So, John Reese, internet millionaire, sent out an email yesterday referring to his recent decision to trash his Twitter account with 25,000 followers. (I have quoted large sections of the email since I cannot locate this online anywhere you would be able to read it.)
He wrote:
Some people agreed with my decision and had been feeling the same way about Twitter while others
thought I was crazy.
I've seen many people ask... "Is Twitter Dying?"
No, I don't believe Twitter is dying [...] I think Twitter will be around for awhile.
HOWEVER...
I do think it's not the marketing channel that many believe it to be. The concept behind Twitter is a strong one. The marketing and relationship opportunities (at least on paper) look fantastic. There's only one problem that no one seems to ever talk about...
Many tweets are never even seen by people "following" that person. Either their Twitter stream is too full with the posts of other users they follow, or they don't login often enough to catch tweets before they get pushed "down the list."
I do think Twitter can be an effective SYNDICATION channel to auto-post links to your new blog posts or other activity. Even if just a small percentage of people following you catch those URLs and you get 'some' traffic it can be worth it -- especially if you automate the posting like many are doing.
But, overall, I personally feel that Twitter is a time and focus vampire. The ROI from Twitter just isn't worth the time many people put into it with spending hours of time interacting with people.
I would like to make this CHALLENGE to you... If you're using Twitter much at all, stop using Twitter for one week. Don't login or check your account or stream or anything. Spend the next week using the time you would use on Twitter to setup some new PPC campaigns, test some Facebook Ads, write some articles or blog posts, or make an offer to your email list.
I guarantee you that you will make far more money during this week not using Twitter than if you were still spending your time on it. […]
Social Media has in many ways become ONE BIG EGO COMPETITION. People feel important because they have "x" number of followers on Twitter or friends on this site or connections on another. It's human nature to WANT TO BE HEARD. Everyone wants to contribute and have people listen to them. And there's nothing wrong with that.
The problem with Social Media is that too many people are getting caught up in it (at least when it comes to business) and are losing touch with WHY they feel they are using it in the first place – to make more money.
Want to entertain yourself and make new online friends and spend hours of your time chatting all day? Then by all means, enjoy Social Media because it's the perfect outlet for that stuff.
But when it comes to business, and for making money, it's about the FUNDAMENTAL things that make business (especially online) work...
- Serving a target market.
- Providing value to that market to solve their problems.
- Lead generation.
- Building a list of prospects and customers in that market so you can follow-up, strengthen your relationship with them, and also make offers that generate revenue for you.
That's it. That's what generates millions of dollars. Now Social Media certainly can fall into some of those areas. But for every minute you spend on using one site or tactic, you're taking away from using something else. So you need to make sure you keep ROI in mind.
This ties in to the article I published in my e-zine just last week (Why You Are Probably Wasting Your Time on Social Media), where I wrote about how if you are using social media for your business, you need to have a very clear strategy in place before you spend hours posting and tweeting.
John in his email went on to direct people to a blog post by Everett Bogue about focus (The Stunning Truth About Focusing on the Important « Far Beyond The Stars | The Art of Being Minimalist), which I read and would recommend to you if you are wondering why you aren’t seeing results in your business, or enjoying your life. In fact, I would recommend it if you just want to see MORE results and have MORE enjoyment.
I’m not saying that I will follow Everett’s advice to the letter, but it is an interesting and useful perspective – to really think about what we want out of life, and try to align as many of our actions to those goals.