Tag: Social Media Marketing

Is Today’s Marketing Mostly Just Lies?

What Are Marketers Feeding You?
What Are Marketers Feeding You?


Have you ever felt so sick of people feeding you lies about marketing that you can still taste it the next morning? Those lies often leave us, as a society, with a bad taste in our mouth for the whole concept of marketing. It creates a heightened level of cynicism that was not there before, and it spreads like a bad rash.

Isn’t it time to take inventory of what you’ve been accepting on faith, and start to question it? I think so, and I think it should apply to marketers and their clients alike. Of course, that will require a shift toward using due diligence and common sense. When you wonder if what you’ve been told is a lie, do you accept the responsibility to find the truth, or do you just give in and believe it because it is what you want to believe?

It is not my full-time job to be a whistle-blower about the abundance of bad marketing, but I’d say I definitely have a knack for it. I also have a sense of industry responsibility to balance out all the worthless junk and cons with some common sense and honesty … brutal honesty. Maybe I shouldn’t harp on it so much, but there are many instances when I see just how badly lies about online marketing can hurt a company. It is true that many marketing efforts can cause a net loss even greater than the upfront price paid.

I’ll wrap this up with a real life example of a company that was scammed for many thousands of dollars, but this is also about the course that brings them to accept their defeat rather than fight back. I’ll begin with some observations, and I’ll include some links throughout this article to extended resources on related topics. You may like to give attention to those.

Convincing Evidence of a Marketing Decline

I am fully convinced that the majority of things people are promoting to fix your online marketing is a string of lies. I see it all the time that somebody lied to somebody else, and now they are out to sell it to you. I suspect that many of the people lying don’t even know they are lying … they believe what they have been told so completely that they actually see it as the truth. There is a huge component of the blind leading the blind, and taking inspiration from even the slightest of success stories they read about on the next amateur marketing blog. I can prove the concept, too … just have a good hard look at this piece about the sad state of SEO and social media marketing experts.

Consider this: How many times have you heard how important it is to use Facebook? I like Facebook just fine, and it can be very useful for marketing, but how much of what you hear is hyperbole and lies? After all, how much do you actually expect to buy from that guy on Facebook trying so hard to sell you his stuff? Do you think the answer is completely different if you asked him the same question about you?

This is not about Facebook, and I actually know for a fact that Facebook can play an amazing role in a marketing strategy. Facebook has performed wonderfully for my wife’s cakes and confections company (of course, she is far sweeter than I am), and it has become invaluable to many of my clients. What I am very unsettled about is the utter loss of common sense I see surrounding “miracle cures” like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and the rest of the wagon full of assorted snake oils.

Sure, maybe snakes have great oil, but do you rub it on your feet, fry with it, put it in your bath, or what? There is no perfect single-source cure for your every marketing objective, and it takes much more than just showing up! It is important to note that “everybody” is not your target market, but that’s how I see a majority of marketers promoting marketing these days. If you are hoping to earn squillions of dollars, or even a few dollars, just by being on Facebook without a strategy, you will be disappointed. Let’s try to be more realistic … please!

The Internet has largely become a society of marketing. Whether it is marketing to have more friends, more business, or just to feel more connected with society, it becomes a reflection of how we each market ourselves, our ideas, our thoughts, and our beliefs. We must question “how much of this is real versus imagined, and accurate versus lies?” Otherwise, don’t we all suffer?

For your enjoyment, I have included a video about lying.

It is easy to see how the industries related to marketing a business online became so hard to trust. After all, who doesn’t want a commission … a job … a paycheck? Many people will lie to get those things. You will find a massive abundance of them in marketing … especially online marketing. The end result is that it does not matter if the lies are due to ignorance or greed. Lies are lies, and there are no innocent lies, nor innocent victims, as long as the truth is available. There are just the willingly confused.

Great Marketing Professionals Are Not Just Mythical

I’ve got to say that there are some amazing marketing people out there. There are also many of them with a lot of integrity. I know they exist, because I’ve met many of them. I’ve also trained many of them. The trouble is that the field of marketing was flooded with newcomers like a tsunami. Now that it all looks so “easy” to reach a huge audience online, there is little wonder why everybody wants to be an expert. It is a mathematical truth that most of them are not, and will never be very good at marketing. Marketing takes training, it takes experience, and it takes aptitude, but since the majority of today’s online marketing newcomers have very little of these things, they lie … even to themselves. I suppose it must seem easier to lie than to go through the hard process of working and learning their way to the top. Only the few with high integrity and strong work ethic will survive in the long run, but there is a constant flow of new liars … so look out!

There is also a huge audience who are swallowing those lies like a free bacon sandwich and washing them down like sucking free grape soda through a garden hose. It is maddening that they are in even greater abundance than the lying newcomers shamelessly taking their money. They are getting more gun-shy with each leap of faith, so it makes me wonder what it will look like when the whole thing collapses like a house of cards, and there is nobody left to believe it when they actually do encounter the truth. Have you seen the housing market? Most people thought that would never collapse, but it did!

