Have you ever been browsing twitter feeds when you see a tweet that says “Have you liked me on facebook? http://on.fb.me/qvXGBo“ Yh I never click those either…

If you have ever done this you know what one of the key things to social media is…

Followers 

Social media is useless without followers, if you didn’t have followers you would basically be talking to a wall.  Have you noticed when you ask people to follow you they rarely do unless they know you? And if they know you they are probably already following you.

Followers are voluntary and if you want them you need to earn them, the only way I know how to get lots and lots of followers is to add value, the better you get at adding value the more people will follow you.

Another way is to follow and engage others, reach out, ask questions, show interest and in return people will show interest in you, but you still have to add value otherwise they are gone.

Adding value is where your creative juices come in and it ties into the second key to social media…

Content

Social media is useless without content, have you landed on someone’s facebook page or twitter to see that their last post was 4 months ago?  We have all seen it, what goes through your mind when you see that?  Do people think that way when they land on your platforms?

A lot of people get hung up about creating content because they think it is time consuming. Think of it this way, you are not a reporter, you do not have to research, your content is already in your head, you just need to put it on a public forum so people know you are the go to person for your profession.  Creating content is easy once you know how.

Social Media is useless without followers and content.

PS I want to add one more thing, there are ways to get followers on twitter through automation, and you can make people like your fan page by entering contests.  I know people who have 10’s of thousands of followers or 100,000 followers on twitter but they do not have an audience.  Add value and you will have an audience – followers who listen.