Make Your Vote [Shares] Count!
I was sitting in our living room talking about politics (yuck) with my wife and decided to share the conversation and how it relates to politics, at least my take on it.
She made the point that she likes Ron Paul because he doesn’t compromise. Don’t worry; this isn’t going to be about politics, not like that anyway. I made the point that Dr. Paul does compromise because every politician has to or nothing would get done. That’s the nature of politics; you wash my back, I’ll wash yours. A one-man band simply doesn’t work.
Now, lets brought that back around to promoting our blogs via social networking. Social Networking is like politics, like it or not, at least for business AND at least in the beginning.
NOTE: By that, I mean, if you’ve already made it to that point of success to where momentum alone will grow your social status, this may not be the best advice for you.
The Social Networking Party
Some bloggers get it and others still need to learn but we help each other, as bloggers and networkers. I get asked a lot on how to drive traffic, increase sharing (See Linking Out To Other Blogs And Getting Noticed For It), and encourage interaction etc. and here’s the biggest part of the secret…
Blogger Lobbying
Take Twitter, for example; Look at my Twitter feed and you will see that 90% of my tweets are sharing other people’s posts and content. You will also notice that those social shares include the other blogger’s @NAME whenever possible. I want them to know I shared their post. That’s social sharing – that’s politics. Talk about Campaigning.
Straight Talk: Listen, if you’re new to blogging, you have to understand just how busy many of the influencers you’re trying to attract are. (Don’t misunderstand here, I’m not suggesting you only share influencers content – far from it). Just get in the habit of making things as easy as possible for both your audience AND your social network. Don’t wait for them to notice – but don’t become a pest with constant reminders and/or requests. Find that balance that works for you and your network.
Polling Data and Blogger Advocacy Groups
Another way social networking is like politics is most bloggers will drop others that just don’t “get it.” For example, I’ll follow you on Twitter, but you have to follow me back. No matter how cute, popular or smart you are, I’ll drop you like a hot potato if you don’t follow back. If I’m sharing everything you have and you aren’t giving me the time of day… see ya! That, my friends, is social networking and it’s a lot like politics.
See:
☑ How To & Why Add Your Twitter Handle To Your Social Share Buttons
☑ 20 Twitter Mistakes That Hurt Your Brand
☑ How To Effectively Follow The Masses On Twitter
Blogger Action Committees
Groups of like-minded bloggers get together to support each other’s work all of the time. Triberr immediately comes to mind but there are others. Many bloggers, just like marketers, develop their own little “clicks” if you will. Sound a little like politics?
Triberr Update: I’m not sure how it will affect the social sharing network yet, but Triberr was acquired in Feb. 2016.
Just received an email by @dinodogan that #Triberr has been acquired by 99Robots. I believe that's a WP Plugin developer.
— Brian D. Hawkins (@HotBlogTips) February 14, 2016
Triberr’s been acquired and the rules of social medias mandate that I say something about it on Facebook. What can I…
Posted by Dino Dogan on Monday, February 15, 2016
Your Vote?
I’m not going to run for office anytime soon, but this blogger would love to hear your comments. What’s your advice when it comes to social networking?
Related Social Media Post:
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- Repurposing An Old Twitter Account For A Nice Start On Your New Brand
- How Can I Consolidate All Of My Social Media Posts?
- What Exactly Is Social Proof And How Do Bloggers Use it
- The Future Of Social Media And Why Speed Is of The Essence
- Kristi Hines on Blogging, Social Media Promotion, and More (Video Interview)
- Psychological Influence of Social Media Marketing
- Guerrilla Marketing Or Social Media? Pepsi Or Coke?
- Social Media Cross Promotion At Its Best
- Is Social Media Marketing A Waste of Time? I Think Not
- How To Use Social Media Monitoring To Grow Your Blog
About Brian D. Hawkins
Oh yes, very similar to politics. The thing I love about Social Networking is that the core is helping/giving each other. While I probably don’t keep score as well as some, it’s all documented online and can be tracked if desired.
I always think how hard is it to follow back, especially on Twitter. It’s painless. Even if I were a celebrity I’d follow everyone back, minus the fake users. Now if you want to unfollow inactive users, that’s another story. That’s just making your Twitter account tighter.
