Do you collect fans, followers or friends?
You’ve got a social media strategy. You’re passionate about building your brand online – whether it’s to sell your services, promote a new book or a new client. And you know that your biggest expenses in this new venture will be your time, energy and willingness to reach out to whole lot of people.
As your community grows and the world gets to know you better, conversations, relationships and sales all start to blossom. But are these people your friends? Maybe your followers? Your fans?
How you feel about your community has a lot to do with how you use social media to reach it. We all have our own personal approach to social media and there’s no right way to do it that applies to every person and brand. But social media’s evolved enough that it’s clear some styles work better than others.
Why there’s no such thing as rock stars in social media
When Oprah tweets, her fans listen – and many of them would do anything for a personally addressed tweet. Even though that works for Oprah, it likely wouldn’t work for you or me. But there are more than a few self-appointed rock stars that embody this style. You know the ones I’m talking about Some of them have thousands (and hundreds of thousands) of followers. Some are legitimate thought leaders and nurture their communities but many aren’t. Here’s the thing: the number of people who follow you does not determine thought leadership. And your klout score? Meaningless would be an exaggeration…
Let’s have a look at the differences between a few different styles and how they see fans, followers and friends when they survey their kingdoms.
The “Fan Hog”
This social media personality is good at broadcasting content from her newest book or webinar series. When she was a newbie, she filled her stream with robust conversations but now it’s tidbits of her advice with little interaction with the little guys. She’s generally a nice person but cross her and you’ll be called out to atone for your sins – before her community. I remember when MC Hammer first joined twitter – though I didn’t really believe he was who he said he was…now he’s too big to talk to little ol’ me.
Why fan the Fan Hog?
There may be huge value in following if her advice is germane to your business or even if you just enjoy her banter. But understand that she’s become a media channel and that interaction is no longer part of the arrangement. Don’t be hurt if she never responds to your tweets – it’s about her, not you.
The “Followerista”
This social media leader has carefully nurtured his community, following those who follow him and maintaining a steady flow of conversation. He’s aware that his community has helped him get where he is today but he’s lost focus on the individuals within. Things become disconnected when he’s promoting something for a client and his stream suddenly fills with seemingly unrelated content. He might still talk to you if he thinks you’re influential enough…
Why follow the Followerista?
I’m happy to follow this kind of thought leader on social media because his stream is usually filled with a wide variety of content from across the web. He probably won’t thank me for a RT but if I ask a relevant question, he might answer me. I like his content but we’ll probably never swap recipes…
The “Friend Next Door”
This social media personality can have just as many followers and fans as the first two, but he’s different in one refreshing way – he talks to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have 2 followers or 2,000, you’re important to this person. While there might be great content, there’s a whole lot of conversation going on too. The drawback is that it can sometimes be difficult to sort through the random conversations to find good content.
Why follow the Friend Next Door?
I love following social media leaders who share a bounty of information from a wide variety of sources. I especially love it when they’ll engage in a conversation with me. They answer my questions, thank me for retweets and treat me like a human being. They fulfill my need for information AND interaction.
What does your social media stream say about you?
I don’t consider myself a thought leader or rock star in social media. I’m out there pounding the pavement along with everyone else trying to catch a break and I hope my social media streams reflect that hunger. But I’ll be honest. Time constraints can sometimes make my stream look like a bad remake of Sybil.
I’m human and social media is a tool that helps me express my personality – flawed, funny, smart and slow as molasses some days. I like to think I’m a friend but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day to talk to everyone,
How do you use social media? What does your stream say about your personality (or brand)? Are you happy with that statement or is it time to change things up? If change is on your horizon, find thought leaders who treat the people in their community like real people – not just fans or followers. Those are the true leaders in this space and their humility is what will teach you how to use this amazing tool better.
These are just a few leaders who inspire me every day on Twitter.
- Melissa Stewart
- Shelly Kramer
- Ron Karr
- Carla Young
- Ann Tran
- Kathy Ireland
- Sean Garnder
- Mahei Foliaki
- Erika Napoletano
I would love to hear your favorites in social media – and why they’re you’re favorite. Got tips for being an engaged thought leader? I’d love to hear those too. Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn (whichever one works best for you) or leave a comment below.