Comments on: The Point that Social Media Gurus are Missing

By: Paul D. Selman

Paul D. Selman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:27:35 +0000

I’d rather have a pet rock than 1000 Twitter followers in a fight. That’s one use right there.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:19:57 +0000

Chris – thanks for stopping by and adding in your two cents. I’m a strong believer in the “true fans” or the “tribe,” what I’m not convinced of is the number, and whether fans are really equal to connections. I’m sure you have quite a few true fans that you’ve connected with that you’ve never spoken to. That’s through no fault of your own, but a true fan can be evangelizing you from afar. Social media is a way to build connections. A lot of those connections we build can become true fans, but I think a lot of them don’t need to be in order for them to still be valuable connections.

So, in a way, there’s three numbers here. Your followers/friends/whatever other meaningless number is displayed in the top right corner of your social media platform of choice, your true fans, and your connections. The last of these is what you can develop through social media. If you’re lucky, you might get some true fans out of it. And if you’re not paying attention, you’ll just get a big number of the first type, without any of the second two, and that’s about as useless as a pet rock.

By: Chris Brogan...

Chris Brogan... — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:00:17 +0000

The way I prefer to talk about it (and nice post, by the way) is that I don’t care that I have over 100,000 people following me on Twitter. I care about the few thousand who are passionate and actionable. I like the ones who engage with me and share their perspective, and who take action when I sound the alarm.

1000 true fans was Kevin Kelly’s way of saying it. He’s not wrong.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:12:01 +0000

Jodi, thanks for the real world examples. I think these really help drive home the point. Marketing has moved from the megaphone to the telephone, and it’s just taking some people time to realize that.

But now, here’s the real question: You wear translucent socks?

By: Jodi Kaplan

Jodi Kaplan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:53:13 +0000

Hi Adam,
Numbers don’t matter. Quality matters. I could buy 1,000,000 email names for $5. They’d be worthless.

Or, take the case of one of my posts on my blog. It got hundreds of hits – because people were looking for the illustration I used. Lots of people, but they wanted Disney characters, not marketing advice.

As for authenticity, yes be “real” and make a connection. But no, you don’t have to be completely transparent (nobody needs to know what color socks I’m wearing). I prefer translucent.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:13:44 +0000

Kenji – this reminds me of the old adage, “when you try to please everybody, you please nobody.” Be yourself, be authentic, some will like you, some will not, but if you focus on those that do, then you’re setting yourself up for a loyal following. And loyalty is what makes for succes.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:00:53 +0000

Paulie, I love this comment because it takes the message and it expands it. Far too often, I’ll write something about Twitter or social media, and people will focus only on the topic I’m writing on. You’ve taken the core concept here, and extrapolated it to an equally applicable situation. That rocks.

And for what it’s worth, I enjoy getting the invites to Stone Pulse concerts, even if I am across the pond. One day, I’ll be in town and I’ll stop in for one.

By: Kenji Crosland

Kenji Crosland — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:48:37 +0000

Excellent post, Adam. Authenticity is hard to come by when you’re only focused on the numbers and writing what you think people might like to hear. It’s an easy trap to fall into, and I certainly did when putting together my first website: full-time-writer.com. That’s why I’m planning to shut down my current website to start up another and inject it with more authenticity juice. It’s articles like this that reaffirm that I’m making the right choice.

Thanks.

By: Tweets that mention The Point that Social Media Gurus are Missing — www.AdamDiStefano.com -- Topsy.com

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:31:48 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Adam Di Stefano, Paul D. Selman. Paul D. Selman said: Very interesting article on http://www.AdamDiStefano.com about social media – http://bit.ly/3ngNYN [...]

By: Paul D. Selman

Paul D. Selman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:25:34 +0000

I’m glad you’ve posted this, Adam, as it leads back to a conversation I had on Friday night.
As you know, I’m in a band. As is usual in these situations, I inform pretty much everybody I know when I have a gig. I mainly do this because I would hate to think that somebody who would have enjoyed the gig missed out on it because I didn’t let them know it was even happening. An unfortunate side effect of this, however, is that you sometimes get people feeling that they should come to the gig because I’ve invited them and I’ll be heartbroken if they don’t come. This simply isn’t true. For me, it’s about getting people to come to my gigs WHO WILL ACTUALLY ENJOY BEING THERE. As nice as it is to draw a large crowd, I honestly don’t want to be playing to a room full of people who would rather be at home watching television.
I’d much rather play to fifteen people who were having a great time than 150 people, 90% of whom are fidgeting and stealing glances at their watches to make sure they’re home in time to watch ‘The Wire’.
Everybody who wants to come to one of my gigs is very welcome and valued. Everybody who wants to visit my art website (www.PaulDSelman.com) is very welcome and valued. If people honestly have no interest in doing either, it really isn’t going to break my heart. My self-esteem as an artist is not so fragile that I can’t cope with somebody saying ‘Sorry, mate; it’s not really my thing’.
At the end of the day, it’s about attracting the RIGHT people, not just collecting as many people as you possibly can.