How many Twitter followers do you have?

Certain celebs have hundreds of thousands, while other Twitter “elite” boast tens of thousands. While most social media gurus agree that it’s not all about the numbers, I’d be willing to bet that you’d like to have more rather than less Twitter followers. C’mon, who wouldn’t? After all, in order to market our businesses, we need to reach people – and more reach means more influence. So you could argue that, from a marketing standpoint, Twitter is a numbers game.

I want my message to reach as many people as possible, even if that message is only 140 characters long. And I have to admit, when I’m considering a joint venture or strategic partnership, I always check to see how many followers my potential partner has. If it wasn’t important, would book publishers be asking their authors how many Twitter followers they reach? Bigger is always better.

Or is it? Let’s take a closer look. Big numbers are great, but just who are your followers? I decided to do a little digging on my own Twitter account to see the names behind the numbers. This was an eye-opening experience, as I discovered a huge amount of spam followers, or what I now call “spollowers!”

Spollowers are junk numbers, or what could be considered useless followers. We want to reach people, not bots! More important, we want to reach people in our target market. A quick review of my followers reveals way too many MLM tweeps and poker accounts. Something tells me that “Play_Pro_Poker,” “PokerNetStar,” and “PKRPokerPro” are not going to be visiting my website or buying any video courses anytime soon. And don’t even get me started on those “whiter teeth” tweeps!

The point is that all the spam and spollowers may be skewing your numbers. If you really want Twitter quality over quantity, it takes time and effort. You can’t put your Twitter account on autopilot and expect ideal followers. I’m at the point where I manage much of this manually. I cherry pick many of the folks I follow, and I review my followers to purge the junk. It’s more work, but ultimately I know I’m reaching followers, not spollowers! So how many followers do you really have?

About the author:

Lou Bortone is a long-time marketing and branding consultant who helps entrepreneurs build breakthrough brands on the Internet, with services such as online video production, video branding, coaching and creative support. Lou is a former television executive who worked for E! Entertainment Television and later served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing & Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox in Los Angeles. Lou is an author and ghostwriter of six business books, a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and a Book Yourself Solid Certified Coach.

Visit Lou’s website at http://www.OnlineVideoBranding.com and you can learn
more about his signature Video Traffic Blast system at http://www.VideoTrafficBlast.com.

Here’s a lesson in the new world of marketing brought to us by coffee giant Starbucks, Twitter,  and a host of activists.

I was reading about this on David Meerman Scott’s blog where he referenced a post by Simon Owens about an ill-fated social media campaign by Starbucks

To say “sounds like Skittles” is an understatement of a viral campaign gone haywire.

Starbucks, in the spirit of using social media as a marketing tool, launched a big campaign where it hid posters around 6 major US cities and challenged the public to find the posters, take photos, then post them to Twitter using hash tags Starbucks created for the campaign.

The winners would get prizes.

This would have been all fine and dandy if everyone in the world loved Starbucks as much as their marketing department and fans do, but the campaign happened to coincide with an anti-Starbucks documentary project that aired on YouTube at the same time.

Catching wind of the promotional Twitter campaign, activists commandeered the Starbucks hash tags to create a stream of anti-Starbucks Tweets. They created a picket line on Twitter- a Twicket Line?

Results?

It brought visibility to the cause of disgruntled workers, galvanized die-hard Starbucks supporters, gave unions something to Tweet about, and gave a voice for people who despise unions. Buzz, yes. The kind of buzz Starbucks intended? Probably not.

So let’s weigh things out:

1. As in many parts of life, if you use social media for a viral campaign you have no control over the life the project takes on. That’s what makes it so exciting and nerve wracking.

2. If you’re a big company using social media campaigns where public input becomes the content of your campaign, see #1.

3. If you launch a campaign that gets pulled off course, be gracious.  A Starbucks spokesperson celebrated freedom of speech when asked to comment on the incident.

4. Pay your people well and honor your employees.

What are you thoughts?

