Pink Bubble World

*Please forgive me but this was originally posted on Stiletto Sports 4.11.09 I’m going to be slowly jumping some of the more random personal blog posts from Stiletto Sports to the Pink Bubble over the next few weeks, so you may see some pieces in both spots until I figure it all out. Hoping the transition is smooth though and that for most of you, this seems like new content!

Wanna know the deep, dark secret to increasing your Twitter followers that everyone talks about?

Just start following one of the online marketing people with like 50,000 followers.

I’m serious.

I made the mistake of accepting a follow from one, I don’t even really remember who. And ever since then, my twitter numbers have skyrocketed. I think I had 50 new people in a day. Sure it’s not the 1,000 people a day that those crazy viral tweet scams products promise but I was a bit wowed by the sudden onslaught of people desperate to be my friend.

It would be fantastic to have 50,000 followers! Shoot, I’d be happy with 1,000! I’d love that feeling of knowing that 1,000 people are reading my tweets and coming to my site simply because I am directing them to. Oh, the power!

Not really sure how I would find time to read all their tweets and hit up their sites in return though. I can barely keep up with the 160 people I follow as it is. How do those people with 30,000, or 50,000 or even just 10,000 followers find the time to read all their followers tweets? Is that why they are called “Social Media Experts?” Because they can actually interact with 50,000 people a day?

But that’s just it. They’re not interacting with everyone. They aren’t reading my tweets or coming to my site. Out of those 50 new people, how many are actually following me because I add something to their lives? Because I provide a service for them that they appreciate and want to learn more about? Or because they find me cute, funny, entertaining, sassy, spunky, adorable, hot or…..you know, all the above!

I’m going to go with maybe 5 tweeters and that’s only because two of those people I actually know in real life and I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the other three.

So really, what’s the point? I’m not really sure I’m cut out for business because I just don’t believe in the quantity over quality theory. Call me crazy but I’d rather have someone come and read my blog that I worked so hard to write then someone read my tweets. Although, yes, sometimes it does take a while to figure out how to put my thoughts into only 140 characters.

I’m just not that into the whole gathering twitter followers like they are Coach bags. Or Manolos. Or collectible Pez.

————————————————

When I first started blogging, I used a networking place called Entrecard. At first I loved the system. I loved going out and reading other people’s sites and “dropping my card” on their sites—hoping they would come drop on mine too. It’s like, Networking for beginners. Teaches you how to do the whole give and take thing. You comment, I comment. You drop card, I drop card….

But, after about a month or so, I realized that my followers, for the most part, were just about quantity, not quality. Yes, I found some great friends on there (Quarter Life Lady, Daisy the Curly Cat, and LezzyMom ,just to name a few) that I still visit every day. But, really, most of the people weren’t coming to read my site or to learn anything from me. Nor were they really providing any key feedback. They would come, drop their card and peace out.

How do I know that for sure? Well, analytics for one, because it told me how long people stayed. But I also know because I found myself doing the same thing to these people. I had no interest in their sites or topics either, but I went by and dropped my card because they came to me too. So, really, what was the point? To me, it really gives an inaccuarate portrayal of your traffic count and who you are actually reaching.

I feel the same way about all these twitter people. If they have 50,000 followers, what connection can I possibly make with them?

I fear that I will spend most of my precious Twitter Time every day trying to get them tweet me back or @ reply me because they are the Popular Kids at school now. Suddenly I crave their attention and want them to notice me or something. But really, what value are they adding to my life? To my blog? To my company?

I’m not going to buy their product. I barely have enough money to fund my own projects at this moment. They don’t have blogs or anything. They are just constructed around a landing page with a sales pitch that I’m not interested in reading that stays static daily.

And I know they aren’t reading all my pieces that I spend so much time and effort researching and constructing. So, what’s the point? So that others can see that I’m Ms. Popularity with 50,000 followers too? What does that matter if 40,000 of those people aren’t actually reading what I say?

Like I said, maybe I’m not cut out to be a business women/entrepenuer (especially because I can never spell it right) because I just don’t get the point. I’m all for the networking and using social medias as tools. And I’m all for the promotion of my site. But at what cost?

——————

I may have to think about this a little bit more. Maybe I should finally take the time to sit down with Tweetdeck and learn how to divide up my Tweet Groups by category of people. I would love to follow these people back to thank them for following me and all. But I am afraid I’ll starts missing the tweets from my real followers. The ones that actually interact and talk with me on a daily or weekly basis and really add to my Social Media enjoyment.

Leave a Reply