Follower count as of 4:48 am today: 2171 (Yesterday’s count: 1243) Gained: 928 (Update Sep 4: 3042)
I’m two days into my Million Follower Challenge, and I thought I’d share quickly some things I’m learning. My initial plan was to get people excited about being one of my million followers, to be part of something big. Of course, I’m still hoping that will happen, but I realized that I was making one of the cardinal mistakes of new marketers. I was looking at what I want, not what my prospect wants.
To gain a large following, whether on twitter or otherwise, you have to look at what your audience (prospect, customer, client) wants, and serve their needs before your own. So, what did I have to offer to my target audience? Who IS my target audience?
I decided that what I can offer is how to gain a large twitter following quickly. No, I don’t have a million followers yet. But 13,000 in three weeks is not too shabby, so I can share how I did that. I remember how confusing I found twitter at first. I had no clue what I was doing, and made lots of newbie mistakes. (For instance, did you know that the “Help” link on your twitter home page and profile page takes you to a great explanation of how twitter works? I didn’t know that — I always thought of “Help” as a link to go to if I got stuck. I highly recommend that newbies go there and read what’s there.)
Having changed my focus, I’ve created a blog called Twitter Newbie and one called Twitter Marketer. Twitter Newbie already has four or five pages of basics, hints, and tips for those new to twitter. Twitter Marketer will focus on teaching people how to use twitter for marketing. It already has some great info for someone just starting out (Hint: read the comments). And all the info there is free — there is no advertising, and I’m not pushing a product. Before I worry about MY needs (making money to feed my family, etc.) I need to create value for those who come to my site, and give them a reason to tell their friends about it.
I hope you’ll find the information here and on Twitter Newbie and Twitter Marketer helpful and maybe even entertaining. If you do, please come back often, and please tell your friends (both online and off). If you have something you’d like me to address, please leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do.
To Your Prosperity,
Keith O. Hudson
