Wow, is it me or is it starting to be more and more steps to follow someone.
We round em' up in circles. We click the Facebook like, send and share buttons. We accept or invite them to LinkedIn. And if they're lucky we may even opt-in to their email list via their blog or website.
So now that we have spent half a morning circling, liking, following and plussing people what will we do with all those we liked, followed, plussed and circled yesterday? Or how about the 15 we did the same thing to the day before? And the day before. And the day before that?
A tweet, Google+, or Facebook post grabs our attention. Within seconds we get lost in never ever ending like land.
But why do we like! Why do we circle? Do we really like them? Or do we circle them so they will circle us?
Our time is our greatest asset. Even the moments you spend roundin' up peeps via clicks, like and circles should be spent wisely!
Do more than circle, like & follow. Are you reading what you like? Do you know or even like the person you circled? Or are you simply circling them because everyone else is?
The real question is who likes you? Who follows you? Who knows you? Who likes you? Who is inspired by you? Are you being put in the acquaintances or the “gotta read” circles?
To truly succeed in social media we need to do more spend our days roundin' folks up in circles. We need to focus on developing real conversations that are relevant and provide value.
Don't get lost in the circle, plus and numbers game!
At the end of the day it doesn't really matter who is in your circles. What matters is the people you know in your circles and the people who know you. What circles are you in? Who knows you?
Do tell me, what Google+ circles are you in?
7 Tips to Maximize Your Circles, Likes, Follows & More!
1. Don't just follow for numbers. Look past following numbers, Klout scores, Peer Index rankings and number of circles. Look into the eyes and hearts of your community. Focus on how many people you genuinely connect with versus how many people you have on your lists.
2. Organize your following. Take the time to organize your lists, circles and likes. If you are new to social media you will be happy you did this at the beginning. I am one who didn't and am now paying the price.
3. Prioritize where you spend your time. Don't let yourself run off on some wild goose chase every morning.
4. Keep a weekly double click list. These are the peeps you want to engage with. Take the time to visit and comment on the blogs that interest you. Interact and engage with them on Facebook or Twitter. Comment and talk with them on Google+.
5. Show the social love. If you focus on giving first and helping others succeed your success will come organically. Check out this article I wrote a while back on 26 Tips to Show the Social Love.
6. Don't be afraid to purge. Schedule time every now and then to clean house. Don't be afraid to unlike, unfollow, uncircle and unsubscribe if it gives you more space, more time to connect with people in a real way.
7. Keep weekly thankful list. Focus in on a few people each week. You know, the ones who make you feel good. Let them know. Engage with them a bit more than you usually do. Help them achieve their objectives. Nurture your relationships in both a personal and professional way.
Thoughts?
Is your time spent circling, liking and roundin' up peeps into your community delivering a return on investment in life and business? How do you organize your social house? How do you prioritize your time? Do you think some folks are getting too hung up in the circle, like and follow games?
“Focus on people you genuinely connect with” is GREAT ADVICE — online and in person. It’s easy to forget sometimes.
I absolutely totally agree. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I don’t see the point of numbers without substance. The vast majority of people in my list are either interested in the subject or bring me news and tips through their Tweets. What we often forget is how much we can get from other people, rather than considering Twitter as a colourful RSS feed.
Great article and point of view. :) I Do #6. Don’t be afraid to purge very often – especially on twitter. Most of the time I follow back whoever follows me but if I see that I don’t get any information relating to my interests I unfollow because otherwise it’s only cluttering my streams.
I definitely spend the majority of my time trying to engage and connect with people rather than blindly following/friending/liking/circling anyone and everyone. I’d much prefer to have a select, quality circle that will share my content (and I share theirs) than a huge following that never engages.
And yes, I think some people get too hung up on the numbers game rather than focusing on what social media is really about — getting social!
I like the mention of purging – an often feared process! Times changed, you change, everyone else changes. The people you first started following on Twitter aren’t necessarily of interest to you now. So yes – I like your mention of that and would highly recommend it.
You’ve been circled! Now really, what I truly believe is that with so many “indicators” one can easily get lost, what really matters is connecting to people, new or old acquaintances that can teach every time something interesting and that will value us like human beings, not as numbers.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
@roblehk
this seems like good advice if you are trying to develop a small local business—
but I wonder what to do if you are trying to develop a large global business
Pam, I love this, I’m having the same problem you describe, as I’m sure almost everyone else is too.
