Don’t Be A Twit

Everybody and their brother are now on Twitter or will be soon.  Twitter is a fantastic platform for making introductions and finding people that you want to communicate with.  The key wording there is “communicate with”.  Not communicate to, or sell to, or pitch to, or spam to, or scream at.  Once again, Social Media is a great magnifying glass on people’s character.  We can’t outrun our character and no matter where we go, there we are.

Quite often, when people get started on Twitter they think it’s all about having the biggest following.  This is a tell (see previous blog post for explanation of “tell”).  Wanting to have the biggest following is all about ego.  I can hear some folks right now.  “No it’s not, Kev.”  Uh…yes, it is.  When you build and sustain relationships on Twitter (as in the offline world) you don’t need to have a gazillion followers.  All things being equal, people do business and refer business to people they like, know and trust. 

Let’s think about this for a second.  Would you rather have 50,000 followers who, more than likely, are also just blindly follow anyone who can fog a mirror and never reading your tweets, or would you rather have a smaller number of followers that you have a relationship with who actually read your tweets?  Don’t take too long to think about this. It’s an IQ test.

Don’t be a twit.  Twits are trying to grow their followers exponentially just like people who promise get-rich-quick schemes.  As my beautiful wife, Karin, says “Where’s the evidence?”  You can always tell a tree by the fruit it bears.  Look at the tweets of the people who are promising things that are too good to be true.  More than likely they are.  Run screaming from anyone who promises to show you how to get a bajillion followers in 20 minutes.

When someone starts following you on Twitter take a look at their profile.  Then take a look at their tweets.  What are they tweeting about?  Look at their tweets from the last few days and get a feel for what they like to talk about.  Is it self-serving or are they adding value?  Adding value, what does that mean?  It means are they tweeting things that you find valuable.  Again, don’t think too hard about this.  That darn IQ test.  Is this someone that you would find interesting enough to have a drink with at a networking event?  If so, you may want to follow them back.  If not, don’t.

The key to success is service.  Always has been, always will be.  The people who truly succeed have figured this out.  In all ways, seek to be of service.  Don’t be a twit.  Add value with your tweets.  It’s okay to tweet a shameless self-promotion from time to time on Twitter.  But don’t do it all the time.  Always seek to be of service and success and followers will show up.