What it takes to achieve clout on Twitter
I just passed the 500 followers milestone on Twitter.
It makes me happy that so many people have found something I say interesting enough to hit the Follow button. Thank you!
Now might be a good time to reflect upon two of the eternal questions in social media:
- How long does it take to build clout?
- How should you manage your following/followers list?
How long does it take to build clout?
Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that it won’t happen overnight, not even in a week or month. I’ve been active (well, sort of) on the social networks almost exactly 18 months and churned out more than 1,600 tweets, for example. I can’t say it has resulted in a single case of new business, unless in such a roundabout way that I haven’t realised the connection between my social media presence and the assignment.
Another thing I know about clout is that your audience plays an enormous role. I started out on Twitter to learn what’s going on in marketing in the great wide world, which by now has somewhat skewed the composition of my audience: it’s now mostly marketers talking to other marketers. I will have to find subtle ways of turning the ship more towards my primary client base—industrial companies, information technology companies, engineering, automotive and in general, B2B companies.
Your geographical location also plays a role. If I remember correctly, some 40% of Twitter users are in the United States. It is unavoidable that this is reflected in its use, especially considering that the US business community has adopted it perhaps more enthusiastically than, say, EU businesses.
Talking about geography, I must rant a little about search engines, Google in particular. For some unfathomable reason, the search algorithms think I’m only interested in results that are physically close to my location. It’s almost as irritating as being served Google ads based on the language of my operating system or the location of my IP address. Totally useless to me.
How should you manage your following/followers list?
First of all, you shouldn’t do anything. Whatever serves you well is OK. There’s been a lively debate on “Twitter snobbery” between Mitch Joel and Mark W Schaefer, which is a good read for learning what the big-league boys think about the issue.
My own philosophy goes something like this: I block only followers who are obvious spammers, pyramid schemes, porn peddlers or other undesirable (to me) types. Otherwise, it’s a free world! This will result in a number of automated followers not at all related to your business. You can either try to purge them from your follower count (to be able to deliver relevant messages to relevant recipients) or you can just let them be (they may be ballast, if you will, but your content should be interesting enough to attract the right followers in any case).
It’s been repeated over and over again that follower quantity is secondary to quality. While this is right, of course, you need to achieve a critical mass of followers before you can expect your messages to have sufficient reach. That’s why it might be a good idea to keep some sort of balance among your followers.
On the following side, I admit I’m pickier. I don’t auto-follow—call me a snob if you want. It’s my social media real estate that’s being used, and I want my timeline to include messages that are relevant to me.
Would you like to share your thoughts? You know the drill: just hit on the Comment button. Thanks!
I am very wary of this notion of clout. I have positively realized extraordinary business benefits through Twitter, almost entirely with people who by Twitter standards are obscure. I have learned that the rule of marketing on Twitter is, “you just never know.” You never know where a random tweet will lead, how that snowball will roll and gather momentum and substance. In fact, I think the most potential for collaboration is with people unencumbered by clout.
I think the difference between you and me is simply a function of math and probability. I have far more opportunities to collaborate with potential clients and partners near to me than you do in your relatively sparsely-populated Twitter region. There are more atoms knocking together over here that will eventually create a reaction. It will happen there too I think.
As for you my friend, I count you as one of my many Twitter blessings. How else would I come to know and respect this hard-working and thoughtful writer and marketing professional in Estonia? It would have literally been impossible. But now we have been connected for more than two years and have supported each other in many little ways. How will we end up? The rule still applies – You Just Never Know!
Thanks for this wonderful and thought-provoking post, Kimmo!
Great post, and I am on a parallel path (but behind you). I also learned allot from the Mitch v Mark dialog on ‘follow’. My approach is more Mark than Mitch, but there is no denying the value of Mitch… I don’t care if he ever follows me, I will scrape and apply what works for me.
So my experience (all 5 weeks) has been similar to your’s…I am trying to turn my ship into the wind of ‘relevance’, like you … but I see (unpredictable) business potential, and if that fails, there is still the benefit from the ‘contact’. Mark claims the twitter community is really tight within active participants. I am raw, but I already know he is ‘dead-nuts’ right on that.
Great blog,
Bob
I think that you make a great point about diversifying your followers from industry tweeps to targeted customers. I’ve certainly found that while generating a following within my industry is great for brand development and awareness, most of the time it will not produce any prospective business. But then again, if our business plan was reliant on Twitter generated revenue, we’d be living with a very distorted view of reality.
@Mark — I subscribe to your “you never know” theory. That’s why I’m not too picky with my followers. Your atom metaphor made me chuckle; I think that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s just depressing sometimes that there are so few atoms flying around here… Then again, it just takes more time to bring about a reaction, but eventually, it’s going to happen. And hey, big thanks for dropping by! Always a welcome visitor.
@Bob — Heh, you crystallised it perfectly: “Scrape and apply”. If you’ve gone through all that thinking in just 5 weeks, congratulations! I have a feeling you’re going to make it big in the social media arena if you just persevere. Keep in touch!
@Jamey — It sure poses a challenge to make a silent transition from learning to putting what you’ve learnt into practice. SEO and all the other business aspects aside, I’m finding it just wonderful to get in touch with people I couldn’t possibly have met in real life. Thanks for your thoughts!