social media disciples Archives by Mark Murnahan

The Biggest Fallacy of Social Media: More is Better

I want to discuss the biggest fallacy of social media for a moment. It surrounds a tightly held misconception that many people will refuse to let go of, because somebody with perceived authority told them it is “how social media is done.”

It is made worse every day because of all the people who have the mentality that “if they are doing it, it must be OK.”

People often want examples to follow. It makes them more comfortable with their decisions. Sometimes it turns out just great, but it often leads to a whole lot of “imitation marketing” with horrible results. Didn’t your dad ever use the line about your friends and a cliff with you?

“If they were all jumping off a cliff without parachutes, would you just follow along with them?”

–Dad

Enough of the crescendo, let me explain this famously popular trap that has become the biggest fallacy of social media. Did somebody tell you that you need whole bunch of people to “follow” you, “like” you, and “friend” you? The odds are great that the person saying that is full of crap about other things, too.

The truth about the biggest social media successes, and in fact, the way that things actually become “viral” is quite the opposite from what it seems. It does not happen because of a huge number of followers, friends, and fans. Success happens because of thinking, creating, and doing something amazing enough that your dearest core group of true listeners, who care what you have to say, share it with emphasis. Before you even consider anything else, it is important to concentrate on the “amazing” part.

Who are those “core listeners” I am referring to? They are the people who like what you have to say, enough that they subscribe to your blog, follow you on Twitter, Like your Facebook page, and link with you on LinkedIn. They pay attention because they want to know what you have to share, and not because they just want you to add to their numbers. They are often great people to have as your friends, too!

This topic was inspired by a discussion on Mark Harai’s blog, in an article titled “How to Build Online Influence“. My comment there was as follows:

“It is absolutely true about the numbers. I have enough “followers” in some circles to properly seed a new landfill. Without bilateral communication, that is where those relationships are.

I even wrote a book that gave strong caution to the big numbers game of social media. People really want so badly to believe in big numbers, unless they have big numbers, and then they understand.

The mentality is not so unlike like desire for wealth. Many people want it badly but they use it unwisely if they get it.”

What most people do is called “conventional”. Convention is lazy, and conventional will not make you stand out! It is why “The Pareto Principle“, also known as the 80/20 rule, always holds true.

No, I am not that guy who will tell you that successful marketing is only about building relationships to make your social media marketing successful. It takes a lot of other things, too. If you want my “short list” of things that make social media marketing successful, go to my blog archive. The list includes 267 (often lengthy) topics I have written about. Not a single one of them says to get more followers, but many of them certainly do address the importance of relationship building.

Social Media’s Hardest Lesson to Learn

I have argued against the mentality that more followers is the key, but it seems that as with most other things, people just have to learn it for themselves. They learn it the hard way, just like people dying to win a lottery who are broke a year after they collect their squillion dollar jackpot.

If you just can’t stand it, and you need proof that I am right about this, let me show you some numbers: 24 28 45 49 52 2

Those are your Murnahan lottery picks for this week. That will be easier for a lot of people to understand and accept than what I would say about the horribly over-valued hype about big follower numbers. By the way, this is last week’s winning Powerball Lottery numbers. Maybe they will “hit” again, you never know!

If you really want to know what I think, I offer you these previous articles which address the matter.

Social Media is Not Just Who You Know … It’s Who They Know!

I urge people to remember that social media is not just about you, and who you know, or who follows you. I know very well that I can bore the heck out of some people with things they have no interest in. I also know which people will find value in things which I produce, and I know which ones may be a good match to connect with other people in my circle of friends and “core listeners”. My friends and “core listeners” know these things about me, too. It is called networking, and it trumps all that you may hear about having a massive number of followers.

All it really takes to make something extremely popular is about 150 people who are connected to you the way I have described. Ironically, and conveniently, 150 is also the number that is commonly referenced as Dunbar’s Number. If you can focus on those people, the rest comes down to simply having brilliance, and you probably have a lot more than you are using.

Social Media Backlash of Extended Reach

Social media is a funny thing. Most people can figure out the basics of how to use social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, and the squillion others. A few can figure out how to use social media well, and enhance their business. A tiny fraction of those people will use social media in a way that does not irritate or offend somebody, somewhere, for some reason.

Yes, social media popularity has its drawbacks, and there will always be some people who hate you, just for breathing. I have often said that if I don’t get a death threat now and then, I must not be reaching enough people. Even the littlest things can set some people off, but it is not my job to make everybody happy. I just want to make a few of the right people happy. Would you believe I actually had a death threat come as a result of this humorous article titled “Hookers Write the Best Blogs“?

You don’t need “death threat” levels of popularity to get all that you want and need from social media … nobody does. You just have to concentrate on your core listeners, and the awesomeness you can create for and with them. Let the rest of it come into place naturally and those followers will come to your awesomeness like a Murnahan to a plate of bacon.

Photo credit to scorpio58 via Flickr

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Is US Airways Listening to Social Media? Are You Listening?

I just read a blog article about a poor customer experience with US Airways. It got me to thinking about the ways we listen, and I think it could be described as two different types of ears.

Consumer Listening: Skeptical Ears

The first type of ears are those of a skeptical consumer. We have skeptical consumer listening skills which are pretty basic and instinctive. These are the ears we use to hear scandal and negativity. Most people have this set of ears cranked way up to hear anything they need to know as a consumer.

Consumer watchdogs are everywhere, and social media brings them out in a big way. In fact, it allows each and every one of us to be a consumer watchdog and to tell our story. Anybody with a bad experience can make a pretty loud sound using social media.

Consumer Listening: Marketing Ears

With a different set of ears we hear the marketing message of a company. We turn the sensitivity of those ears way down. These are the ears we use to hear all of the good things that a company does, and the reasons we should buy from them.