The Marketing Con Job I Promised

I told you I’d wrap this up with an example of a company that was scammed. In this case, it is a friend of my friend and colleague. It is driving him nuts to see his friends get ripped off, so he asked me to help.

The company is paying thousands of dollars per month for search engine optimization services. They have previously paid multiple SEO companies to optimize their law firm websites to reach their target market, but each time, the results were just as bad. They have largely lost faith that online marketing can help them at all, but at the same time, they are strangely afraid to stop sending the checks … just in case.

The latest rip-off has performed so horribly that more than five months into their $36,000 contract, they are receiving under 30 monthly website visits that are even from the same country as where they provide their legal services. The last report I saw showed just over 600 monthly website visits from Southeast Asia, while only 28 were from within the United States. When the law firm asked for a list of the work performed, the marketing company replied with what one could logically estimate at under an hour of work … total … after months of being paid thousands of dollars per month.

The law firm has said they want my help, but they are “waiting it out” to see if the crooked SEO provider will do right by them. It becomes really upsetting as I consider how frequently I hear stories just like this. They keep hoping the lies will somehow miraculously become the truth, even when they have been presented with concrete proof that the SEO company is actually hurting their efforts … quite likely well into the future.

What do you think? Why do people allow themselves to be ripped off? Should marketing companies be willing to lie, just because it is how others do it? Shouldn’t we all use more due diligence and common sense? Am I doing this all wrong by trying to be honest in a dishonest world?

Please answer me!

P.S.

If you question how it can possibly be the majority of marketing that is plagued with lies, be sure to notice that there is a lot more marketing that you never see than what you do see … but yet, somebody is paying for it.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

7 Blogless Days Inspired the Question: “Why Do I Blog?”

Why? Just Ask Google!
Why? Just Ask Google!


My optional title was “Why Do We Blog? (or Not): A Question Every Business Should Ask”. I just thought I’d share that upfront.

I believe my considerations about blogging can be applied to many industries, and I’ll even have a little humorous fun along the way. If your eyes are tired, just push the play button for the audio version.

As I recently took a seven day break from blogging, a question that has been rattling through my head is “Why do I blog?” The question is not on my mind because I don’t want to do it, although that happens, too. The question is more a matter of focus and purpose. If I know why I am doing it, the purpose is enhanced, and the message becomes clearer. Just like any other business effort, there should be a good reason for it. Periodically asking the question of why I blog keeps things making sense. Similarly, I think every business should ask this question of why they do, or do not blog.

I decided there would be no better place to put my thoughts about this in writing than right here … in a blog.

Why Would Anybody Do This?

I wouldn’t continue writing this blog if I didn’t have good reasons. I also would not recommend it to any person or company without a good strategic purpose for it. I can cite a lot of good reasons to blog, but wasting hundreds of hours and gallons of coffee are not among them.

It can be really punishing to write a blog. It takes a lot of time … many hours. In the audio version of this article, I share some of what I put into each article, but let’s just say that it requires a lot of effort.

Why Arizona: Population 116
Why Arizona: Population 116

Once any new blog article is sent out into the wild, the real punishment comes calling. It comes in the form of doubts. Even with a good track record, it is still easy to let the common doubts creep in. “Will they like it?” … “Will they comment about it, and let me know what they think?” … “Will they share it with others?” … “Did I just waste all that time?!”

To say the least, if you are not committed to the task of blogging, it is probably a bad idea. Taking up compulsive body piercing or volunteering as a crash test dummy may be a lot easier.

Here Are Some Answers to Why I Blog

As I have expressed, blogging is not simple. In the case of a business blog, if it is ever to become a success for the business, it will not be an easy task. If you don’t believe anything else I say, please trust me that producing a blog is a lot different than producing a successful blog. It takes a lot of creativity, and a lot of work. In nearly every instance, somebody will lose sleep over it!

So, here are some reasons I blog, and they are in no specific order. I hope you will be able to apply these to how and why you have a blog, or otherwise consider how and why you should.

Blogging Keeps Me Sharp

There is never an instance when I write a blog article that does not provide reminders of other articles I have written. When I am reminded of lessons I have learned and shared, the lessons become fresh again. I have found it very convenient to have hundreds of articles in my blog archive, and not just for others. It often becomes very useful reference material. Yes, it is true … we can actually even teach ourselves!

Blogging Improves My Industry

When I write something that becomes useful to others in my industry, it opens communications with my peers, and helps us each to learn. When we each perform better work, it adds just a little more credibility to the value of marketing. As it applies to search engine optimization and social media marketing, there is a lot of confusion. There is a tremendous value in collaboration and information sharing that should not be overlooked.

Giving a boost of thought to my fellow marketing professionals, whether creatively, technologically, mathematically, or otherwise, is good for them, and good for me.

This can be applied to many other industries, if you give it adequate effort.

