Quality over Quantity: Debunking 2 Social Networking Myths

How do we measure success in social media?

This is a question that will continue to be asked as social media grows in prevalence and new analytics tools arrive.

While there are many methods for measuring your social network’s success, I’d like to point out two very common measurement myths and debunk these once and for all!

Myth 1: Success is a measure of how many fans or followers you have.

Truth: Success is not measured by the quantity of fans or followers, but by the quality of your social networking community.

I often remind candidates that the number of followers they have is not nearly as important as the number of followers they have that would be able to vote in their election or willing to donate to their campaign. That is to say, the quality of their fans and followers is a much stronger measure of success than the quantity.

This principle rings true for small businesses too. At the end of the day, does it matter that you have 1,000 Twitter followers if none of them will buy what you are selling?  No. Create a social networking strategy that specifically targets your customer base rather than simply broadcasting the message with hopes of gaining traction

As you create your social networking strategy, start by asking where your customer base is (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, or Foursquare) and then find those people and connect with them. On Twitter, this may be as simple as searching for folks in your geographic area while on Facebook it may mean purchasing Facebook ads.

The bottom line is that every campaign, small business, church, non profit, and other social networking entity should be primarily focused on connecting with their base and secondarily focused on bringing new fans and followers into the fold.

Myth 2: Success is a measure of the number of social networking accounts you have.

Truth: Social media success is not measured by the quantity of your social networking accounts, but by the quality of your social network communities.

The simple truth is the number of social networks available will continue to grow as social media becomes an increasingly legitimate form of marketing. This does not mean that your small business or campaign should sign up for an account with every network.  Find the few social networks that best fit your needs and work to create successful and engaging communities there.

Not sure if your social networking strategy is working for your campaign or small business? Contact me today.