I think that the next killer app will be the one that offers one-click “all positive SM stuff” for that person. You’ll subscribe to the blog, friend, send a LI invite, follow on Twitter, add to a G+ circle, etc, with just one click–or possibly gesture.
The world needs this. I am sure someone’s already working on this: I just wanna know who!
[…] follow someone. We round em’ up in circles, Facebook like, invite them to LinkedIn, but why?Show original No Comments […]
Love your writing style, Pam. Very nuts & bolts. I’m with you on #2 (and lothing it), but better late than never, I guess. I can understand how you got record numbers for your blog, even while you were away. Keep up the fab work!
@ideabloke:disqus
Oh,Lord, not only funny, but oh so true! I just signed up for twitter last week, sent out 2 tweets and don’t know how I did it, so I can do it again. Gonna share this on Facebook!
Thank
you for your article Pam I rather enjoyed reading it. What I am quite
put back by is firstly the amount of questions you have put forward.
Not sure if these questions are really what you are thinking or
simply looking encourage debate :) I think the later!
There
is one I would like to answer from my perspective and that is:
So now that we have spent half a morning
circling, liking, following and plussing people what will we do with
all those we liked, followed, plussed and circled
yesterday?
I
think sometimes between all the technical jargon and looking into
things too much, the main idea of Social networking sites seem to
lost somehow. We all know that social networking sites are exactly
that, to network socially with friends, family, interests and
absolutely anything else one can think of and is interested in. So in
my opinion, once we have circled, liked, followed etc… we wait for
them to post. I feel this was not a question that needed to be asked
or put forward. Let face is, have any of us ever followed people on
twitter and constantly have an empty time line? I am guessing not.
So
to outline and to try to clarify this to other readers of your
article, the answer to this is simply, wait for them to post
something! If you have followed, circled or liked someone or some
company it would be because you are interested in what they have to
say or sell, therefore, when they post hopefully what you see will be
of interest to you.
Pam, aloha. Love what you have to say in this. Even though I decided to spend 30 days becoming familiar with Google+, I am having a tough time getting excited about doing it. Though I have circled some, I have not engaged at all–kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
Your list inspired me to organize, engage, have fun and be aware. Until Tuesday, aloha. Janet
I am sooooo glad you wrote this article.
It is sooooo “share-able”.
What I usually say is that I like to Communicate – whether in words, in person, anyway possible – auditory, visual, even kinetic. But you know, so few people understand what real communication is, that I’m thinking I may have to re-think how I present that.
I thrive in social media because I like people, I appreciate learning from people, and believe helping others succeed is the right thing to do.
I like social media – because now we are all tasked to “listen” if we want to get it right. No more shout out, pitchy-pitchy marketing. Relationship building right?
What you described so well here is how to have a relationship with others online. (Relationship – that’s where it gets social right?) Not just rack up a bunch of numbers. In social media we should grow from our contact with others as they grow with their contact with us.
Glad to have “met” you this way. Looking forward to crossing paths in the future!
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/MadelineHere
#2 is very important – I have always known that. But finding a tool that makes it easy with Twitter especially is tough. I use Hootsuite and while I love it for a lot of things, its contact management leaves a lot to be desired. I started using Contaxio (no I don’t work for them) and am thinking this might help wrangle the tweeps.
Tweepi looks good but not sure I want to spend the money for that yet. Pam, if you have any other suggestions, would love to hear them.
thanks!
[…] in never never circle, like, follow and couple land. we recently wrote a post on this subject “I Google+ circled, followed, liked, linked, bookmarked you, now what?” I have a idea for a “what”! Get focused on your business and your assembly my […]
not original, not very helpful, do we have to pay for useful advice lol?
love this, Pam! Good to remind people it’s not a numbers game. Excellent points in this article, and ya, wish I’d have ‘grouped’ people from the beginning!
another option is to abandon google+ all together and stick with what you know works, rather than spending copious amounts of time going in “circles”.
You 2 found each other, right??
Yes, we did. Sorry that post came out all wrong…..was trying to type on the good old Android. We had a nice chat over lunch and he’ll tell you all about it!
I feel as though I should respond with a Brian Solis quote: “Engage or die!” After all the circling, liking, and following of people, it comes down to having conversations with those people. – Erin