In the social media world today, an article regarding Twitter, debating Quality vs Quantity was being promoted. In a moment, I'll share the article with you, but first, let's explore which "Q" is better.
I work in the radio business where one measurement of success is how many listeners we have. Today we got some raw numbers from Arbitron that tells us our ratings increased. Great! But what does it mean? Either we gained new listeners (Quantity) or the listeners we already had listened longer, (Quality).
How about your business?
If you are a consultant:
Would you rather have 100 customers that paid you $1000 each month, or 10 customers that paid you $10,000 each month. The money adds up to be the same but the amount of work you do is different. So you have add time spent or time invested into the equation.
If you are a carpet cleaner:
Would you rather have 80 customers a month that paid you $100 each, or 80 customers a month that paid you $100 a month?
Wait, that's the same thing. We need to add more factors into the equation. Let's say 40 of those customers are regular semi-annual customers that you have a service agreement with, and the other 40 are 1st timers that you bought by investing in advertising. Out of the new customers, you convert 20 to a service agreement like the other 40. And you spent $3000 a month in advertising.
20 new service agreements are worth $200 each per year or $4000. 20 1st timers that use your services only once are worth $2000 ($100 each). Add it up and you have $6000 from your $3000 advertising investment in new business. You have doubled your money. (Don't forget to add in the $4000 you earned from the first 40 that you already had on service agreements along with any extra services above and beyond the $100 per visit and you are making even more money).
So which "Q" is better for you and your business?
Here's the article regarding Twitter:
Twitter Followers: Quantity or Quality?
JR Griggs (follow them at @jrgriggs) from JR’s 2 Cents looks at the topic of Quality vs Quantity of Twitter Followers.
Recently as I pondered my slowly growing followers on Twitter, something came to mind about who was following me. What was the real importance in the numbers? Was quantity really what was important or was it the quality of my followers? Quality meaning those who will be responding to my tweets or re-tweeting the ones they like. If you’re a business, quality followers would be the ones making purchases or utilizing your services. After much thought on this, I have come to some conclusions on what the difference is and who needs which and why.
Quantity
We’ve all seen the articles out there on how to increase our followers. A few easy ways to increase your quantity is to follow anyone who obviously has an auto follow. Especially companies like @starbucks for example. You can also look for those whose following / followers ratio is about even. They are most likely to have an auto follow as well. These are real simple ways to get a high quantity of followers. But what good does it do you to have @starbucks following you? Chances are whoever is updating it will not be subscribing to your “PC Repair Blog” or purchasing from your custom t-shirt site. So what’s the point?
Why You May Need Quantity
There are some benefits to having quantity. Some would say it gives you a higher “Twitter Authority.” There are a few cases where quantity is a good thing. Of course you could always argue that having the high numbers may cause some to follow you who might be quality followers. One benefit is if you are listed on a site that ranks Twitter accounts in your niche, by the followers you have. For example maybe you are listed on “Top PC Repair Twitters.” Obviously if you are up in the high rankings you can gain some quality followers who may be looking for you. Adding as many followers as possible would certainly give you a top spot on that list.
Quality
Quality followers are no doubt your most important followers. These are the ones who are actually following you to listen to what you have to say. The ones who will purchase the items you advertise. These are the followers that are asking questions, replying to your tweets and are not just filtering you out on TweetDeck. These followers are a bit harder to gain but worth the work. You will have to search them out, follow them and engage in conversation with them. You must also be a “quality follower.” Show them you are worth following. Offer them something more than just another notch in the quantity category and they will not only want to follow you but will want you as a follower.
Why You Definitely Need Quality?
Who needs quality? Everyone! No matter what you use Twitter for, you need quality followers. You can bloat your numbers all day but you won’t be selling any of your ebooks to @starbucks or @dunkindonuts. Your quality followers will not only be the ones who are subscribing to your blog or purchasing your services. They will also be the ones gaining you more quality followers. Besides the fact that their followers will see their replies to you, they will also be re-tweeting you. They will be helping you spread the word about a recent post or product. Without quality followers you might as well be tweeting to yourself.
Sphere: Related Content
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment