- Karma, Sharon, Kathy, & Debbie
People who are connected on Twitter.com are termed “followers” and “following” each other. Inexperienced marketers often use the number of “followers” as a key performance indicator (KPI), but I disagree that this metric should be a measure of social media success. Social media success should be based on the engagement of your network. The following quote by Albert Camus, French author and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, describes the way I try to develop my relationships on social media:
“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
Somehow, in less than four months I’ve managed to gather more than 700 Twitter followers. In a bit more time than that I’ve also got more than 200 Facebook friends and almost 300 LinkedIn contacts. I’m grateful, but I’d rather have 7 Tweeps that I can have an actual conversation with than 700 people who never respond to my Tweets. Maybe it’s the term that Twitter uses for connections – “followers” implies to me that they are going to go where I lead, but in the new world of social media we’re all starting out on the same footing so I’m looking for someone to share ideas with not to follow my lead. Karma, Debbie, Kathy, and I have been friends since elementary school. I know I can pick up the phone, send an email or instant message, or see them in person and they will join me in conversation. No one leads, no one follows, everyone contributes. That’s what I want from social media.
Do you want to gather followers in a race to see who can get the highest quantity without worrying about quality? How do you determine social media success? I like to use the KPI’s presented in Eric T. Peterson’s Twitalyzer – influence, signal, generosity, velocity, and clout. What tools do you use for social media measurement? Please leave a comment below to let me know and join the conversation!
Cyber Monday Mayhem: Bigger Is Not Always Better
Cyber Monday started out for me with a phone call from the school nurse and Mostyn Medical Mayhem. It seems that T3’s (our son’s) lips and tongue were swollen from an allergic reaction, possibly to a medication he’s been taking. Bigger is not always better, especially when it causes breathing through constricted airways. Fortunately, it was not immediately life-threatening, so instead of the ER it was a trip to the doctor’s office. Several hours later, with a different medicine, antihistamines and steroids to take down the immediate swelling and we’re ready to do some Cyber Monday shopping.
Coremetrics Benchmark reports Cyber Monday 2009 total sales up 11% over 2008, and up 12% over Black Friday 2009. Sounds like bigger is better, right? Not necessarily when it comes to customer satisfaction. I spent more than two hours trying to make a purchase on a major internet retailer’s site due to slow page loading times and a shopping cart that would suddenly jump back to the homepage. Just as I thought I was getting to the page where I could pay for my purchase and be done and…”We’re sorry! We no longer have available the notebook PC you’re trying to customize, or some of its components.” This was a big ticket item (over US$500) but I didn’t buy it from that retailer at that time because of the bigger traffic numbers that the site was experiencing.
To end my evening, I was trying to catch up on Twitter posts when I came across an article by Tim Ash from SiteTuners.com on Landing Page Optimization. Tim’s take on landing pages, that I wholeheartedly agree with, is that ‘Less is More’ which plays into my bigger isn’t always better theme. In addition to testing and personalization, some of Tim’s main points for landing pages were:
Have you found bigger isn’t always better or less is more in your marketing and/or life? Let me know how by posting a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!