“Currently,
more than 60 percent of
U.S. Twitter users fail
to return the following
month, or in other words,
Twitter’s audience
retention rate, or the
percentage of a given
month’s users who
come back the following
month, is currently about
40 percent.”
—David
Martin,
Vice President of Primary
Research, Nielsen Online
I signed
up my Twitter account in
July of 2008, after hearing
some buzz on the news. I
didn’t get engaged
till almost six months later.
It took me a while to figure
it out.
Let’s
say you attend a business
function and meet Jane,
a senior level, experienced
corporate executive or business
owner. You can trade business
cards with her, and go back
to LinkedIn and look up
her profile. You find it!
Next to
her name is her title, the
company, and how many years
she has been there. But
there is nothing else; no
photo, and a minimal description
of the company. Oh yes,
she has five connections.
“How in the world
did she become soooo successful?”
you ask yourself. There
MUST be an explanation!
Let me
tell you something: with
Jane, you got lucky. You
only found one profile,
and not three duplicates!
(Some of you are nodding...been
there; done that.) The same
can be true for Facebook
or any of the others.
For me,
it’s Plaxo. I have
a profile and connections,
but I am not engaged there
(Fortunately it’s
connected to Facebook now.).
Lots of
people are online. But many
of those folks are not as
engaged. They don’t
take to technology as well;
nor do their business or
social requirements demand
that they learn it. They
got on because someone told
them to, or their 14-year-old
kid walked them through
it or did it for them.
The "laws"
of prospecting with social
media are no different than
prospecting in any other
form of interpersonal communication.
You must reach out to people
in a manner in which they
feel comfortable.
So, remember
that social media is only
going to help you connect
with those who are engaged.
Others are not—so
be prepared to follow up
with them in a way they
prefer. It might just
be the telephone.
Learn
more about The 12 Laws of
Social Media Prospecting!
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