Twitter Is For Dummies. The “Non-Dummy Guide to Networking”
We all know what Social Networking is right?
Join Twitter or Facebook…spend a few hours a day on it, develop a loyal devout following of “raving lunatic” fans…get rich…buy an island somewhere…retire…die happy…end of happy story.
Lately I’m getting e-mails requesting explanations of how to make money from Social Networking, I’m getting comments on this blog about it…I’m getting phone calls about it.
Are you getting the picture?
Companies are even devoting big chunks of their annual marketing budget to this stuff.
I went to a marketing webinar last week with a guy who claimed to have 35,000 followers on Twitter.
There was Q&A at the end.
I asked him how much money he’s made from Twitter so far.
The answer: “NONE” – But the potential is there.
Bullshit!!!!
I’ve read 40-50 articles and special reports about the “business potential” of social networking.
How much have the authors actually made?
NOTHING!
More bullshit!!!
Are Facebook or Twitter profitable?
NO!!!
Does anyone reading this blog understand where Facebook or Twitter get cash flow from????
Does anyone understand their business model????
Okay…to be fair I decided to open a Twitter account. At the moment my profile on that account contains my name, my birthday and NOTHING else.
I get 4-5 requests per day to join other people’s lists as they have already become “devout followers” of mine (as if I asked them or gave them any incentive to.)
Presumably this is all due to our stated common interests.
How can someone have common interests with me when I haven’t described any common interests? For all these people know I’m an axe murderer!!!!
You will never market something to people that you know nothing about.
But….everyone on Twitter and Facebook et al is sure trying.
Instead of ranting about this further (in my opinion I’ve wasted my time writing about this and you’re wasting your time reading about social networking-especially if you’re trying to make money)…I’m going to do something useful…send you for another opinion!!!
Here’s a link to the BEST article on using socual networking that I’ve read so far and it’s written by a 15 year old kid who happens to b e pretty smart little entrepreneur (he’s actually got two web design businesses operating world wide already.) I’m calling it the “Non-Dummy Guide to Social Networking:”
http://asnio.com/twitter-gather-information/
Please take a few minutes to read it and save yourself the pain of looking back on wasted time and money spent on this craze and viewing it all with the same fondess that the “disco” embarrassment is now remembered for.
Feel free to leave some comments below if you think I’ve short changed the topic.
Me, I’m sticking with proven stuff that works like real conversations with real prospects and things like demographics and lists and that wastes a lot less of my time and money.
Until next time.
Popularity: 49% [?]
No related posts.
4 Responses to “Twitter Is For Dummies. The “Non-Dummy Guide to Networking””
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Leave A Comment...
About Patrick McEvoy
Patrick McEvoy is a former senior executive of KPMG, Ernst & Young and Orion Capital Partners. He has sold more than $125,000,000 of professional services in his career and has also been a "serial" entrepreneur since the age of 22. Continue reading »
Patrick: You have provided some significant insight into the field of professional service marketing for me during the year I’ve subscribed to your newsletter. That is significant since I’ve been in that space for about two decades myself. As far as social media tools, your post above misses some significant aspects that you and your readers might value. I’ve written an executive summary about how social media tools like Linked In, Twitter, etc., can be significant specfically to professional service firms. The ideas I offer dovetail with much of the work you do for your clients. I base that comment on having read many of your white papers and viewed a number of your webinars this year. Let me know if you are interested in seeing my executive summary — “When Professional Service Firms Get Social Media.” It is a brief and interesting read. – Best, Ben Waxman (ben@btwaxman.com)
Ben:
I’m all for it. I’ll even hyperlink to your white paper with your permission.
If someone can EXPLAIN to me how 35,000 “nobodies” can help my business and show me how they have actually made money from social networking with NEW clients (i.e. not merely using Twitter as a way to keep in touch in real time with existing clients) I’m all for it.
My skepticism is justified…this is about the 30th or so fad I’ve seen in my 30 years at this game and it usually all boils down to one thing:
People who can’t sell themselves, their services or their firm are always looking for some non “face to face” way of marketing (read: “killing time while looking incredibly busy)as an easy way out and an excuse for failure.
I’d rather pick up the phone and call 100 AmLaw firm managing partners or the top 20 consulting firm managing partners and spend 5 minutes talking to them about the top 2 business problems they face today and then designing solutions for them than wasting 500 hours on Twitter with bugger all to show for it at the end.
Moderator
Patrick McEvoy
Absolutely. 35,000 nobodies is worthless compared to 100 somebodies. If your business model thinks a good year is represented by picking up handfuls of new clients rather than thousands (or millions) of new customers, social media can still be relevant. With niche law firms and consulting firms, the question is how can you cultivate the 100 somebodies? Social media is one possible route. It is not the be all and end all that the evangelists proclaim. Nevertheless, it is worth evaluating along with all the other marketing tools available. White paper to follow. – Ben
Hi Patrick,
One thing to bear in mind is the evolving importance of social media in search engine optimisation. Details are now emerging about the next phase of changes to Google’s search algorithm. Sites that incorporate active social media, keep up-to-date blogs and contain rich media are going to get a better ranking on a Google search. Our search term is “Adelaide website design” and we work hard to maintain our page one position. Twitter etc are not my natural form of communication but they are very important in the future digital landscape and can’t be ignored.
I always enjoy your blog. Tim Boylen, Boylen Media (www.boylen.com.au)