Twitter followers – quantity or quality?

Do you ever look at the number of Twitter followers you have and wonder if more is better? Do you peek at an account that boasts 30,000 followers and wonder where you’re going wrong with your 583?

Well, the chances are you’re not going wrong. The chances are you’re talking to the people you want to talk to. If an account has thousands upon thousands of followers, take a look at who they follow and who follows them – it can be very illuminating.

There are, of course, reasons why some accounts have a multitude of followers. Take our very own #DevonHour, the Twitter account that gets businesses across Devon talking to each other. It makes sense that this account has approaching 13,000 followers – because there are that many businesses in Devon! Likewise accounts belonging to celebrities, supermarkets and the BBC –it’s pretty obvious why they have so many followers.

I always become a little suspicious when a smaller business has tens of thousands of followers. Are they purchasing followers, I wonder. In recent months I’ve been offered the chance to do just that to boost the numbers of followers on my account. Similar offers are being made to accounts I help run for clients. ‘Get 10,000 new followers instantly!’ Er, why?

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I like to earn my followers. I prefer to know that someone likes what I’m saying, or wants to know more about my business. I follow accounts that have some relevance to me and my business, others that look like they could do with support, some for news and one or two simply because they make me laugh.

Running Twitter (and Facebook) accounts for clients may seem a simple task, but to do it well you need to engage the right audience and find new followers who are interested in what the client is doing and what they have to say. Why would a vintage shop in Devon want to follow a pizzeria in Glasgow (unless they’re friends with the owners), or a lacemaker in Honiton follow an energy specialist in Florida? (Of course the vintage shop and the lacemaker really should be following each other!)

At the end of the day, it’s not about how many followers you have, it’s about the relationships and relevance. It’s good to have a healthy number of followers, but it’s not so good to have thousands of followers you really don’t have anything in common with. So be content with your 583 followers – as long as they are the right ones then you’re doing well.

Flying Visit to the Devon Business Expo

It was great to pop into the Devon Business Expo last week and meet up with some of the most inspirational businesses in the county.

This was a flying visit for me as I’m up to my ears in that ‘orrible work stuff, but I was delighted to finally meet Mr & Mrs #DevonHour and admire the camper van lent to them by Devon Dubs. It was also a chance to catch up with some ‘old’ faces from the Deer Park Hotel, Cosmic Ethical and Devon Air Ambulance.

I arrived just in time to sit in on the media panel seminar and hear the latest from the good folk at the Express & Echo, Heart FM, Radio Exe, and event organiser, Best of Exeter. Also on the panel was Andy Cooper, editor of Devon Life, who wowed us all with his slightly controversial take on the power of the media!  

It was fun to chat with some of the Best of Exeter team – it may seem strange that I know the Best of Wimbledon & Merton crew better than the locals, but that’s another story!

There was much more going on – I didn’t have time to take part in the speed networking and would have liked to stay for the Tweet Met. However, I’m delighted to report that even in the short time I was there, I hooked up with two new potential clients – next time I’d better stay longer!

Well done to everyone involved, there was a lovely atmosphere at the event and good to see so many businesses taking part.