Blogging Makes Search Rankings Nuclear!

Search engines do not list websites in search results just because they are pretty. It happens because the words on the website logically match what somebody is searching for. The ones at the top of a search result (just below the ads) are there because they are highly relevant to the search, and because there are a lot of links from other websites that vouch for their relevance. There is really no better way to achieve that mix of text content and links from other websites than a blog.

Blogging Shines a Light on Crooks

You may not have crooks in your industry, but I’ll bet there are still good reasons to help people understand what sets you apart from the rest.

Like any industry where there is a lot of confusion and a potential to earn “easy money”, the online marketing industry is filled with crooks. Attorneys and car salespeople should love the Internet marketing industry, because it takes the heat off them. These days, the cruel jokes about sleazy attorneys are about sleazy Internet marketers.

What do you get when somebody throws a grenade into a room full of “SEO gurus”? Viral applause!

All attorneys are not evil. Every company needs an attorney at some point. There are also good car salesmen. Most people would not have a car to drive without one. The same holds true about marketing, but it can be challenging for industry outsiders to find which are good or evil. This is another reason I blog.

SEO Grenade Launcher Goes Viral
SEO Grenade Launcher Goes Viral
I can’t kill all the sleazy ones, (largely because they run like roaches when the lights come on) so I try to help educate people with good information. I write things that shed light on industry issues and teach best practices.

I will not save everybody, but I can help starve a few of the cockroaches, and that makes it a lot more comfortable for me to keep working hard.

Seizing opportunities to help others become more aware of industry issues, and doing so with integrity and usefulness can be an asset to nearly any industry, don’t you think?

Here are some examples of my efforts to help educate people. There are hundreds more like them in my archive, and I put my stamp of approval on every one of them.

Blogging Boosts Credibility

Blogging is an excellent tool for establishing credibility in a given area of business. It shows where you stand on a topic, and it allows others the opportunity for due diligence. I have often expressed that if somebody wants to know if I am credible in my field, they should spend some time on my blog.

When I think of my blog for business development, I look at it a lot differently than some. It will vary in every industry, or at least it should. Because I seek a very unique client, the kind who will implement a marketing strategy (as opposed to just tactics), establishing industry credibility comes long before chasing a sale.

Having a lot of useful information on my blog is a good point of reference for that ideal client to determine whether I know my work. It is also where I establish two very important things. Those are ability and integrity, and I look at these as “I can do it”, and “I will do it”. They each scream credibility.

Whatever the case with your industry, I am confident that blogging can emphasize topical credibility. If not for you, for your competitors.

Blogging and Narcissism: We All Want to Be Awesome!

Blogging is fun. I love how it lets me express my personal brand. Some days it is with my tongue-in-cheek ornery tone, and other days I can be quite inspirational and thought provoking. It just wouldn’t feel the same without having some fun. If you don’t have a sense of humor, stop here! If you take it too seriously, you will probably hate me, and the last thing I need is another stalker.

I have heard people talk about social media being popular because it suits people’s egotistical needs, so I’ll play on that! I suppose it makes some sense, though. After all, who wouldn’t want to be popular, and how could it get any better than having your own blog? So, here is the secret answer about blogging that you really wanted to hear. It’s for the egotism!

Sure, I probably made it sound all great and useful to write a blog, but there is more to it. The real truth is that it provides a gushing river of self-worth. I always really wanted to be cool. Blogging makes me cool, because I get all those people to think about it, talk about it, tweet about it, facebook about it, and share it with their friends from around the world. In spite of all the hard work and torment it can involve, I can’t get enough of it. It’s like crack cocaine.

Maybe it sounds totally nuts, and maybe my mother didn’t hold me enough as a child, but I get a huge rush by being listed at the top of search engines for hundreds of thousands of searches. It’s not just for the money, either. Call me narcissistic if that makes you feel better, but I really love it that squillions of people per month are clicking on my literary works. That should be worth a free shot of tequila at any bar … anywhere!

There are a lot of services out there to tell me how awesome my blog is, and measure me up against others. Oh, I know you want a display, so here is a graph of my blog’s estimated worldwide traffic ranking compared to the top television station in my region. It is our local CBS affiliate, and I spank them like an ugly baby.





They have a whole staff of news, weather, and sports people blogging, and hundreds of thousands of television viewers. They even have a General Manager to tell people about his dog pooping (see image). No kidding! The thing is, they don’t have awesomeness … they don’t have my Murnahanism.

WIBW Channel 13 Jim Ogle Facebook Dog Poop-Talk
WIBW Channel 13 Jim Ogle's Facebook Dog Poop-Talk

Now isn’t that fun?! I’m thinking I should get some free shots out of that, for sure! Who cares whether it is accurate or useful? It strokes my ego, and that’s what I’m after!

Website Grader ripped me off when they graded me at 99. I’m sure there was a mistake! Twitter Grader scores me at 100 … yeah, One Hundred, but I think I can persuade them to create a “101” score just for me!

