Four Success Lessons from Humpty-Dumpty

This is Chapter 10 from the forthcoming book, Trajectory.

1.  Don’t Be Hard-Boiled

Humpty-Dumpty is most remembered for falling off the wall, of course, but his story has several other interesting facets that are not widely known.

Humpty-Dumpty was opinionated, pugnacious, and contemptuous of the opinions of others.  To put the best spin on it, he was hard-boiled.

Humpty-Dumpty considered himself an expert on whatever was being discussed – despite the fact that he had no practical knowledge.

There is a Latin name for this type of annoying behavior – ipse dixit.  If you express an opinion without practical knowledge, you might be called an ipse dixit expert.

Humpty-Dumpty was the first ipse dixit expert. 

What is an Ipse Dixit Expert?

In Lewis Carroll’s book, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Humpty-Dumpty has a semantic argument with Alice about the meaning of the word “glory”. 

The specifics of the argument are not important – what is important is that Humpty insisted on an obviously incorrect definition for the word “glory” – and he defended that definition on the sole basis that he said so.

In other words, in his view, he was the indisputable authority on the matter, despite that fact that he was clueless.

A short passage from the book will help you understand:

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘Glory,’ ”Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously.

“Of course you don’t – till I tell you,” Humpty replied.

Ipse Dixit Defined

According to the concise Oxford dictionary of current English, ipse dixit, (pronounced ip-see-dix-set), is a Latin phrase meaning he himself said it.

In today’s most common usage, the term is meant to describe a dogmatic statement that has been asserted but not proved – one that is meant to be accepted purely due to the misplaced faith in the speaker.

It is frequently used in legal proceedings to suggest that an expert witness’ opinion is no more valid than the tangible evidence he can supply to support it.

Take Away #1

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a Social Media strategist, or an outside Social Media consultant, it is very poor form to be rigid in your opinions and contemptuous of the opinions of others.  Being ipse dixit – knowing everything, while knowing nothing — is the worst possible case.  In your relationships with others, success will always be better served if you adopt a position of responsible malleability.   You can be patient and open-minded without sacrificing something you know to be undeniably correct.  Just remain flexible, courteous and attentive.

2.  Make Sure Your Shell is Strong

How strong is an eggshell?  It depends upon the egg, of course, but if you balance four eggs on their end, and cover them with a board to distribute the weight evenly, the resulting construct will hold a great deal of weight.

Opinions are like eggshells.  Alone they are fragile, but when you amass a series of solid opinions, each reinforcing the other across a stable platform of influence, the result is powerful.

Three Rules About Opinions

I have three rules about opinions:

1. Don’t express an opinion if you lack rock-solid proof.
2. On the other hand, if you do have empirical evidence to support your opinion, don’t be shy.  Be courteous but forthright.
3. Solid opinions are like strands in a rope – the more you bundle together the stronger they are.  If you have an area of undisputed expertise, expand on that expertise.  Express those opinions, write articles, give speeches.  The more you reinforce your valid opinions the stronger your overall reputation will be.

3.  Be Wary of Soft-Boiled Eggs

Lots of eggs out there are simply underdone.  They are soft-boiled.  Without empirical evidence of their positions, these experts are ipse dixit.

One of the interesting problems associated with burgeoning industries like Social Media — (remember the web design industry a decade ago?) — is that during the formative years the number of ipse dixit experts who appear is directly proportional to:

1. The economic potential of success, minus
2. The financial cost of entry, plus
3. The lack of formal credentials criteria.

Since there are no formal barometers for Social Media credentials — since the financial cost of entry is negligible; and the economic potential for success is great — the only gauge of expertise can be expressed in one word:  Results.   The litmus test for results,  with development of a Twitter following as the target, should be as a minimum:

1. 10,000 Twitter followers within 12 months, all of whom are active, targeted and engaged
2. 2,000 Twitter updates on targeted subjects within the last year
3. Inclusion on 500 lists

4.  The Proof is in the Eating

Ever try to make an egg soufflé?  Or even a sophisticated omelet?  For the unpracticed hand they can be difficult concoctions.  You can read a thousand recipes, devour cookbooks by the library full – but the real proof is in the eating.  So it is with Social Media.  There are hundreds of thousands of websites, blogs and articles about Social Media – each with their own approaches, ingredients and promises.  But the only reliable proof appears when those recipes have been prepared and consumed.  The proof is in the eating.

The best recipes on earth fail without salt.  The best recipe for Twitter success fails without a demonstrable result – and that result (the salt) begins with the number of loyal followers.

All Trajectories are About Results

All trajectories are about results.

When NASA engineers fill the Space Shuttle with thousands of pounds of fuel, and program its systems to deliver escape velocity at precisely the right second, they are aiming for an exact spot in space, called an insertion point.  When NASA hits that target they have achieved results.