I totally agree working with a group that gets it is paramount. As in every facet of life, you’ll have some that are just worried about #1. As an individual you need to determine if you want to support this person or not. In most cases it will be adiós.
I agree Steve, it seems a little too self serving to see those following 50 people with 5,000 followers. That works for very popular people but the majority followed first and then dropped the masses once they got the numbers they were looking for. Thatâs a touch cookie to network with. Those that say we canât follow thousands of people simply donât get it yet. Itâs a simple matter to setup lists and even keywords when we want to narrow things down a bit. Oops, there I go ranting a little.
Thanks for the Triberr invite, Iâve really been enjoying the other Tribe and Iâve met a lot of cool people.
haha very nice points hawkins ,your comparison is appreciable 😉 keep rocking and reach your 2012 goals ..
Thanks Sai
thanks for replying to every comment in your blog 😉
Hey Brian,
I can see how social networking is like politics because it’s like you said the nature of it is you wash my back and I’ll wash yours. Good job, you had some great comparisons in this post.
Thank you John, I actually edited a bunch of things out. There was a lot more examples but the post was far too long and, admittedly, a little boring.
really interesting!!! seeing the way blogging is similar to politics although in blogging we are all like-minded and help each other out….i`ve never seen that happening in politics
It’s supposed to happen in politics but, you’re right, it seems pretty rare lately.
Hi Brian,
As the name says, it is social networks is to help and work together and the pull at the same direction.
Thanks Lennart, the same direction indeed.
Nice article! This really got me thinking about Twitter and how I should be using it. A lot of times, I get stuck posting links to my articles instead of actually using it to network with others. That could really help, thanks. I like the Ron Paul analogy but I still would have to say, he’s not much of a compromiser…but obviously he’s gotta work with other people to get stuff done. What are your thoughts on using your blog to talk about politics? I like to get the word out about things but sometimes am stuck wondering if there is a conflict of interest with my visitors?
Hi Adam, Twitter is my number one referral source right now according to Google Analytics, followed by Blog Engage, StumbleUpon and Facebook, respectively; all of which I use to network.
There are plenty of very successful blogs out there on politics. I wouldn’t blog about politics here, of course, but there are a lot of people very interested in anything political. Many personal blogs will post political content and some of it can get pretty controversial. When written and moderated right, controversial blogs can be very interesting and inspire some pretty cool debates.
We have not used Twitter much but I have seen guys having 100s of RTs on useless posts all due to Retweet clubs and all.
I’m not sure about retweet clubs but I’m becoming a big fan of Triberr. One key to Triberr is to have great content so you can gain access to the better Tribes. That takes care of the useless posts you were talking about. None of us want to promote bad content.
I think that blogging should try not to be like politics as much as possible. Bloggers should try to express their own personal views whenever possible to bring their own unique style and personality to a blog rather than simply following public opinion, which I think many politicians tend to do.
Hi Rich, I wasn’t really referring to public opinion but it’s all good.
I only tweet if it is for my work and business.. Most people probably donât know how good social networking can be for their business, and many donât realize how effective it is. they are blindly using that form of communication without realizing the effect it has with their customers.
Agreed Becca, Twitter but especially an online presence and sites like Facebook.
Seriously and honestly, I hate groups of people who only votes for their own group especially in a social bookmarking site. I mean even the content sucks or they never even read the content, they also vote for one another, to me that’s just bad marketing, or some might want to say Black-Hat Marketing.
If they comment and vote on the content, it might sound good to me, but with so many votes and without a single comment even on it’s actual content link, sound to me… they are voting just to get to the front page, this really sucks.
To me, this is politics, it’s kind the like I’m the good guy group and you are the bad guy group, how good your content is I will never vote for it unless you vote mine… sound ridiculous right?
But that’s just how Blokube and Biz Sugar are…
But you are the bad guy group Wong. lol Well, Bad Blogger anyway. 🙂 But I agree, there’s a lot of the good ole’ boy network mentality going around.
As Becca stated, many businesses don’t realise the true power of the social media, Its amazing how you can make individual customers feel so special yet appeal to a wide audience
Thanks John
I like the advice given in this post, but I don’t fancy the idea of following someone back just because they’re following you. You would not really be interested in what the person who you followed back has to say, so I don’t advise follow backs. Nice post though.