In Part 1, I talked about brandjacking and hash tag opportunism. If you’re looking to build a credible reputation online, to attract leads based on integrity and quality, then those tactics will definitely defeat all positive efforts.

Perhaps it’s human nature to try to pull fast ones… I witness it everyday on the freeways of Southern California with single riders illegally zooming through the carpool lane and insane dudes in Monster trucks using the slow lane as their high speed passing lane.

It takes discipline and a dose of spiritual well being to not try to butt to the front of the line, that we’re all going to arrive at the perfect time, and that rushing for short term results isn’t always the best path.

With that philosophical framing,  let’s take a look at some other “Worst Practices” happening on Twitter. My hope is that by writing about these, it will become evident how to deal with the situations or better yet, drive you away from even thinking of steering from your moral compass.

Retweet Hijacking

Right around Mother’s Day, I caught wind of a conversation on Twitter revolving around social media guru Mari Smith and how someone had “hijacked” one of her Tweets.

A person on Twitter spotted one of Mari’s Tweets. Mari has over 35,000 followers so I can only imagine the temptation this person had to creep into her stream and leach a little visibility.

Her original Tweet endorsed a site as a great option for a Mother’s Day gift.This person retweeted her…  then replaced the link she intended with HIS link for HIS company. (Actually the company he works for… it’s total drama, but Mari explains the whole ordeal and how it had an amicable ending on her blog).

Rightly so, people were pissed off and the guy who did the retweeting wasn’t exactly gracious when he got caught. It was a lesson in human nature and a very fascinating trainwreck to watch unravel.

All parties involved seemed to have settled things, but it does force us to examine any retweets we get. If you send out a link, then someone retweets you, be sure to click on the link and see it’s what you sent out.

If you get Retweet Hijacked, you can learn a lot by reading Mari’s reflections on the situation.

Product Pushing

My friend Maria Reyes McDavis publishes the most HONEST pieces about marketing, social media, and crap that she’s tired of witnessing. I admire her willingness to step up and call things like they are. I love having people in this world like Maria- she can really go mano to mano with issues and doesn’t give a rat’s patootie what anyone thinks. Go girl!

In a recent post, Maria got down hard on people who take advantage of social networking relationships by pushing their products- products you’ve expressed ZERO interest in- through social “recommendations”. Maria’s post referenced a ton of junk she’s gotten on Google Connect from so-called “friends.”

I wish I could just encapsulate Maria’s rant, but then you’d miss that ‘tude she throws in there to get the point across.

Read Maria’s post (complete with damning screen shots) by clicking here.

So far I’ve covered 4 Twitter Parasite lame tricks in this series:

1. Brandjacking
   
2. Hash Tag Opportunism
   
3. Retweet Hijacking
   
4. Rampant Product Pushing

Kinda feels like email 2002 doesn’t it?

Does this make you think twice about things you do in social networking? Are you feeling paranoid that maybe you’re a prime offender without realizing it? Are you reflecting on the ethical impact of your marketing and interactions?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

thanks!

Nancy

It’s happening a lot and as an advocate for ethical and sincere marketing, I want to spotlight a few incidents that have happened recently.

Brandjacking

First of all, there’s the whole brandjacking in social media thing. Brandjacking is when someone steals your identity and poses as you.

A number of celebrities who didn’t get on Twitter early enough woke up to find themselves impersonated by someone else who set up a profile in their name. Sorry, Nicole Kidman, I hope you can get your profile back! There have also been malicious brandjacks of regular old business owners, people literally impersonating competitors in their fields.

Read up on brandjacking to keep yourself safe and informed.

Straight Up Hash Tag Opportunism

Recently I hosted a teleseminar and instructed everyone on the call to use the #vivavis hash tag to share insights, aha’s, and to mix and mingle with other attendees. (For an explanation of hash tags, click here)

One participant, who it turns out is VERY new to Twitter, started sending out promotional Tweets using the #vivavis  hash tag. So in the midst of people following a thread of conversation related to online marketing, a super spammy message popped up with a link to a website.

Let’s imagine what this would have been like had we been meeting face to face. 2 people are presenting, everyone is into the topic, then suddenly someone stands up and shouts out a commercial for her business.