When a quarterback drops back for a long pass, anticipates where the wide-receiver will be when he completes his route in the end zone, and lofts the ball high into the air, he is aiming for a precise spot in the arms of his receiver and six points on the scoreboard.  When he hits that target he has achieved results.

When a young college graduate, after spending years in study to get a law degree, sets his sights on public service and then works very hard to follow his dream, he is aiming for a precise position where those dreams can come true.   When the perfect position appears, he has achieved results.

In April, 2010, when I committed myself to Twitter accomplishment, I set my sights on 50,000 engaged and loyal Twitter followers.  As I worked nearly 10,000 hours toward that objective, I was aiming for a business that focused on Twitter as a highly professional approach to doing business in the world economy.  When I hit that target, I achieved results.

The point is this:  All trajectories have a starting point and an anticipated objective – a target.  It doesn’t matter what the target is — as long as it is determined through proper planning and strategy.

When you hit that target you have achieved results.

Why Does This Matter?

I have already explained in Chapter 1 why I felt compelled to build a sizable and engaged Twitter following before I had the temerity to consider myself an expert on the subject.

Today, with approaching 70,000 loyal followers, I feel comfortable with the expert moniker, at least as it applies to Twitter for business.

There are huge numbers of ipse dixit Social Media experts, who wax eloquently about, for example, Twitter’s value or lack thereof.  Many of them — on the basis of the above criteria – are not qualified to have an opinion, in my view.

In a recent, widely distributed article, a professional blogger predicted the Beginning of the End for Twitter as a Social Network in 2012.  This gentleman is respected within the online community, is a published author and speaker and his article was selected as a highlighted Social Media article by Alltop.  I certainly wouldn’t quibble with his credentials.

I disagreed with his overall premise, of course, but I was willing to keep an open mind and listen to his arguments, so I did a little research.  His reasons were interesting, but as it turned out he had a Twitter following of less than 7,000 followers after four years of effort.

This fact alone neither discredits his opinion nor makes him an ipse dixit expert — not by a long shot.  But for me at least, it begs the question: 

How can anyone without a substantial Twitter following have a meaningful opinion about what it’s worth to have one?

If you work on Twitter for several years without amassing a significant number of followers, it might be logical to believe that it is a failed strategy.  7,000 followers is simply not sufficient to develop Critical Mass – a mandatory component before long-term results can be realized.  Further, a 7,000 member following is not large enough to achieve Escape Velocity, allowing for Twitter growth after your daily activity lessons.  In short, I do not believe that is sufficient empirical evidence to form a valid opinion on the matter.

Take Away #2

As professionals, there should be a relationship between what we can say and what we can do.  As John Ruskin, the prominent social thinker and philanthropist said:

“The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.”

It is reasonable and fair to express an opinion about something we have actually done – but it is disingenuous to express an opinion about something we have not done, or have done insufficiently.

Take Away #3

I am of the opinion, in agreement with the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that:

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”

Business acumen dictates that results should be determinant when assessing success or failure.  Facts trump opinions every time.

Aggregate Positive Exposure – Return on Involvement

Chapter 27 of the forthcoming book, Trajectory

Aggregate Positive Exposure

We are all familiar with the notion of encouraging “eyes on your website.”  

Commonly this is measured by the number of visitors, and the number of times they visit.

However, in the Trajectory Formula, a much more meaningful metric is used to measure Social Media success.

It is an expanded concept I call Aggregate Positive Exposure (APEX).

APEX goes far beyond measuring visitors.  It measures the aggregate amount of positive time – spent on the website by potential customers — who are actively involved with highly relevant content.

Highly relevant content, in the context of the Trajectory Formula, means articles written expressly to benefit your followers, and provided at no cost.  It pointedly does not mean your product information or other sales-directed content.  This metric is then compared with your perceived competition.

Why is this Important?

To understand why APEX is important, it is first necessary to take a step backward to review strategy.

There are numerous ways to monetize your Social Media efforts, but one common strategy that Trajectory argues against is traditional banner advertising on your website.

While ubiquitous on the web, you would be hard pressed to find many companies, (except of course the advertisers themselves),  who are making significant revenue from this source.  In some cases, in fact, advertising may soften the otherwise positive impact you are making on your followers.

Ask yourself this one simple question:  Why are you building a following to begin with?  Is it to attract “eyes to the website” in hopes that they will purchase whatever small, incidental products that you are displaying in other companies’ advertising?

Probably not, if you truly understand the power of Social Media.

It is more likely that you are interested in expanding your brand and building credibility with your followers, correct?

