Do you collect fans, followers or friends?
You’ve got a social media strategy. You’re passionate about building your brand online – whether it’s to sell your services, promote a new book or a new client. And you know that your biggest expenses in this new venture will be your time, energy and willingness to reach out to whole lot of people.
As your community grows and the world gets to know you better, conversations, relationships and sales all start to blossom. But are these people your friends? Maybe your followers? Your fans?
How you feel about your community has a lot to do with how you use social media to reach it. We all have our own personal approach to social media and there’s no right way to do it that applies to every person and brand. But social media’s evolved enough that it’s clear some styles work better than others.
Why there’s no such thing as rock stars in social media
When Oprah tweets, her fans listen – and many of them would do anything for a personally addressed tweet. Even though that works for Oprah, it likely wouldn’t work for you or me. But there are more than a few self-appointed rock stars that embody this style. You know the ones I’m talking about Some of them have thousands (and hundreds of thousands) of followers. Some are legitimate thought leaders and nurture their communities but many aren’t. Here’s the thing: the number of people who follow you does not determine thought leadership. And your klout score? Meaningless would be an exaggeration…
Let’s have a look at the differences between a few different styles and how they see fans, followers and friends when they survey their kingdoms.
The “Fan Hog”
This social media personality is good at broadcasting content from her newest book or webinar series. When she was a newbie, she filled her stream with robust conversations but now it’s tidbits of her advice with little interaction with the little guys. She’s generally a nice person but cross her and you’ll be called out to atone for your sins – before her community. I remember when MC Hammer first joined twitter – though I didn’t really believe he was who he said he was…now he’s too big to talk to little ol’ me.
Why fan the Fan Hog?
There may be huge value in following if her advice is germane to your business or even if you just enjoy her banter. But understand that she’s become a media channel and that interaction is no longer part of the arrangement. Don’t be hurt if she never responds to your tweets – it’s about her, not you.
The “Followerista”
This social media leader has carefully nurtured his community, following those who follow him and maintaining a steady flow of conversation. He’s aware that his community has helped him get where he is today but he’s lost focus on the individuals within. Things become disconnected when he’s promoting something for a client and his stream suddenly fills with seemingly unrelated content. He might still talk to you if he thinks you’re influential enough…
Why follow the Followerista?
I’m happy to follow this kind of thought leader on social media because his stream is usually filled with a wide variety of content from across the web. He probably won’t thank me for a RT but if I ask a relevant question, he might answer me. I like his content but we’ll probably never swap recipes…
The “Friend Next Door”
This social media personality can have just as many followers and fans as the first two, but he’s different in one refreshing way – he talks to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have 2 followers or 2,000, you’re important to this person. While there might be great content, there’s a whole lot of conversation going on too. The drawback is that it can sometimes be difficult to sort through the random conversations to find good content.
Why follow the Friend Next Door?
I love following social media leaders who share a bounty of information from a wide variety of sources. I especially love it when they’ll engage in a conversation with me. They answer my questions, thank me for retweets and treat me like a human being. They fulfill my need for information AND interaction.
What does your social media stream say about you?
I don’t consider myself a thought leader or rock star in social media. I’m out there pounding the pavement along with everyone else trying to catch a break and I hope my social media streams reflect that hunger. But I’ll be honest. Time constraints can sometimes make my stream look like a bad remake of Sybil.
I’m human and social media is a tool that helps me express my personality – flawed, funny, smart and slow as molasses some days. I like to think I’m a friend but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day to talk to everyone,
How do you use social media? What does your stream say about your personality (or brand)? Are you happy with that statement or is it time to change things up? If change is on your horizon, find thought leaders who treat the people in their community like real people – not just fans or followers. Those are the true leaders in this space and their humility is what will teach you how to use this amazing tool better.
These are just a few leaders who inspire me every day on Twitter.
- Melissa Stewart
- Shelly Kramer
- Ron Karr
- Carla Young
- Ann Tran
- Kathy Ireland
- Sean Garnder
- Mahei Foliaki
- Erika Napoletano
I would love to hear your favorites in social media – and why they’re you’re favorite. Got tips for being an engaged thought leader? I’d love to hear those too. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn (whichever one works best for you) or leave a comment below.