As a test of your ears, just consider it this way: Do you hear me better when I say that I want to provide you with my valuable SEO and social media marketing services (and I do), or when I warn you about ways you may be screwing up your SEO or social media marketing? You see! Your instinct is to hear what could hurt you, more than hearing things that can help you. This is why it takes so much more effort to spread a good marketing message than to spread a negative message about a company.

We have all heard that it takes many “rights” to correct a “wrong”, but what if you could turn the “wrong” into a “right” of sorts?

Turning Up the Marketing Ears

There are a lot of ways to turn up people’s marketing ears and help them to hear you. Ironically, it can sometimes come from whispering into their other set of ears … their skeptical ears. If you are running a business and somebody is talking about your brand, you should be listening to the negative and even using it to your advantage. I see it all the time that companies are either not paying attention, or they hear negativity about their brand but do not address it. They just hide their head in the sand like an ostrich and wait for things to blow over. What they often overlook is all the potential for benefit they may be missing. They see it only as damage, and often try to ignore it in hopes that it will go away. The truth is that it is not going away, and ignoring it only serves to cause a sense of passive aggression. It often makes people want to scream even louder about their distrust or discontentment.

US Airways Best and Worst Scenario

What if US Airways hears this message of discontent about their brand and ignores it? It means that they will further lose faith from this consumer, and also that of others he encounters … both online and offline. On the other hand, what if US Airways used it as an opportunity to regain his faith? What if they were able to improve his opinion of US Airways and even come to make him a fan of their company? Can you imagine the value of turning it completely around and showing a disgruntled consumer that you really do want to make them a happy customer?

I suspect that the disgruntled US Airways customer, Jeff Gibbard will soon have answers to whether US Airways is listening. In the meantime some skeptical consumer ears are perked, and just waiting for US Airways to whisper.

Are you listening with both sets of ears? Come and let me whisper in your skeptical ear. 😉

Update: 14 June at 7:30 p.m. USA Central Time

I would like to add that America West Airlines, which is the same company as US Airways (they merged in 2005) has been here and did nothing! They gave no reply, and made no attempt to apologize to Jeff Gibbard or even give an excuse.

Here is a screen capture from my visitor log which clearly shows that this article is visible, even to the noisy airline industry.

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Shove Your Followers, I Want Disciples!

That probably sounds shocking, right? Let me explain what I mean by this title.

I know that it may sound a little “churchly”, but it certainly is not. I do not mean that I am looking for people to kiss snakes, sacrifice animals, or participate in some strange cult rituals. A disciple is defined by Princeton University as “someone who believes and helps to spread the doctrine of another”, and who wouldn’t want that? After all, don’t we all want to associate with others who think like we think and are willing to spread a message? There is really only one way to gather disciples, and that is to provide something useful and interesting. I am up to it, and I will do my best.

Maybe you have seen this and maybe you have not, but there is a lot of hubbub about “followers” out there on the Internet. If you look on the left side of my blog, you can see that I am a member of about a squillion social networks, video sites, and bookmarking sites. Many of them show off how many followers each user has.

Why are they following? I sometimes wonder why the heck people “follow” me. I have some pretty good ideas for a lot of them, but many are just “followers” and not really following or paying attention. What does that get anybody? Add it to a $5 bill and it will probably buy you a cup of coffee.

Well, I say “Shove the followers, I want disciples!” That’s right! I want disciples, but what makes this acceptable is that I am willing to work really hard for them by sharing good ideas and giving them something they can use. This is what sorts the wheat from the chaff … wheat being those willing to provide something of value and chaff being those who beg for more attention without something to offer in return.

We certainly should not be limited to those who agree, because that is how people get stupid. If you do not listen to others’ ideas, you stop learning. However, when it comes to “followers”, I will trade them 1000 to one for disciples who care what I have to say and see value in what I offer.

Work Hard for Your Disciples!

If you want disciples, you have to work for them, and pay attention to them. Just like friends … in fact, exactly like friends! When I say “work”, I don’t mean digging ditches. I just mean making an effort.

Friends make the best disciples of all. Sure, I want disciples, but the best of all are the people I can have a friendly relationship with. Just yesterday I responded to a comment on my blog and thought I would take it a step further. I did not have his telephone number, so I looked at the domain he used in the comment and went to my trusty WHOIS lookup to get it. When I called, he was surprised and delighted to visit. We talked for quite a while and I found out that this guy reads a lot of my stuff. He really flattered me with his opinion of my blog content. He said he liked that I do not sugar coat things and I tell my experience instead of just what people want to hear.

Something he said to me is that he seems to see me everywhere, commenting on blogs and interacting with others. Yep, that is what I do. I love to get to know people and I love to listen and share.

Why did I call him? I called because I really respect the comments he has made here on my blog, other blogs, and articles on his own blog. After visiting for a while, I discovered even clearer than ever how creative and brilliant Jeff Gibbard is.

Will I talk to Jeff again? Yes, and probably very soon. Is he a disciple? You bet he is, and I am to him as well. What does it require? It does not take a lot of hard work, and I did not even have to get my hands dirty in order to enhance our relationship with a simple call. I cannot call everybody and chat, but I do it often. Is it work? No, it is not work and it is not done with consideration of my return on investment or how I will benefit. It just happens that way when you take the extra steps of earning your disciples. You make friends in the process.

I consider the thousands who “follow” me on Twitter and the ridiculous numbers of followers on all of the dozens of social media groups I belong to as just great. Maybe they will hear me and maybe they will not. The ones who matter the very most are right here, commenting on my blog and sharing ideas with others. They may even pick up the phone and ring me, or I may ring them.