Today, I want to talk to you about what I call rhinos. These are special rhinos, the type that can ruin your online marketing results and cause you to make serious errors.
RHINO = Really Here In Number Only
So, what is a rhino?
- Rhinos are the automated followers you have on Twitter, who follow you only because you follow them and have no interest in you or what you have to say.
- They are the commenters on your blog, who leave comments just to get links.
- They are the numbers you see in your analytics, from people who landed on your site in error, because one of their buddies auto-tweets everything you post.
- They are the people who always open emails before deleting them, thus making your read rate look a lot higher than it is.
- Most importantly, rhinos cause the untargeted numbers that make it unnecessarily difficult to refine and improve your online marketing. They are all about empty volume, rather than meaningful value.
People will often engage in zero value activities, because it generates a visible increase in website traffic or social network numbers from rhinos. They then get so addicted to these numbers that the thought of decoupling from all the bullshit that attracts rhinos, is scary. It would mean confronting the reality of the numbers behind their online marketing.
Whilst that would help explain why they get so few inquiries from their thousands of followers / fans and website traffic, it would mean acknowledging the limitations of their true reach.
The bottom line: If you are interested in generating bankable results, you need to learn how to focus on building the numbers that matter. No, this is not easy. But it is required.