Another service says I’ve got “Klout”. Check this out … they even call me a “Celebrity”! Sure, I downplay the importance of Klout, but deep down, I’m really shallow. I know I’m awesome, and I think you and all of your buddies should know it, too! So, I blog … a lot!

Yeah, thats right ... a CELEBRITY! Are you that cool?
Yeah, that's right ... a CELEBRITY! Are you that cool?

Better than all that fluffy pseudo-awesomeness … I love to feel that rush of popularity when I see all the reader comments, and people sharing my work on a massive scale. It is proof that I exist!

I joke about it, but the real truth beyond the ornery joking is this: As long as I know my work helps others, I am happy to keep doing it. The fact that people keep sharing my work and help me feel a little pat on the back is great. The good fortune that the numbers add up and it produces a profit justifies the hard work. All of these things together hold a lot of meaning for me.

It means I’m doing it right!

In summary: Even though blogging is only a relatively small part of my work, I consider it highly valuable. How valuable? To answer that, I offer a recent article I wrote titled “Can You Value Each Blog Post at $10,000?“.

I limit how much I blog about blogging, because it is just one piece of an online marketing plan. However, since it is such a valuable asset to a social media campaign, and to search engine rankings, it deserves a reasonable share of the attention. That’s why I have written about good reasons to blog, explained benefits of blogging, shared a lot of information about blogging tools, and even how to integrate Facebook blog comments.

Photo Credits:
Why, Arizona by Ken Lund via Flickr
Why? by Joseph Vasquez via Flickr
Hand grenade training by The U.S. Army via Flickr

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hypocrisy in Hiring Social Media Services

Social Media Knows Hypocrisy
Social Media Knows Hypocrisy


Many companies want a bigger, stronger, and more productive online audience. So, it makes sense to look toward the Internet when they need help, right? It seems a common answer is “no”.

It may seem strange that so many companies need and want help to market themselves better online, but yet, turn to an offline connection to help them do it. A lot of companies who are in the market to hire a consultant for their online marketing are seeking a warm handshake, meetings in-person, and looks in the eye. They are understandably cautious about this sort of service. It makes sense, but yet it doesn’t.

The topic came up in a conversation with a friend earlier today. He is excited about partnering with a company that provides social media consulting services. He gave me the web address, and said he had spoken to them about how I am able to help them with their online presence. It sounds crazy, right? The social media consulting company needs social media help.

What shook me was that he said they have more business than they can presently handle, but their online presence is miserable. How miserable? They have sent under 100 tweets on Twitter, their latest video on YouTube had under 50 views and was uploaded over a year ago, and more than I can express, it was simply atrocious! Even the big rage online marketers have been touting lately … Klout (the online influence measurement company) did not have a profile for them.

Oh, but they’re selling like mad, so it really made me question the logic. How can somebody be successful at something without a demonstrated ability to do it? Even if they can do it, how can they be taken seriously if they don’t practice what they preach? This may sound just a bit jealous, but for many years, I thought I actually had to prove that I know my business. I have been wrong, and I see similar instances all the time. I think they must just smell really good, but I’ll explain that.

This is one side of the hypocrisy, but I’m not to the good part yet … the buyer’s hypocrisy.

Smelling is Not Due Diligence … Research Is!

I certainly recognize and respect the human aspects of doing business. It feels good to look somebody in the eye, and a lot of people believe they can tell a person’s integrity from their body language. Of course, it helps if you have training in the field of psychology, or spent some time as an F.B.I. agent. Let me tell you, though, there are plenty of people who will fake anything for money … I’ve met some of them.

I’d like to point out some things I’ve learned from over a decade and a half in a line of work where I have met less than one tenth of one percent of my customers in person. It really doesn’t hold the benefit to the client that most people imagine and hope for. It actually turns out that it is a whole lot more beneficial to the seller than the buyer.

Here’s where the buyer’s perception gets screwy. Think about this for a moment: Doesn’t this seem hypocritical to imagine a company that wants to sell more online, but cannot make their own fact-based judgments online? Companies often seek the faith of their customers online, but they, themselves, do not have the faith they ask from others. They have the tools at their disposal for making rational and logical decisions, but prefer to use a less effective and less objective tool set, in their meeting room. What’s worse, it often hurts the buyer, by opening them up to whatever brand of fairy dust is being pumped into the room.

Meeting in person will not tell you if somebody knows the Internet as accurately as their demonstrated abilities online will show. In fact, it will show a whole lot less than spending some time with our old friend Google. The only thing shaking hands and talking in a meeting room will reliably prove is whether they know more about the Internet than you do. It will not prove whether they know more than your competitor, and it will not prove whether they know how to produce an appropriately targeted audience, or even a fraction of what they say. Spending time researching them online is what proves those things.

Sitting across a table will not tell you if they are a crook. Ironically, you have to look online for that! The only thing it will really tell you beyond what you can learn online, over a telephone communication, or a Skype video conference is how they smell.

