The Key to Social Media Success
By Jerry Walch, 17th Jan 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutGuidesWriting
There are many factor that play a role in succeeding on the social networking sites. Nevertheless, if I had to pick one over all the other factors, I would say the key to success is “talk like yourself, not about yourself.”
- Because I like their unique point of view.
- Provide them with something that they cannot get anywhere else.
- Never let your followers leave hungry.
- One-hundred and forty characters.
Because I like their unique point of view.
Sometime back, maybe two years, give or take a couple of months, I was hired to create an online survey for a well-known content site. I cannot reveal much about that survey because it was a work for hire project which I was paid $250 for. The data they collected is proprietary but the site owner has given me permission to reveal this one question and the results. One of the questions I had asked was “Why do you choose to follow a certain writer?” the wording of the answers varied, but their meaning was the same, they opted to follow a writer because they liked the writer's unique point of view. The writers that were being followed were the ones that wrote like themselves but not about themselves. Twitter's “What's Happening” may be your worse enemy. A little earlier today, someone Tweeted, “I will be going back to (Name of town) tomorrow and I should be packing right now.” Does anyone really care? I certainly did not and I certainly did not re-tweet that Tweet.
Provide them with something that they cannot get anywhere else.
Readers will follow you if you are giving them something they cannot find anywhere else on the Internet. If you simply parrot what everyone else is saying about a subject, no one will pay attention, let alone care enough about it to become one of your followers. Present the same topic from your own unique perspective, on the other hand, and people will want to read what you have to say and they will follow you. Novelty is contagious; ordinariness is not. Originality in your posts is what will get you the followers that you want. As I said before, your readers want you to write like yourself but not about yourself.
Never let your followers leave hungry.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote in the forewords to Lilly Walters book, Secrets of Successful Speakers: How You Can Motivate, Captivate & Persuade, Think of your speech as food for your audience. As a speaker you must fill people up. There are a good many discouraged people out there. They are coming to hear you speak. You must fill them up so when they go out into the world they can solve their problems.” Allow me to paraphrase what Norman Vincent Peale, a world renown speaker and writer was saying here. As writers, we too must fill people up. People come to read what we write and we must fill them up with the information they need to go out into the world and solve their problems. If they leave our pages and our posts still hungry for the information they came desperately seeking, they may never return ever again.
One-hundred and forty characters.
How much can you say in 140 characters? Not much! Use those 140 characters to point your followers to something you have written and published elsewhere on the Internet. Use those 140 character to tell them how they will benefit from reading it.
Comments
17th Jan 2012 (#)
Another 'wow factor' article. You seem to do so well with the star page awards, Jerry. Well done.
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
Thank you Sheila. That are many factors involved in earning a star, Sheila--content, formatting, the inclusion of photos, etc. A star is in everyone's future if they are willing work for it.
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
Oops! Typo! "That are many...." should have been "There are many..."
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
:) Nice info jerry and Congratulations on your star collection :)
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
Thank you, Faith.
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
Very useful information thank you for sharing Jerry.
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
My pleasure Tranquilpen.
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17th Jan 2012 (#)
thank you:0)
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
Great advice!
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
Fabulous article! :-)
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
For those looking for their first STAR, please see Johnny's latest challenge.
Good info Jerry, something for everyone to learn from.
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
as usual, a very useful information coming from you my friend!
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
Thank you, Jerry, for these useful and helpful advice.
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
Oh you are so right Jerry. Of course. I was on twitter last week when someone wrote: My daughter just ate a lollipop and my first thought was...And?!?!?
Of course I did not RT, nor would I. My followers do not care about that. Now I do not know if this person had said any thing of importance as, I stopped looking at their tweets for that morning. By no means am I a expert on twitter, as I am just now trying to work the whole thing out but, I know what I like and what I don't like. I can tell you though, your daughter eating a lollipop is not it. Good sound advice my friend. Thank you for sharing.:)
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18th Jan 2012 (#)
Thank you Delicia, Averygirl72, Brigitte, Mark, Cowboy, Buzz and Denise for reading and commenting.
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20th Jan 2012 (#)
wow wow and wow once again you amaze!
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21st Jan 2012 (#)
Thank you, JohnH.
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24th Jan 2012 (#)
The kay aspect about social media that many people forget is that it still involves people. It offers a way to more effectively communicate with both people that we know and others that we do not know. It highlights our expertise to people.
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24th Jan 2012 (#)
You are absolutely 100 ans 1 percent correct, Peter.
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31st Jan 2012 (#)
Thought provoking, Jerry. We owe it to our readers to put our best foot forward. We need to respect them, their limited time - siva
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31st Jan 2012 (#)
Absolutely, Siva. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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