It’s not about the Tools

The list of social media outlets can go on forever:  Facebook.  Twitter.  MySpace.  LinkedIn.  Friendfeed.  Tumblr.  Flickr.  Youtube.  Plaxo.  Ning.

Its easy to get overwhelmed in ’social media goodness.’  Social Media are buzzwords that all the cool companies are into.  PR blogs abound with news about the latest social media innovation, or  new ways a company is taking advantage of Twitter.  Dell recently announced they made $3 million selling over Twitter.  I think it’s fantastic.  Anyone who claims social media is a fad has lost the point.   The case records and success stories are proven, and plentiful.  But here’s my point – it doesn’t really matter.

As an avid Twitterer, Facebook user and LinkedIn user, what I’m saying may be considered hypocritical, I accept that.  But what’s far more important than the medium you use to communicate, is whether or not you’re actually communicating.  Let me say that again just to stress my point – it’s not what you use to get the job done – it’s all about making sure you actually get the job done.

I get three pitches every day from people promising to find me 5,000 twitter followers in a day.  The media occasionally make a horserace story out of the fact that one political leader has more facebook friends than another.  Does any of that matter?  Not even a little.

It’s this simple… if you’re an idiot, you’re going to be an idiot in front of 5,000 new people who otherwise have no clue who you are.  If you’re a vacuous bag of hot air, having 1,000 facebook friends doesn’t fix that.  And if your goal really is to be more ‘visible,’ having 5,000 or 500,000 followers isn’t going to help one little bit.

I don’t say this to vent – I’m saying this so everyone can just calm down.  Don’t worry if you’re not on the newest version of “Twittumblerbook.”  Worrying about follower counts is a lot like trying to figure out who was more popular in high school.  The really popular kids may look like they’ve got it going on, but check back in three years.

Be ‘real.’  Be authentic.  Be yourself.  Try to be helpful to other people.  Again – I’m openly admitting my own weaknesses here.  I’ve got as much crap up in my Facebook profile as anyone.

But ask yourself – would you rather be known as someone worth listening to, or someone who begs to be listened to?  Having 100 die-hard fans is worth an order of magnitude more than 5,000 followers who you don’t have a relationship with.

Dell didn’t sell $3 million worth of computers by being loud and obnoxious.  Dell answered questions posed online, tried to be helpful, and presented solutions to people who were frustrated with technology.  The brought value at a valuable time.

The loyalty of your fan-base will come back to help you or haunt you when things don’t go your way.   I am fond of saying that bad things occasionally happen to good companies.  The next time something happens with me, I know I’d rather have 500 hard core loyalists in my corner than 5,000 people who simply know me as someone who fills pixels on their screen.

Just as you don’t use a saw to drive a nail, don’t use social media to substitute for relationship building.  While they may belong in the same toolbox, they’re not the same thing.