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Follower Count Doesn’t Matter If Your Content is Crap

June 28, 2012 By Jill Of All Trades Leave a comment

Your Facebook page has thousands of likes. Your Twitter account has thousands of followers. So what? Unless you grew your follower count organically, it means jack and squat.
Some times, more followers is just more followers.
It’s not hard or expensive to buy followers and lots of companies do it. But that doesn’t mean that they: 1. Will care about your company; 2. Will ever purchase your products; or, 3. Will pass along your content to their friends.
And, yet, many people use follower count as a metric for success.
Like so many other companies with a fledgling social media presence, we paid a service to grow our follower count. But what we ended up with was a bunch of people making a bunch of noise, and not a one caring about what we have to say. On the street corner of social media, we were just another company yelling out links into cyberspace with a bullhorn.
Quantitative data, like follower counts, is the lazy way of justifying your social media presence. The essential, yet intangible metric is content. Are you talking at your audience or talking with them? Does your content die the second you post it or does it birth conversation? If your handle and avatar were removed, would your followers care enough about the content you produce to continue following you?
Think about it this way: Would you rather have a million followers, 999,999 of which wouldn’t pee on your burning building to put out a fire, or, a thousand followers who believe in your products enough to want to see you succeed? It’s the social media equivalent of a lead versus a qualified lead in sales.
A thousand brand disciples (those who actively participate in your social media activities and share your content) are infinitely more valuable than a million followers. Brand disciples are the ones who help turn your lazy little stream of social media spewage into a torrent of viral engagement.
So how do you attract these much-coveted brand disciples?
Create compelling content.
Ask yourself:
Focus. Is this relevant to my audience, industry, or company?
Interest. Will my followers care?
Reach. Would my followers’ followers care?
Engagement. Does this make me want to click a link, watch a video, or comment?
Content. Does this entertain, encourage conversation, offer insight?
Connection. Does this encourage future interaction?


How’s your content? Check it against this infographic to find out. To post, or not to post?




Even superheroes need sidekicks. While she’s not quite ready to throw on the unitard and mini-cape just yet, Aimee Brock (aka Jill of All Trades) shares her expertise with readers in her second contribution to Reman University. Want to read more from Aimee?

FILED UNDER: MARKETING

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