I’ll just tell you right now … I smell like cigarette smoke and coffee, but I can bend a crooked online marketer over my knee and whip them like the crybaby sissy bed-wetter they are.

Rational Thinking Eludes Confused People

It may just be a little too rational for companies to seek social media services where they can actually shop and compare, and can see who has demonstrated abilities or does not. Companies are made up of people, and people are not rational and logical about things they don’t fully understand, such as social media marketing, search engine optimization, and other areas of online marketing.

I’m too deep in the online side of this equation to be objective, but I categorize this as an absurdity. It seems as hypocritical as it gets for a company to ask customers for faith in something they fear too much to embrace. My best guess is that they are just waiting for a good smelling pitch man.

What do you think? Please share your comments on the topic.

Oh, but wait … here is some bonus material.

Where Can You Find Good Marketing People, and How Will You Know?

Just when I thought I was done writing about this topic, I realized that it leaves a question open about a better way to seek an online marketing professional. I do not have all the perfect answers, because that question has a lot of possible conclusions. I’ll give you a couple thoughts that may help you.

First and foremost, consider how you arrived here. If somebody sent you here, ask them what else they know. Sure, there may be a few dummies reading my blog, but I would suggest that many of them I have encountered are pretty bright, and have a strong interest in the areas of social media marketing and/or SEO. Look at the comments here on this article and check those people out. If they have been reading for a while, they probably have some pretty good ideas about marketing online.

Of course, if you arrived because I brought you here … call me … ask questions. I am for hire! Even if I cannot help you, I’ll try to suggest a good match and avoid a costly catastrophe. I am not a good fit for everybody, and I only take on one to three clients at any given time, but I sure know a lot of quality people in my line of work.

Your best fit will depend on your needs and expectations. If you want marketing excellence, it may require more digging, and the investment will be much higher.

If you are trying to keep within a small budget, or you have a tight time frame, be sure to understand how and why it will affect you return on investment. Discuss this with any potential marketing professional you are considering. Be sure they have an acceptable answer for you.

I must suggest, just as I have previously explained about search engine optimization, many of the best marketing people are not looking for you. It is also true, in my case, and I believe many other do not enjoy the sales process of their work as well as they enjoy the work they do. So, it may be best to not expect them to do a lot of schmoozing.

In any instance, the most important factors regarding their experience and knowledge will be found online. If they are good in their line of work, they will be very easy to discover with a search for their name on Google. Look at what they are doing online. Check them out. See what others are saying about them. Read their blog … a lot! It will give you a much clearer view of their ideas and their methods.

Finding the right fit will be worth your effort. Due diligence takes patience, but it will save you a lot of money and hassles! On the other hand, a horrible mistake I see companies endure is believing that because a friend, acquaintance, or somebody in their area knows just a little about Twitter or Facebook, they are safer with that, than to risk the effort and do a little research. Maybe they really are the right one, or maybe they are not. If the way they smell is used as a primary measurement, the company gets what they deserve. It is often how companies end up with fakes like these “marketing experts”.

OK, so I’m asking again … What do you think?

Photo Credit:
NO MORE PROTESTS by hobvias sudoneighm via Flickr

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Twitter in Numbers: Marginal, Not Magical

100 Twitter Profiles Examined
100 Twitter Profiles Examined

I don’t write a lot about Twitter these days. I did back in the golden days, but many Twitter users don’t readily recall “The Golden Days of Twitter”. Today, I want to offer up some recent observations about Twitter, along with some rather curious numbers.

If you are an old timer with Twitter, you will almost undoubtedly nod and agree with a lot of this. If you are new with Twitter, this should help you understand the service in ways you may have missed. If you are one of those incessant spammers of modern day Twitter, oh yes … then you must be new, or you would have received the memo to explain how the Twitter Follower Frenzy just makes you look bad.

I want to offer a short bit about Twitter following, but then show you more about where Twitter is going for those people who are unwilling to adapt to a better, and smarter purpose for their tweeterizing. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to tell you the right or wrong way to use your Twitter … I will just give you some facts and figures and let you see for yourself.

Holy Bird Poop! Look at These Twitter Followers!

Once in a while, but less frequently than before, I check to see who is following me on Twitter. There are always a few new faces to greet me, and I like to know who they are, the best I can.

I used to try and follow most people who followed me on Twitter, so they could feel free to reach out to me directly with a private direct message if they should choose. It has never been because I was concerned they would stop following me if I did not return the “favor”, as if it is some amazing favor to follow somebody. Maybe they think it’ll make them famous … or at least feel famous.

This is just a bit of opinion, but it seems to me that following somebody’s Twitter feed should be because you are interested in what they share, or because you are interested in establishing some sort of communication with them. Am I right, or did I miss something?

