If you have lots of followers on social networks and wonder why you get too few high quality business leads from them, this post is just for you!
When I was a child, I was constantly getting in trouble in class for staring out of the window and daydreaming. Then, 10 years after leaving school, I discovered that most of Einstein’s breakthroughs came the same way; staring out of the window and daydreaming.
A habit the school worked hard to break, was in fact, an asset to me. It’s how I stitch my thoughts together in order to create ideas.
You and your magic
We know that people think, create and work in different ways. This uniqueness is something we need to embrace, if we want to achieve more of our potential. You see, if we get 10 great people and hand them a manual on how to use social media, for example, and they all use it the same way, we end up with 10 clones. We end up with 10 people doing it by the book. The very uniqueness that would have allowed them to shine, would have been extinguished.
Yes, learn the basics, but then, go and make some magic happen. Your magic.
Engulfed within a massive flock
Look around and you will see groups of business owners online, following the same approach as each other. You can often tell in advance whose posts they will share, who they will name-check and which people they will recommend you follow. Without knowing it, in an effort to build a bigger following, they simply end up part of a growing flock, doing the same predictable things as one another.
Paradoxically, as their follower numbers and site traffic increases from fellow members of the flock, their individual visibility decreases in direct proportion. They become less and less relevant, as more people join their flock. It’s hard to stand out and attract your prospective clients attention, when camouflaged like that.
You can’t influence or lead anyone, without a voice of your own and the courage to share what YOU think.
I get emails regularly, from people with social networks in the thousands and tens of thousands, who get very few business leads. They see their follower numbers growing and assume they must be influencing people. They have not yet learned that there is a chasm, between attracting social media followers and building a targeted audience for your unique message. Anyone with the right software can get 100,000 social media followers. It takes work that matters, to build a valuable, targeted community around you and your ideas.
Look out of your windows
An alternative approach to being in the middle of a flock, is to look out of the window a lot more and have the confidence to express yourself.
- Tell us what you think.
- Show us what you genuinely feel inspired by.
- Let us know the people who truly inspire you.
- Be yourself and give us the opportunity to get to know you.
Don’t ruin your chances of connecting with great people and future clients, by hiding the beautiful uniqueness, which makes you, you.