That’s alright Kevin, if we all thought the same way it would be a pretty boring place.
Hey Brian,
Very interesting post. I’ve started to do do the same as you do with Twitter. And I’ve seen your tweets like that, as well.
Now, I don’t forget to mention the blogger who’s content I’m sharing (If I can get his or her username)
Great share.
Thanks Abhi, you definitely understand. There’s nothing wrong with letting the author know you appreciate their work and you’re sharing it. I totally understand about trying to find the username though, some bloggers make that pretty tough.
Yes, pure old social etiquette to mention blogger or twitterer from whom you got that pithy information or brilliant satiric take, so we bloggers all need give credit where credit’s due…And on the note concerning Ron Paul, do tell wife that Ron Paul most certainly negotiates his purist take on things, as when he takes entitlements for his district in Texas, because “after all, if he doesn’t, they go to executive branch to do whatever.” So, you’re correct in stating they all “Play politics;” it’s the nature of the beast. To learn more about Ron Paul, do access interviews in past where journalists have brought out his seemingly- contradicting stance.
Thanks Biddy, but I’ll stick with blogging here. 😉
You drew a very interesting parallel between politics and social networking. I like this idea, and fully agree with you, cause you always have to support and help someone if you rely on their help in future. So, maybe it sounds a little weird, but you don’t get, if you don’t give.
Exactly Emily, thanks.
Hi Brian, Networking always involve some part of politics, but I agree its more of promoting other and giving the dues, it will return much more than just promoting our own contents.
There ya go Sanjeev, you got it. Very good. 🙂
Nice One Brian. And Really Nice comparison.
Thank you Amit.
Thanks for the comment Prakash.
I think it’s important to set aside time for social networking. I do it on my morning and evening work commute. That way I don’t feel rushed, I don’t feel sneaky (like at work), and I can take the time to actually read and respond to blogs and share to the social networks that I like.
I found that once I started sharing posts by others, thanking people for shares, and engaging in conversations on various sites, I started having more fun and people started looking for my posts.
I follower tweeted me this morning about my site being slow and I found out there was a server issue with my host – I love that he was watching for my posts!
I take it you’re not driving to work when you’re networking. lol That’s pretty cool and a good sign you’re interacting right on the social networks. Thanks. 🙂
What a reaction about politics! Yuck… I find it not surprising. I too is not fond of very complicated world either but I love Social Media. It’s interesting how you relate politics on social networking, the only key is that in Social media, it’s important to show your true self to be reputable and be able for your audience to build trust.
Nice comparison, I agree it does happen in twitter… if someone is following you on twitter and you didn’t follow back then you’ll be dis-followed in next few days.
Interesting comparison!
In a way, it is very similar to politics. Maybe politics is dirtier.
But one has to do what has to be done to spread the business, I guess. 🙂
Brian, you remind me, I need to go through my Twitter followers and make sure I follow them back. I guess I don’t like to think of my political leaders behaving as purely self-interested Twitter users, taking campaign contributions and paying them back with votes or government contracts. Compromise with other points of view is required to obtain consensus and get stuff done. Compromise of integrity to get elected . . . well watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But, as bloggers and internet marketers, heck yes, we need to trade favors. It compromises no one’s integrity, it corrupts nothing, and it’s how to get things done.
Hi Astro, I just did that this morning both on Twitter and Google+. It’s real easy to get way behind.
They are very similiar. In politics and social networking, you are gathering a group of people to support your cause. Facebook uses a lot of likes and voting as well.
Hey – nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I’m currently using Word press for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run.
You’re pretty much bang on the money here. All smaller blogs are essentially symbiotic in nature; and its very hard to succeed without the help and support of your piers. I’ve often found the online blogging community to be one of the most open and helpful natworks out there when it comes to leading one another assistance because people understand exactly what you’re saying here; we need to support one another.
Actually Steve picked very interesting topic and yes it is true but casting a vote or show your likeness is not only related to politics.
If you like iPad and recommend it to your friend does it mean it is like politics?
Not sure if anyone else here at hotblogtips will agree with me or not.
Cheers!