Let me show you what I found yesterday when I looked through the list of people who, in theory, wanted to know what I have to say on Twitter. This table includes numbers I gathered from the most recent 100 people who followed my Twitter feed. I chose to follow a few of them, but I want you to take a quick glance through the list. Below the list, I will share some averages, and logical assumptions that a reasonable person could make.


followers following ratio more or less tweets
1097 1931 1.76 : 1 834 814
1015 1989 1.96 : 1 974 889
2977 2359 0.79 : 1 -618 815
66 311 4.71 : 1 245 917
202 1928 9.54 : 1 1726 30
579 2001 3.46 : 1 1422 1037
233 868 3.73 : 1 635 952
2099 2300 1.10 : 1 201 793
617 1170 1.90 : 1 553 91
6323 6459 1.02 : 1 136 1557
113 308 2.73 : 1 195 614
365 1002 2.75 : 1 637 456
12471 12861 1.03 : 1 390 18712
6265 6103 0.97 : 1 -162 4229
524 2001 3.82 : 1 1477 86
403 678 1.68 : 1 275 295
2362 2416 1.02 : 1 54 6160
9481 10427 1.10 : 1 946 9115
1938 1999 1.03 : 1 61 3486
1178 1956 1.66 : 1 778 1341
8439 8238 0.98 : 1 -201 144
1662 1956 1.18 : 1 294 325
1888 1902 1.01 : 1 14 714
112 138 1.23 : 1 26 504
2094 2305 1.10 : 1 211 451
729 1248 1.71 : 1 519 2588
5166 5597 1.08 : 1 431 7871
287 1685 5.87 : 1 1398 94
484 910 1.88 : 1 426 1069
334 745 2.23 : 1 411 7025
1123 1961 1.75 : 1 838 1448
285 351 1.23 : 1 66 4350
73 482 6.60 : 1 409 27
205 246 1.20 : 1 41 473
10859 11887 1.09 : 1 1028 1076
157 575 3.66 : 1 418 155
90 1229 13.66 : 1 1139 6
646 1252 1.94 : 1 606 1313
194 284 1.46 : 1 90 173
4169 3298 0.79 : 1 -871 4047
9107 9299 1.02 : 1 192 764
13779 10807 0.78 : 1 -2972 1650
990 1943 1.96 : 1 953 3135
174 393 2.26 : 1 219 115
175 376 2.15 : 1 201 58
35 242 6.91 : 1 207 22
431 905 2.10 : 1 474 10
1015 1113 1.10 : 1 98 1540
1691 1693 1.00 : 1 2 1237
1373 1979 1.44 : 1 606 527
272 571 2.10 : 1 299 457
438 1085 2.48 : 1 647 425
661 219 0.33 : 1 -442 154
1877 2055 1.09 : 1 178 3044
2204 2394 1.09 : 1 190 3359
2249 2393 1.06 : 1 144 350
168 796 4.74 : 1 628 6
60 922 15.37 : 1 862 54
301 717 2.38 : 1 416 124
401 2000 4.99 : 1 1599 76
48 405 8.44 : 1 357 10
3312 3635 1.10 : 1 323 2171
23141 20522 0.89 : 1 -2619 3126
329 720 2.19 : 1 391 13
12 41 3.42 : 1 29 27
2716 2964 1.09 : 1 248 1314
1066 2001 1.88 : 1 935 1405
242 601 2.48 : 1 359 53
272 373 1.37 : 1 101 10
806 1873 2.32 : 1 1067 447
1005 1628 1.62 : 1 623 67
1316 1442 1.10 : 1 126 48
134 653 4.87 : 1 519 152
293 1389 4.74 : 1 1096 76
149 2001 13.43 : 1 1852 11
138 638 4.62 : 1 500 17
4387 4788 1.09 : 1 401 55
4329 3688 0.85 : 1 -641 180
89 491 5.52 : 1 402 5
1121 1866 1.66 : 1 745 662
132 1030 7.80 : 1 898 20
135 226 1.67 : 1 91 66
2317 2551 1.10 : 1 234 618
380 1143 3.01 : 1 763 55
70082 73497 1.05 : 1 3415 1815
24118 21839 0.91 : 1 -2279 700
972 1384 1.42 : 1 412 522
140 146 1.04 : 1 6 472
877 1034 1.18 : 1 157 312
5337 5239 0.98 : 1 -98 410
65 257 3.95 : 1 192 108
3472 3779 1.09 : 1 307 1190
459 1025 2.23 : 1 566 73
572 1129 1.97 : 1 557 35
301 1097 3.64 : 1 796 489
548 2001 3.65 : 1 1453 2
116 1267 10.92 : 1 1151 1
194 1518 7.82 : 1 1324 121
130 177 1.36 : 1 47 15
61 400 6.56 : 1 339 1
avg. followers avg. following avg. ratio avg. difference avg. tweets
2820.18 3217.16 2.84 : 1 396.98 1202.23
total followers total following total tweets
282,018 321,716 120,223

What Do These Twitter Follower Numbers Indicate?