Hello? Manners?

I tried to direct message the person but she wasn’t following me, so I simply sent out an @reply (not using the hash tag, I didn’t want her to get any  more juice out of this) saying “Please stay on topic.”

In other words, “Gotcha! Now knock it off or else!”

Amazingly, the spams stopped and I bet that the person involved will not be pulling that one again.

(File this under “what was that person thinking? Also file this under “Reprimand with grace and you won’t start a war of words and resentment”)

I have more to talk about but I must adhere to my “I’m here to write a blog post not a novel” credo. So …. my next post will unveil a couple more Twitter Parasite issues involving Retweets and Promotions.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Find yourself dealing with parasites from time to time? I’d love your comments.

What can I say, I gave up wheat in January and the detox process may have impaired my good judgment when it comes to thinking before spewing off my opinion in a snarky tirade.

It all began with an intense back and forth with the Tweeples on proper Twitter terminology.

We Tweet… or do we Twitter?

Are you Tweeting… or are you Twittering?

Maybe you’re rolling your eyes wondering “Who cares?” but it REALLY mattered to me one day in March as I was reading a short article in Inc Magazine titled “We Asked, You Twittered”.

I was appalled at their use of Twitter as a verb, as anyone detoxing from wheat who has a slight obsession with Twitter and advocates for the cause for Tweet as a verb. It was the perfect storm…

I don’t know what got into me, but I became inebriated with the illusion of being right, making it a point to aggressively advocate for the Tweet as a verb camp.

I ran over to my computer, fired off what I thought was a witty (albeit sarcastic) note to Inc Magazine. Sarcastic wit matched with self righteousness is never a good combination. I wrote:

Calling your story “We Asked, You Twittered” [March] was like Alice on the Brady Bunch waving a peace sign to Marcia and Greg- not a lot of street cred.

I was so taken aback with Bradymania, my good sense became blindsided. I could have taken a journalistic turn for the better at this point by stating this was merely my opinion and one shared by hordes of Tweeters, but the evil snarky shadow self I reserve only for people who cut me off on the freeways and threaten my offspring came out full force.

I decided to speak not just for myself and those who share my opinion, I chose to speak on behalf of the TENS OF MILLIONS of Twitter users.

Yeah, big shoes to fill and perfectly poised for the ultimate takedown as I continued:

In the Twitterverse, we “tweet” about things; we don’t “Twitter” about subjects.

Like I went to college and majored in Twitter terminology, right? Just wait it gets better. I could have stopped there, already having dragged the ever-loving Ann B. Davis in the mix. But not only do I want to prove myself to be the school marm of Twitter, I now take Inc Magazine over my knee for a good spanking:

I realize that the world of Web 2.0 terminologies moves fast, but for a magazine purporting to be on the cutting edge, it’s important to get the lingo down.

(It seemed so apparent they needed help in understanding Twitter, especially after I checked their Twitter profile and it was anemic in its numbers. But that will be for another post, I’m still unraveling my own personal train wreck.)

They responded by flipping me over and pinning me to the mat:

We decided to check directly with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone on this pressing matter.

Oh crap, I think as I read this. Those f***ers! Why didn’t I think to consult the source? Having a Chris Farley meets Paul McCartney moment. The rebuttal continues:

Stone responded in an email:

“Ultimately, whatever gets used more will probably win out, but twittering is the verb that refers to the act of creating a tweet, which is the noun. However you may catch me tweeting one day so don’t hold me to that!”

Do you love what a stand up guy Biz is? Not wanting to get in the jargon wars, he took the high road and was probably thinking “Why are they asking me stupid questions when I have a web phenomenon on my plate?”

So what have I learned as I reach for a toothpick to get the final bits of crow feathers out from my smile?

Words aren’t worth fighting over. Me, a writer and reformed English teacher should know better. I’m a lover, not a fighter. Let’s all just get along, OK?

New stance: I’m Pro-Tweeting, not Anti-Twittering.

