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You Don’t Know Everything – and That’s Okay

When I really started taking social media seriously, I quickly realized that I didn’t know everything there is to know. And there’s a lot to know. I took steps to learn as much as I could about how it all worked, and eventually, others started asking me for help.

From that grew my social media management business, and now I work with a fantastic group of clients. They trust me. I take away their pain. I give them back their time. I follow through. I am consistent. I know things so they don’t have to.

But I don’t know everything. When a client asks something that I don’t know, I say so. I then work diligently to figure out the answer for them. I appreciate these learning opportunities sparked by my clients, and they appreciate my honesty and transparency.

Honesty and transparency are key. If you consistently employ this philosophy, you’ll find people are understanding, even empathetic, because they trust you to follow through. They often become your biggest fan and supporter.

You don’t know everything – and that’s okay.

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Come see me at the Author U Extravaganza in Denver, CO

Join me at the Author U Extravaganza in Denver, Colorado, On May 2-4, 2013.

 

What is it? It’s an organization for serious authors and authors-to-be that helps you learn everything you need to know about building your author platform and selling your book.  Every May they host a fabulous, intensive, content-packed event for anyone serious about success as an author, and this year, our keynote is Guy Kawasaki! That’s a big deal, people.

 

For the second year, Social Media Management Services will have a booth there. I’m giving away fabulous prizes: bookmarks, several copies of my ebook No Excuses Social Media for Authors, and – drum roll please – two coveted spots in my upcoming June 2013 teleseminar series “Take the Mystery and Mayhem out of Social Media: Build and Manage Social Media with Confidence.”

 

Melody Jones presenting on social media at Author University/
Melody Jones presenting on social media at Author University/

Find me, say hi, let’s chat! And if I can find a pic of me there last year, I’ll get it posted. Seems to be lost in the mysterious world of digital photos. However, I did find this one from when I presented dinner and a program to AU members in 2012.

 

 

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Why You Must Unfollow on Twitter

 

So there you are on Twitter gleefully following everyone you can find who may be remotely related toTwitter-Bird-256 your expertise, your book genre, your hobby, and maybe your city. You do this with every confidence that these people will follow you back, if not immediately, at least by next week. Right?

 

No, dear reader, not right. There are those you already know will not follow you back like Oprah, the Dalai Lama, and NBC. That’s okay. We all follow those types of accounts on Twitter for a variety of reasons.

 

I’m talking about everybody else. It just seems like common courtesy for authors to follow authors and readers of thrillers to follow thriller writers. You are, of course, tweeting regularly (right?), retweeting every day (correct?), curating interesting information (aren’t you?), and not talking about yourself too much (can I get an amen). If you are doing all of these things, then you’re doing it right and those accounts don’t know what they’re missing.

 

Here’s what happens over time. You end up following many more accounts than follow you, a situation  viewed negatively by Twitter. Soon Twitter caps how many new people you can follow stating that your account needs more of its own followers. What’s a Twitter user to do?

 

Unfollow, my friend. Kick ‘em to the curb. Get rid of the accounts that don’t reciprocate or don’t offer high-value information. This lessens the clutter in your Twitter feed, and the Twitter gods like you better because there is less discrepancy between your “following” and “followers” numbers.

 

Make it easy on yourself and use an automated program that unfollows for you. A note of warning: Twitter doesn’t like it if you unfollow too many people at the same time, so don’t go crazy.

 

I recommend ManageFlitter. This site creates a report with useful information such as “not following you” or “inactive” and more. You simply click on the account you want to unfollow, and they take care of it. Also, do a Google search on unfollowing Twitter accounts to find other sites offering similar services.

 

And hey, I’ll follow you back. Follow me @SocMediaMelody and Tweet me so I know it’s you. We can have some Twitter fun.