What I hope you will notice is that the average of these 100 users is following 2.84 other users to every one who follows them. That came out to the average person following 396.98 more people than are following them. A common strategy Twitter has tried to address is that of following a lot of people in hopes they will return the follow. Twitter has set limits as an effort to avoid this, but it is still alive and going strong. What so many people don’t understand is how worthless it truly is in practice.

Now, we could assume the 284 percent (2.84:1 ratio) means people are just doing a lot of “listening” to others, but I found reasons to doubt that. I have tested simply re-following everybody who follows me on Twitter, and you probably guessed it … my follower count goes up like mad! When I stop re-following everybody, it levels off.

This whole topic is much like I wrote about two years ago in an article titled “Follow, Unfollow, Re-Follow … What?!” In that article, I even offered a logical alternative, but apparently that memo missed a few desks.

Perhaps an even more important read for people doing this would be a popular piece I wrote titled “Social Media and The Absurdity of Implied Reciprocity“. Yes, I said “absurdity”, and based on public reception of that article, I think I built a pretty darn good case against this tactic.

What is Twitter Really Getting You?

I’m going to show you some real numbers that reflect user attention and engagement. Of course, there is much more to Twitter than just sharing website links, but since it is a valuable part of Twitter for many people, I’ll use website traffic to make the point.

Let’s look at some sobering numbers based on over 1,000 tweets, and their affect on website visits. Below is a table showing the ten most recent articles published here on my blog, along with the number of times they were tweeted at the time I wrote this. The total of tweets is 1016. The average number of tweets is 101.6, with the lowest at 48 and the highest at 228. Those are sufficient numbers for the point I want to illustrate.

Note: I’ll bet real money that if you click on the most popular ones, you will discover that they continued to receive hundreds more tweets over time.

In a perfect world, that will happen because they were just downright great information, but it also happens too often because enough people clicked and saw a startling number of retweets, and so they tweet it without reading beyond the first three lines.

Yes, in far too many cases, people will just assume it is good, because enough others thought it was good … neglecting that mind of their own altogether. Fortunately for you, you’re still reading, and you are judging for yourself.

Most Recent Articles on SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog Tweets
Persecution of Excellence: What Einstein Knew About Marketing 86
Search Engine Optimization is Not a Technology Job! 119
Why I’m Unsubscribing and Reading Fewer Blogs 80
“Everybody” is Not Your Target Market! 166
SEO and Social Media Fear of Being “The D Word” 48
Social Media Marketing is More Than Social Networking 228
Can You Value Each Blog Post at $10,000? 70
Paradigm Shifting, Initial Perceptions, and Marketing Communication 58
Strategic Marketing Failure: Are You Giving it Up Too Easy? 59
Is Social Media Like Space Exploration? 102
Average Number of Tweets 101.6
Total Number of Tweets 1016

I measure everything. Measuring and analyzing data is an important part of my job. So I’ll tell you what I found from those 1016 tweets, and their multi-million user exposure. The readership totals reflected great signs that readers were paying attention. They spent an average time on page of more than five minutes. That includes the 10 second clicks, and it is good time on page. The average pages visited by readers referred through a link from Twitter was 1.8, so a decent number of them clicked around.

Here’s the punchline! Out of this sample of 1016 tweets by many different users, the highest number of website visits attributed to any individual tweet was 21. The average number of visits per tweet came to 2.74. Maybe that doesn’t seem very surprising, but let’s add some contrast. Two years ago, I witnessed no less than 500 visits from a single tweet within the first hour of tweeting a link to my blog. My guess is that the past level of engagement and traffic generation from Twitter had a big role in its eventual degradation. Times have changed, and much of that change can be attributed to the following frenzy I described.

I Still Like Twitter … But …

I like Twitter a lot, and I don’t intend to stop using it any day soon. Twitter presently accounts for approximately 10 percent of traffic to my blog. I’ll take that 10 percent, but one thing I’m certainly not going to do is worry about whether a squillion people follow me.

The way I see the math, even if each and every one of those 100 users I listed above were to read an article and then tweet the link to my blog, on a sunny day I could expect 374 website visits from that (their 100 visits, plus an average 2.74 visits per tweet times 100). Based on their usage model, I think that would be a pretty steep climb.

The overall average engagement of Twitter users is very low. There is a relatively minuscule few who truly make good use of the service, and those are the ones I enjoy my Twitter time with.

What do you observe about Twitter?

P.S.

I hand-picked some articles I have written about Twitter. I hope you will enjoy these.

If you still insist on more, I wrote a book about Twitter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Persecution of Excellence: What Einstein Knew About Marketing

Albert Einstein Was Often Undervalued
Albert Einstein Was Often Undervalued


You are more excellent than you are letting on. You cannot convince me there is no more excellence within you than what you produce. You just aren’t giving it everything you can, and my guess is you are aware of it.