If this is true, and I believe it is axiomatic in proper Social Media implementation that this objective is the most effective and efficient, what you should really be concentrating upon is encouraging your followers to read, digest and appreciate your content.

For Social Media to work, you must cultivate a desire to help your followers, not merely to sell to them.

If you follow this simple advice, your visitors will become your friends.  They will no longer be faceless numbers on a bar graph, they will be individuals — who visit repeatedly because they are involved.

Two Cautionary Notes

Before we discuss the value of APEX, it is important that you recognize two cautionary notes:

1. Be aware that web analytics — the collection and complete understanding of visitor quantification and behavior on your website — is not an arcane luxury, that you can choose to ignore.  It is a critical component of effective strategy.  If you think you understand it, learn it better.  If you don’t quite get it, study it until you do.  Here is a Google explanation that will help you.
2. Time on the site is not exactly a straightforward calculation.  It is subject to a number of variables that can skew the results.   For example, if the content is useful enough to demand attention, the length of time spent reading it is valuable to your efforts.  On the other hand, if the content is boring and your visitor leaves his browser open while he gets coffee, it is less valuable.  There are also purely technical issues in the way Google calculates time on the site that have an impact.  If you are interested in the science, here is an exhaustive explanation from the Occam’s Razor website.  The upshot is this:  Use the Time on the Site calculation as a relative number, not an absolute.  It is a basis for comparison only, not a stand-alone gauge of success.

The Crucial Difference — APEX by the Numbers

The reasoning behind Aggregate Positive Exposure, is that Social Media-enabled web pages should be in a category by themselves.  Their strategic focus, management approach and execution methods are quite different from their sales-oriented cousins.

The intent is to encourage involvement through highly relevant content, not to directly solicit and convert sales.

Success should not be measured by product purchases or visitor impressions.  

Instead, success should be measured by the aggregate amount of time the visitor spends reading, digesting and appreciating content that materially adds to his or her business objectives.

The APEX score is not reflective of immediate cash sales — it represents the current value of future sales based upon the effective involvement of a Social Media following.

By using the APEX metric properly, in a Social Media environment, the resulting value represents the broad effectiveness of all Social Media activity.

Through this approach, as illustrated by the Table below, it is possible to assign a higher value to 100 blog visitors than to either 120 e-commerce visitors or 250 visitors to the Home Page.

This Table explains the relative value of Aggregate Positive Exposure:

There are three example web pages in the calculation:

1. A Home Page that is representative of typical websites, but without e-commerce or blog articles.
2. A Sales page that is primarily e-commerce.
3. A Blog page that is primarily articles with highly relevant content, by the above definition.

Time on Site:  According to Goggle, “Time on site is one way of measuring visit quality. If visitors spend a long time visiting your site, they may be interacting extensively with it.”

Impressions:  An impression is “the count of a delivered basic advertising unit from an ad distribution point,” or stated plainly, the number of views by a visitor with “eyes on the website.”  Impressions are how most Web advertising is sold and the cost is quoted in terms of the cost per thousand impressions ( CPM ).

APEX:  Visitors multiplied by the Time on the Site in minutes.

Return on Involvement

Social Media activity, no matter how you measure it, is transformative.

It changes everything about doing business online.

Traditional marketing, a staple in business for many decades, is slowly going the way of the buggy whip and it is unlikely to be missed.

Today’s businessmen and businesswomen have the opportunity to become successful, not on the backs of their customers, but rather hand-in-hand with them.

The sales process has become less about vendors and customers — and more about true partnerships where everyone wins.

When you open the door to your website, you are no longer capturing your visitors and trying to stimulate sales — you are inviting them into your business and involving them in your success.

APEX is a new metric for Social Media that monitors the intrinsic value of these new partnerships, elevating Return on Investment and transforming it into Return on Involvement.

TRAJECTORY IS COMING SOON.

My new book, Trajectory, will be published in January, 2012.  If you found this article useful, you will love the book.  You may read the first chapter, Overview, by clicking here.

PREVIEW TRAJECTORY: To preview the complete Mind View, (conceptual diagram), of the new book Trajectory, click here for a free download.  

Trajectory Information

Anticipated Final Publish Date: January, 2012.

Anticipated Price: $24.95

AVAILABLE ONLINE: In addition to the book itself,  buyers will receive a password to the Client Login section of this website at no additional cost, where they can view the book in its entirety online, read supplementary materials and use expanded tutorials.  Importantly, as the Social Media landscape changes, additional material not available at the time of publication will be available here.

Any questions?  I am here to help.

If you are a businessperson searching for answers, or you know someone who is, I am very easy to get in touch with and I am eager to help.

Don’t be shy, be effective instead.  Take action.