Great article Julia……..I think many’s first mistake is not knowing what their voice is on twitter. I appreciate that even you….a social media star admits to not always having enough time. That’s what makes you “real”, and why I myself follow and enjoy your posts. The first tip I always give to anyone who asks…is to be “engaging”. Make sure that whoever is reading your tweets for the first time is included in the conversation. Its tweeting….not texting!!
Thank you for the lovely comment, Stacey – and for the very thoughtful read. While I’m thrilled you think so highly of me, I’m still learning this medium along with everyone else and sharing my knowledge helps me too. More water in the harbor makes all the ships rise equally. See ya on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn 🙂
When I went to High School there were several “status groups’ The Jocks, The Brains, The Preps, The Punks etc. I didn’t belong to any one specific group, but had friends in all the groups. That is how I approach social media. How very “high school” of me 🙂
Lisa, there’s no denying those groups exist – they do in every industry. There are two big differences though. The pond is a LOT bigger and no one group holds the power to dictate who we talk to. Second, (hopefully) our sense of self has evolved enough that self-worth is not dependent on their approval. As long as we’re governing ourselves with dignity and authenticity, the world of social media belongs to us all. I truly believe it’s a great equalizer and I think you do too – because you do it so well. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Julia
Danielle Smith, Erica Diamond and Darren Rowse are great examples of the third – and the type I prefer to follow!
Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting, Britt – great examples! I love that our use of social media has evolved to the point that we’ve developed a taste for what we prefer. Thanks for sharing!
Julia
What a nice surprise this morning, Julia. Thank you for the kind words. My big gripe is social media “rockstars” who fill their stream with inspirational quotes scheduled at 15 minute intervals 24 hours around the clock. It’s a tactic used to game the system and to make one’s self more “influential” while really being everything that is the exact opposite of what an influencer in the social media space is. Those people, they don’t get it. And there are many of those such “rockstars” around every corner.
Thank you for the inclusion and the honor of being someone who shares information and/or interacts in such a way that you gain value. That’s lovely.
Shelly
What a lovely surprise to see a comment from you, Shelly! I’ve loved following you and getting to know you better and consider you one of my strongest mentors in this space. Thanks for keeping it real!
Julia
This is such a great explanation for newbies that may think the high number people are the ones to copy as far as Twitter behavior. There are so many “Friend Next Door” rockstar types that it’s hard to see the other two without cringing a little. The one thing. The more we share value and have actual conversations, the better the platform.
Thanks for boiling it down for everyone!
Sugar
Thank YOU, Sugar! I’m a firm believer in sharing new findings, best practices and ideas. This is still such a new medium and if we collaborate, we’ll all get better at it. The old adage of more water in the harbor brings up all the ships equally couldn’t be more true on social media. Thanks for being so willing to share!
Julia
Thank you SO much Julia! I’m still a work in progress on social media but I feel so blessed by all the wonderful opportunities and connections social media (especially Twitter) has brought into my life.
Can’t wait to meet you IRL 🙂
Melissa, this is why I adore you and yes, I can’t wait to meet you in real life too!
Julia
This is such a great piece, Julia! When you’ve been using social media for so many years it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to have a large following (believe me, I think all of us experienced that feeling when we started out on social media).
Though I don’t have a large following/follower ratio on Twitter I’m actually happy with that. I’d rather spend the time getting to know people individually as I can instead of having 1,000+ followers and no way to interact with them all. It’s amazing how those with 50,000+ can even manage it. I’ve been a huge fan of yours since day one and I thank you for all that you do inspiring others to travel and just be your authentic self.
Scott, thank you for stopping by with such a lovely comment. It’s wonderful being connected to you as well and I agree completely – connection is much more important than building a mass following. Even though I do have a large following, I’ll admit that I struggle with it – often. Connecting with people with meaningful conversations is hard – it takes time, effort and concentration. Balancing it all is a challenge and a blessing all wrapped up together.
Thanks again for brightening my world with your generosity!
Julia
I love your take on this subject. I would love to say I’m the friend next door, commenting, RT-ing my blog buddies tweets, following by profile bio not by number of followers etc. all the time- but I do work in the Influencer industry and do share sponsored content as well.