NOT a social media strategy. Facebook and Twitter are tactics used to execute a social media strategy, getting on Facebook and Twitter is not a social media strategy.
If you want to know more about creating a social media strategy, I wrote just the post for you, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Creating a Social Media Strategy (But were afraid to ask). But please, don’t put the cart (tactics) before the horse (strategy). And please don’t believe that more fans/followers = a more successful social media effort. 30 engaged and excited current/potential customers on your Facebook fan page will trump 300 disinterested followers ANY day of the week.
Pic via Flickr user Tony the Misfit
Been saying the same thing for longer than I can remember… 🙂
Good points – hope this gets a few more people thinking strategically!
Scott here’s another problem…what if the person that makes the ‘give me a Twitter presence with 500 followers’ is doing so because that’s what their boss wants to see? In that case, if you or I said they need to go with a strategy instead, they’d think ‘That’s not what the boss wants’, and likely wouldn’t consider us.
Then again, I guess in the end you get what you pay for, eh? 😉
Mack I haven’t come against that yet, but I know some who have. I’m not in your position of working with too many on this front, but I’ve learnt from the guys I am working with, like Orange and Nokia recently, that we have to demonstrate small wins that tick the boss’ boxes as well as ours.
Often it’s the internal advocate who is working with us, so I use the pirate tactics to ensure they get things going 🙂
.-= Scott Gould´s last blog ..The Issue With Social Media Events: They Aren’t Social =-.
Amen! Thanks for posting. Will be sharing with some people (read clients) that think this way. The fun part is actually coming up with the strategy with the client. I am always surprised how willing they are to invest large amounts of money and time in other media sources but then expect SM to be the “magic bullet” that instantly brings in new business. I think I will start bringing a “What social media is NOT” white paper to every biz. dev. meeting we have from now on. Thanks for sharing.
Jackie –
I’m stalking you now in the comments of Mack’s post. Creepy? Dude. Let’s talk! Twitter, Facebook, Email….not comments on someone else’s blog. Classic.
Hi, Mack.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
Right and it’s also scary how many cos think getting x number of fans/followers IS a social media strategy.
It is sad to see people focus only on these numbers. I think asking the potential client additional questions about what they want to achieve from their online presence (like if they plan to interact with people, how they hope to turn a follower into an in-store visit, what they hope to learn from their customers) might help them start thinking of other possibilities beyond a follower count.
In the mean time, I’m glad you’re here reminding people that it is about much more than the numbers!
.-= Sara McGuyer´s last blog ..sara_mc: @willhardison makes more sense to have a buyout clause to me. oh, the possiblities 🙂 =-.
Everyone’s doing food/restaurant metaphors this week it seems. If someone comes at you with a fast food wish list, and you ask–and you should ask–”why do you want that?” if the answer is “that’s what the boss wants,” then it’s probably smart to walk away.
More than the numbers or the tools or the tactics or metric, it’s about the plan and the smart execution of that plan that gets results. We shouldn’t be order takers but leaders, and counsel our clients on the menu of social media options as related to what will work best for their audiences, goals and objectives. FWIW.
.-= Davina K. Brewer´s last blog ..Pimp Your Business, Atlanta =-.
Too funny Mack! I’m sure you could find an offshore vendor who’d be happy to pay a healthy commission on that.
Seriously though, it’s like companies who are overly focused on “traffic” with no concern for sales. We can drive untargeted traffic all day long (and Twitter followers and Facebook fans) but few if any are going to stick, none are going to buy.
I hope you wrote them back and said “I’d be happy to spend an hour on the phone to help you understand why this is a dumb request. My hourly rate is X”. 🙂
.-= Will Scott´s last blog ..E-mail Marketing for Small Business: 9 Things Not to Do =-.
Will I wrote them back and told them I don’t work that way, that I would be happy to work with them to create and help them execute a social media strategy instead. Still waiting to hear back 😉
I’m just going to chime in and say that I hear the same thing all the time as well. While it’s frustrating, all we can do is to continue to try to educate these companies. Basically they’ve heard the term social media and want to get involved, but they have no idea what it means or how it can benefit their company.
All we can do is try to educate them. And posts like yours here, is one way to do that. 🙂
.-= Heather Villa´s last blog ..How Entrepreneurs Can Get the Benefits of a Team (Wihout Selling Part of Their Business) =-.
Mack –
Not sure I agree w/ your comment that, “The number of fans/followers your social media presences has is meaningless.” While having a large number of fans/followers does not make you personally or professionally successful, it does help with reach (and maybe influence). In other words, if I post something on FB or drop a link on Twitter, the more followers/fans I have, the more eyeball potential, right? Again, it’s certainly not all about the #s, but 500,000 followers is better than 5.
Am I making any sense?
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
.-= DJ Waldow´s last blog ..Customer Service: Do Your Subscribers Know Where to Get It? =-.
DJ…..I think in theory you are right. But that’s assuming your link is going out to 500,000 followers that will be paying attention. But if it’s 500,000 bots or follow-backs, it really doesn’t do anything for you.
For example, a few weeks ago a guy with 70,000 followers RTed a link to one of my posts here. I once asked him how he got so many followers, and he told me he ‘follows everyone’. His goal was to get as many followers as possible, so he was following everyone he could find, and hoping they would follow him back.
How many of his 70K followers clicked his RT and visited here? THREE. But if someone like Shannon Paul, that has a fraction of that number, RTs one of my posts, I can probably count on a couple hundred extra visitors, at least. Because it will almost immediately be RTed several times by her followers, and the chain reaction starts.
So I agree with you that in most cases, having 500,000 followers is better than 5,000, but if those 5,000 followers are all friends, I’d take them over 500,000 or 5 million strangers.
Mack.
Me.
You.
Same page.
Quality over quantity for sure. Kinda like email marketing…which we’ll discuss on Sunday’s #blogchat!
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
It’s how many are listening and engaging, not how many people there are. I’ve seen people with 1,000 followers who do better than others with 10,000 followers. A number is a number but a relationship with that person who makes up that number, and who connects with you and shares/enjoys your content, is exponentially greater.
.-= Mike Stenger´s last blog ..20 Resources To Crush It In Social Media =-.
Mike this is one of the reasons why I love Twitter because there are SO many variables that influences what causes an idea to spread.
It’s not enough to have a lot of followers. It’s not enough to have a valuable idea.
You have to have the ATTENTION of others AND a valuable idea. And often it’s a crapshoot as to whether you have either.
.-= Mack Collier´s last blog ..The fast food approach to social media =-.