My publicist pal Shannon Cherry suggested I start a Tweet is a Verb movement and carry on the crusade.

I may do that, but first I am going to get a doggy bag for  this yummy piece of humble pie in the hopes that my unchecked self-will can remember the lessons of Tweeting, Twittering, and firing off emails  before acknowledging the whole sprectrum of opinions.

Before you start moaning and groaning about how Hollywood is skewing the Twitterverse, check out what’s behind Ashton’s quest for the top spot.

Ashton bet CNN that whoever got to a million followers first would donate 10,000 mosquito beds to World Malaria Day later this month.

Ashton told Larry King, “At the end of the day, we all have ego, we all have some level of ego. But if we can use our ego to actually create good charitable things in the world in some way, and use our ego — originally, I defined Twitter as an ego stream when I first saw it. But then what I realized is if we can transform that into something that’s positive that can actually effectively change the world, that can be a really valuable tool.”

Then, according to CNN, Oprah pledged 20,000 mosquito beds to the same cause, and Ryan Seacrest stepped up and pledged too.

In recent posts, I’ve asked readers about making an impact with social media, and took some time to upbraid @RyanSeacrest for getting 250,000 followers and not really using the platform to say anything.

Since that post, I’ve gotten word that actor Hugh Jackman is asking charities to Tweet in 140 characters or less why he should donate $100,000 to their organization. Add that to Ashton and Oprah’s efforts and it’s a great example for other celebrities to follow.

Social media has the power to create a strong impact. It helped elect a new president, it’s created viral phenomenons.

You may not have the reach of Ashton, Oprah, or Sean, but you do have the ability to reach someone, somehow. Your business may solve a lingering problem, your advice may clear a person’s thinking, your “Happy Birthday!” may talk someone off a spiritual ledge.

How are you going to use Twitter?

In that interview, I covered a few of my strategies such as asking a great question and watching how people respond.The interview and action guide go into greater detail with steps how you can do this yourself, but I wanted to point out a few tips as I get asked about this strategy frequently.

Here are 3 tips (and 1 bonus video!) to show you how to effectively ask questions on Twitter and get great responses.

1. Stay curious
As soon as the Tweeples sense a hidden agenda, they’re not going to respond. So phrase your questions in a way that keeps the perspective simple and curious.

Examples of simple and curious questions:

“What do you think about XYZ?”

“Has anyone ever tried ABC?”

Don’t be too vague, either; then you won’t stand out. So if your question is simply “How’s everyone doing today?” it conveys friendliness but anyone could ask that.

You’re just a collector of information at this point. Watch who responds, click over to check who they are and what relevance they have to your question.
2. Build trust

Everyone’s out there hawkin’ something on Twitter now, so naturally the resistance levels in the Twitterverse are rising.

You need to build trust. Make sure your Tweets, or even the questions you ask, are varied. It’s perfectly fine to go off-topic.(I’ve been known to Tweet requests for recipes, home remedies, etc. Not related to my marketing, but keeps the trust levels high. And I truly Tweet those requests in the moment, Twitter is my new 411)

Trust builders can ask about the little things in life and not necessarily relate back to your business. In essence, you’re giving your followers opportunities to read and respond to you.
3. Avoid questions that sound like veiled pitches
Read the following questions and ask yourself whether you’d want to click:

“Want to make gr8 money? Click here I’ll show you how!”

“What’s ur single biggest challenge to selling more of ur stuff?”

The “single biggest challenge” question and the obvious “get rich quick” are big turn offs.  They sound more like classified ads than Tweets.

Here’s an alternative: try asking questions to find out the likes and dislikes of your followers. People love sharing their opinions, and when posed in a non-salesy way, they’ll respond.

If you sound like you’re trying to sell, people will pick that up right away and put up their walls of resistance.

Keep things simple. Use questions to connect, to learn, and to provide value.

Video Bonus:

I posted this video on a related post  in October 2008, but am including it here so you can see even more examples of how to do this. And for a more detailed approach, be sure to check out the audio and action guide I created with Maria Reyes McDavis.