I have observed that some brands and personalities do not follow universally accepted best practices yet they become very popular online. At the same time, certain tips and tricks and social media “rules” defined by the experts in the field do not always translate into real-life success, which implies that engaging in social media doesn’t have a rigid defined script and there are different ways of handling it. Here are a few observations from my research:
Number of followers on social media seems to be largely a question of offline popularity and reputation. This can be illustrated by @Jerry Banfield who is very well known due to his numerous publications and video materials. He is a unique person for me, this is a great inspiring example for motivation. Are you familiar with his life story? Have you seen his video lessons? I advise you to get acquainted in your spare time! https://jerrybanfield.com/biography/
So, this person confirms the thesis: “Social media is not a way to grow your “fame, it’s a reflection of your fame.” (Tim Grahl, 2013).
Social media doesn’t always have to be a one-on-one dialogue with followers to be effective. This sounds counter-intuitive as most experts on social media advise everyone looking to promote their work to keep a very personal relationship with followers and respond to every comment their content generates (Guy Kawasaki). But neither of the four authors I’ve analyzed (Dan Ariely, Malcolm Gladwell, Charles Duhigg) interacts much with his readers, yet three of them have an impressive number of followers who actively engage with their content.
Level of social media activity is a function of an author’s comfort level & interest in social media and doesn’t necessarily determine success. Excessive tweeting won’t necessarily bring more followers (compare Gladwell’s average 10.8 posts/month and 203k+ followers vs Duhigg’s 214.8 posts/month and 23k+ followers – nearly 10 times more popular, without overwhelming fans with endless updates). Also both Ariely and Gladwell do not answer comments their fans post but their popularity does not seem to be influenced by that.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/think-youre-honest-dan-ariely-will-make-you-squirm/
Level of personal information that is revealed doesn’t influence online popularity. This is backed by Matt Petronzio in his blog post “10 Pro Tips for Writers Using Social Media”. Not every author feels comfortable sharing a lot of personal information on social media yet it wouldn’t necessarily stop his or her content for becoming very popular. Take Malcolm Gladwell’s case: he has 200k+ of fans on Facebook and 500k+ followers on Twitter. Yet, neither his Facebook or Twitter or either of his websites feature any personal information and virtually no interaction with the followers.
https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce
So, to quote David Moth from Econsultancy who in one of his posts said: “there are few hard and fast rules when it comes to social media.” So you need to find your own way within the social media realm and stick to it, hoping that it will lead to high fan count and follower engagement. Good luck!
