Ever feel like you’re just not being heard out there; like it’s just you and your smart phone Twittering in deep space? You can see the stream coming in, but the ones you’re following could just as easily be asteroids passing by than real people.
It’s an interesting exercise in observation to behold the beginning and rising epoch of any dedicated Twitter user, whether they’re promoting something or not. It’s starts with the same excitement a winning lottery ticket might evoke, only sometimes the euphoria of digital vanity surpasses even the accumulation of great wealth. A basic human need is to be heard, feed that by a billion power, and birth a world full of Twitter-happy instant narcissists.
But the problem with this scheme is other people don’t want to hear from some random egomaniac–they don’t have a chance unless you have star dust on those keypad frenzied nails. Dictates of “hear my voice” are deftly unfollowed. And so the rise and fall of the wanna-be who gives Twitter a try, goes full circle with the realization that no one really cares what they’re saying. It’s akin to the poor loser who scratches off a lottery ticket and in haste thought it was the winning number for a day or two. Then after being body slammed by embarrassment and a devastating sense of failure it’s back to a permanent state of potential, until the next “15 minute fame scam” comes along.
While these megalomaniacs get off light with a hard thud back into reality, social media experts are still Eskimo smooching the mirror, trying in vain to coax some familiar three dimensional sentient out of there. And even if we figure the 20% rule applies (a huge benefit of the doubt), which means two out of ten social media experts are seeing any response at all out there, there’s still eight of them diving deeper into madness. The madness of which we speak is the kind you get from doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (Einstein). Yet, why keep doing it. Why?
Someone has told social media experts wrong. It’s not just someone either. It’s the industry. It’s the webinars. It’s the books. It’s themselves after hearing it from so many places. Social media experts have been led to believe that creating great content is the first key to social media success. It’s not. Sure, people on Twitter go there for information. Stats. show us that. But unless you’re spitting out what absolutely no one else is, you’re probably not who users want to hear from. And on top of that you’re probably throwing out links to sell services too, and that really turns the crowd off and away.
Unless you’re a publishing company or someone who is telling Cannon Rebel camera fiends how to soup up their lens (or something equally obscure and high demand), then stop. Just stop. And readjust.You have permission. No one is going to miss your tweets or you’re not going to lose the opportunity to have that one or two people (who re-tweet you so you’ll re-tweet them anyway) re-tweet you.
Next, look through your list and find one person you haven’t “met.” Read through their profile and get to know them. Take half a day to do this with a handful of people, and engage. Mention. DM. Meet in person, if possible. Make friends. Really. It’s not about the content. It’s about the connections, and getting to know people. Once you get to know them, make sure they are the ones who need to hear what you have to say. And then, not too fast now, talk with them (not to them with catchy titles and landing page links). And just keep talking. And sharing. Now, you’re back on Earth with a dinner table full of interesting people you’ve never really met before. You’ve stopped letting them pass by like asteroids in the night, and you’ve sat down to get to know them. Now you’re getting somewhere.
