by Oluwatobi Soyombo

 

One of the most exciting moments a newbie on any social media platform experiences is the moment when friends/followers begin to increase. Whether on twitter or Facebook, many folks are always eager to have more friends or followership. It’s even serious when people even pay so as to increase followers. It’s more obvious on twitter. These types of folks intentionally follow all kinds of people and immediately request for a follower back. To them, their main goal is to increase their followership.  While I simply cannot provide a justifiable reason for this, I will like to do what I know how to do best – give an important advice.

While it’s tempting to get carried away by the thousands of followers we have on twitter or the “over 2,000” friends on Facebook, it is very important not to get carried away by them. As a matter of fact, it’s not the number of followership that counts; it’s the influence that matters most. When building your social profiles, you should think of engagement and Influence and not mere numbers. The two will earn you relationship which people call “Network”. I prefer to have 20 friends who I can relate with, help in the ways I can and who can also help me the way they can than having 20,000 followers who are socially dumb to me.

Sometimes, we are even followed by bots/robots or people we won’t want to build relationships with in the first place (yes, even in real life). Imagine being followed by porn handles on twitter (like I find them following me sometimes). Except if you’re really in love with them, I can bet you’ll have no intention of engaging them. Despite this, we pride ourselves with the thousands of followers.

If there is anything you’ll learn in this piece, let it be Engagement! The focus of your social media activities should be relationships building. Always seek to build quality relationship with your friends on Facebook or your twitter followers and friends. It’s crucial than I can emphasize!

So, how do I Engage?

Facebook

1.            Drop comments on the posts you find interesting and appealing to you (i.e. your friends’)

2.            If you can’t drop a comment, a “like” will do.

3.            You can add flavour to it by simply sharing (several times if possible).

4.            ADVANCE by complementing your friends on the post they make either via private message or public comment (be honest about it)

5.            Re-tag the pictures you find interesting, this time adding the pictures of those you think will be interested in seeing it.

Twitter

1.            Retweet the tweets you find interesting (ensure it’s not too much).

2.            Comment on your friends’ tweets when necessary.

3.            Make a shout out to your followers/friends occasionally.

4.            Respond when your tweeps (mostly your followers; but your friends too) tweet at you.

Hey! I quite agree that there are more ways to build a strong relationship on social media platforms like twitter and Facebook. However, you will also have to agree with me that this piece will be somewhat too long if I am to continue listing. Let’s ‘Keep It Simply Simple (KISS!) here till I garner more juice to compile more tips and write a full piece about the “how-to” of this social media relationship thingy. Keep Evolving!