You Have the Followers Now What?

Numbers are impressive. Perhaps I am bias. Although I do not practice accounting anymore, I spent many years in the industry and still love a good number (so long as it has a dollar sign in front of it).

Let's be honest though, the world of social media is built on numbers. Experts will tell you social media success is all about engagement, tips, useful links, connecting, and it is, sure.  

However, these people, as much as you, are impressed by the number of followers they (and others) have. When starting out in social media we see accounts with over ten thousand followers and think WOW! When we have become a little more savvy it's the fifty thousand fans that impress us. But let me tell you a little secret. Under 5% of these individuals are making a decent living from their social media efforts. Hours are spent tweeting, posting, blogging, hoping to spark a viral frenzy. It rarely happens. 

DON'T LET OTHER PEOPLES NUMBERS FOOL YOU

To begin making your social media efforts purposeful, stop coveting others and focus on your own efforts.
Seeing the phenomenal success some are having can be distracting. There is nothing wrong with striving for better, however your following will grow naturally ('organically'), if your content is worthwhile. As in business, if the competition steals your attention you will stop being 100% focused on you.
Never judge a book by it's cover (or self hype), some of the numbers are fake paid ones.

CREATE A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Why are you spending hours on social media? Is it for brand awareness? Are you wanting to create an impressive business profile through connecting with others? Many of us enter the world of social media hoping to receive a bunch of business leads. A clever social media strategy will contribute to your business success, it will not grow your business for you. If you have been active in social media for more than 3 months and are yet to secure any new customers, it is time to rethink your strategy. This handy infographic by Engage Social Media provides an excellent resource for creating a smart Social Media Strategy.

RESEARCH YOUR FOLLOWERS
Who are your followers? Why are people interested in you and what you have to offer? Don't know your followers? Then make the time to be interested.

Twitter Lists
You can start on Twitter by organising your followers into lists. Once done, look at which categories in your list contain the most followers and start scheduling weekly tweets directed at them.

Facebook Graph Search
On Facebook this can be a little harder, however now with Facebook Graph Search us marketers can delve into fans a whole new way.  For example, my business Facebook Page is Small Business Gurus.

• In Graph Search I type in 'fans of small business gurus' and click on the link that says just that.
• A screen will appear enabling me to refine the search by a range of demographics such as age, sex, location and more
• I can also look at my fans friends, followers, pages they like.

You need to allocate a few hours to build a database of followers interests. Alternatively try taking a Poll, but I personally think we find out a more by actually looking at our fans profiles. Unfortunately their are individuals who use this information unethically. My purpose? To ensure my posts are informative and target the right people.

Linkedin Connections
Over at Linkedin finding the business interests of your connections is easy. Login to Linkedin and hover over Contacts on your toolbar. Click on the sub menu Connections. When the Connections window opens scroll down to Industries in the 'Filter Connections' navigation menu. This will tell you exactly which industries your connections are in. Once again, tailor Linkedin updates to these people.

TAKE IT OUTSIDE 
Have you found that people from your local area have gravitated toward you? It is human nature. Something I studied a lot in Psychology (and that still fascinates me), is human behaviour. In 95% of humans it is natural to seek like minded connections. Age, industry, language, interests and location. If you have connected with people from your region how about suggesting a dinner or coffee afternoon to meet in person. Face to face contact goes a long way to building a working relationship.

USE YOUR TOOLS
Too many business owners do not make use of the tools available on social networks. Okay, so Facebook is the obvious with offers and promos. Facebook does not suit every business type though. There is nothing stopping you creating an industry specific offer, posting it on your website and then promoting it via social media. Check out Antavo.com for apps that enable you to create clever online promotions.

BE CONSISTENT, BE PERSISTENT, BE PRESENT
Building a large following is not really that hard. Keeping those followers and connections interested is not so easy.
If you constantly promote yourself and your services, or retweet the same thing over and over, not only will you lose your following, many will consider this spam.  Think, if you met up with people in a physical location and stood around screaming "buy from me, buy from me" the invites would soon dry up. Social networks are an online tool for building networks, not bombarding people with advertisements.
Keep this in mind when looking for new business leads via social media. What can you contribute that will help someone in your social network? Can you spare 5 minutes of your day posting a tip that could solve a problem for 20 people? Do you receive industry updates before others that you could share? Then think about giving, and do it regularly. This will work two fold. Your brand awareness will increase, as will your engagement opportunities. Not everything you do will reap immediate financial rewards, but the right strategy will create a solid foundation and the leads will come. For this to happen you must remain consistent and show your presence online.

PATIENCE PLEASE
Should your list of followers be building AND you notice more people are commenting and reacting to your  updates, then you are doing something right. Unless your marketing or social media campaign is call to action (ie. call us now, contact us now, offer ends today) , sales leads may trickle in until your website and social media activity gains momentum. This is where patience is a virtue.
Remember, no business owner ever succeeded sitting around waiting for the paint to dry. Be proactive and if new business leads from your followers is not happening for you, change your engagement strategy .