Excellence is challenging, and even terrifying to the majority of people, and that keeps them holding steady at “normal”. Everybody will not become excellent, or it would no longer be excellent … it would just be average. People are not all equal, but we can each do much better.

As much as people say they want to uncover their excellence, they neglect it, and they run from it when they discover how hard it will be. The efforts required for producing excellence that stands out from the crowd is enough to scare away most people. Those people include the ones you compete with every day. If you want to take that as looking on the bright side, at least you can know they aren’t giving it their best, either. Oh, but what if they ever do?

Why do people neglect or fall short of excellence? I’m going to share some ideas in terms I believe you will find useful.

One of the world’s greatest thinkers, Albert Einstein said “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” I am a fan of Einstein, and I have enjoyed his works in the field of theoretical physics. As great as his works were, I don’t think he ever said anything more true or meaningful than this statement.

Try to think of the ways you see excellence being persecuted. I see it in corporate politics, where showing excellence can be looked down upon as it makes coworkers and the boss look less valuable. Going above and beyond often creates the opposite of the expected rewards, and can harm friendships, or even get a person fired from their job. This sounds insane, to me, but I see it all the time!

I often watch excellence being torn down in marketing plans, in schools, and even in families. We live in a society that rewards being average, and marginalizes excellence. The rewards for excellence are still many orders of magnitude greater than average, but accordingly far more challenging to achieve. You cannot deny this fact, but you can overcome it, if you are committed enough.

Applying Excellence to Marketing

I’m here to talk about marketing. To get marketing right … and that means creating an optimal return on investment … excellence is required. I said “optimal” … not “acceptable”, and there is a huge difference. The problem is that excellence comes with a higher level of commitment and/or a different time frame than most people in business are willing to reach for.

Claiming a “commitment to excellence” is little more than a buzz phrase to a lot of companies. Actually doing it is quite another matter. That is partially because most people and companies do not have enough faith in their own excellence to demonstrate it in their marketing. They are too busy watching and imitating others. Even in cases where they can see it in their future, there are other huge elements in the way, like fear, torment, and ego!

I believe that everybody has a higher degree of excellence waiting to be released, but I also believe that most will never use it. In reality, it is a fortunate truth that most people do not have all that it takes to be excellent. They have the basic recipe, but they also have huge fears of the associated persecution, and that breeds apathy and other traits that are unseemly and certainly not excellent. Most will give up and stop seeking excellence, and you can use that to your advantage, if and when you choose to. Yes, beyond simple ability alone, it is a conscious choice!

One of the greatest sacrifices is that you must make vows against mediocrity, and stop accepting less than excellence.

Persecution of Excellence Observed

I would not say these things if I did not have first-hand experience to demonstrate. Here’s a dramatically shortened story of others’ attempts to squelch excellence.

I was a pretty bright kid, but my school didn’t know what to do with that. I butted heads with the teachers all the way up to my 15th birthday. Just after I turned 15, I left school for the last time and started a new company. I worked very hard, against great odds, to enhance my business excellence and my credibility in marketing. By the time I was 25, I took an early retirement. That worked for a while.

A few years later, I met my wife and went back to work building another company. It was hard work, too. We invested every last dollar we had at our disposal in that company. The first couple years were filled with 100+ hour workweeks and scrutiny from every angle.

During those first couple years, Peggy’s parents hated me. They looked at me like a “dreamer” and they simply could not understand why I was still working so hard at my job as a CEO when it cost me more than it paid me. They wanted me to go get a job working for somebody else, the way they had done. They even passed that influence on to my wife, and she began to persecute me as well.

The company was an overwhelming exercise in excellence, and we eventually proved the value of that excellence. We finally got to collect massive paychecks, and some of the persecution subsided. I recall one day when my mother-in-law came to visit. It was after we had far exceeded the top one percentile of money earners, built an amazing new home, and my wife was driving out of our new driveway in a new $70,000 car with my mother-in-law to go shopping. I asked my wife to call me if she needed more than the $50,000 credit card in her purse. That was when my mother-in-law finally came around to say “I guess you’re not such a bad son-in-law after all, Mark.”

The truth was later evident that the only manifestation of excellence she understood had been the money-rewards. She never saw excellence before that. She never realized why I had worked so hard, or even that my work had anything to do with it. To this day, she has still never recognized that the sacrifices were to achieve excellence … and not average.

In 2009, we were hit very hard by the worldwide economic collapse, and the persecution resumed in full force, and from all angles. Knowing what I learned in years past, can you imagine my response? Let’s just put it this way … I am not in the pursuit of “average”, and I never will be.

Some people will always be incapable of achieving true excellence, and others will be incapable of recognizing it. If you let that stop you, then you will settle for average.

Is it worth the sacrifices to achieve excellence? My answer is an emphatic “Yes!” Of course, that is a personal choice that each of us must make.

What do you choose?

P.S. I want to share something that I can credit, in part, for the topic of this article. It is a blog post by Janet Callaway titled “10 Great Quotes that Explain Why“.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download