Simply call the number below.  During normal business hours, (8 AM – 5 PM Scottsdale, Arizona time), it is my direct line.

If I am unavailable, just leave a message.

If you would prefer to exchange email I would love to here from you.   Just email michaelstewart@jerichotechnology.com or click the email badge below.   I promise I will get back to you within 24 hours.

If you believe your company can benefit from a robust and highly professional Social Media Campaign, complete the following form for no-obligation information and an application.

Our Pricing

Request For Proposal

The “Show Me” Factor – Demonstrable Value

Please note:  This is Part 1 of Chapter 26 from the forthcoming book, Trajectory.

The “Show Me” Factor

Among entrepreneurs, the most common request made to Social Media practitioners is this:

Show me how Social Media will contribute to my bottom-line.

For many of us in professional Social Media, delivering cogently upon this request has been somewhat elusive, but it shouldn’t be.

There seems to be a reluctance to answer two simple questions:

1. How will Social Media deliver results? 
2. How will the company benefit?

If you are among those intrepid Social Media souls, battling on the front-lines to deliver immediate results, you may have been hard-pressed to respond to the “Show Me” Factor.  If so, this chapter is for you.

If you are an entrepreneur, struggling mightily to have a business impact through Social Media efforts — and if tangible financial results have been slow in coming — this chapter is also for you.

Speaking as an entrepreneur myself — and after a period of sustained effort and experience with my own company’s Social Media campaigns – one fact seems inescapable:

In the end, Social Media for businesses is about building a customer base – or it should be – and that customer base has demonstrable value.

What is Demonstrable Value?

The dictionary defines demonstrable:  Capable of being demonstrated or proved — obvious or apparent.

Demonstrable Value is not an official accounting term; it is a new concept that quantifies value to the company — but that does not necessarily and immediately convert to cash.  It is the earliest — but most often overlooked — benefit to the company.

Demonstrable Value is:

1. Value you can see and feel
2. Value you can quantify
3. Value that will predictably turn into cash — and that will ring the cash register in the future.
4. Value that may, (based upon a current lawsuit in a California Federal Court), add to your bottom-line immediately.

Think of it as the anticipated value of future revenues — stemming from a tangible and engaged Social Media following in the present.

As can be seen in the chart on this page, while traditional ROI results at the end of the process — (after the E13 Strategy has been applied; strategy, management, execution and sales have occurred; and after the full effects of Trajectory have been realized) — demonstrable value begins to appear at the outset and gradually increases until it equals ROI.

Demonstrable value is sufficiently obvious as to be readily recognized by even the most ardent skeptic, and it is the precursor to traditional Return on Investment (ROI).

Once it predictably turns into sales and revenue, it will be expressed as Return on Investment.  But even before that it will have impressive benefits.

In any case, demonstrable value – however it is accounted for – may be the yardstick by which all Social Media efforts should be initially judged.

Twitter Followers Have Demonstrable Value

Twitter followers, in particular, have demonstrable value.  Such was the plaintiff’s argument in the recent PhoneDog court case in California.  According to court documents, the judge refused to dispute the suggestion that the “industry standard” of $2.50 per month, should apply to every Twitter follower.

That means that a 50,000 member Twitter following could be valued at $125,000 dollars per month, or $1.5 million per year.

Not to belabor this point, but for the $2.50 monthly value to be even remotely reliable, such a financial projection relies on the fact that the followers are carefully selected, heavily engaged — and that they are interacting regularly with the brand.

Twitter followers who are bots, inactive or inappropriate to your specific market are essentially valueless.  Extreme care must be taken to ensure that every follower meets these criteria, as will be explained in detail in later chapters.

We all know that you can “buy”  Twitter followers on eBay for a penny apiece.  The difference between these two extremes is the Social Media management, execution and sales savvy that you will leaarn in Trajectory.

Twitter is Simple, but it isn’t Easy — And it is Deeply Rewarding

The task ahead — for anyone wishing to attain massive success with Twitter — may be relatively simple, but it is in no sense easy.   To amass my current Twitter following, for example, has taken well over 6,500 hours of very committed effort.

During the last 18 months, I have:

1. Personally written 169 articles and published them on this website.
2. Researched, selected and distributed 22,143 articles, written by others, in tweets to my loyal Twitter audience.
3. Hand-picked each of my 62,811 followers.

It has been an honor to build, recognize and engage with my Twitter friends.  I have learned much — and gained more — than whatever benefit they have realized from following me.

Twitter is much more than a business tool, it is an instrument for personal and professional growth.

The Trajectory Formula will teach you exactly how to build a fully engaged Twitter account of at least 50,000 followers during the next 18 months:  How to plan an effective strategy, manage successfully and execute efficiently.  And it will help you as you transform a lasting customer base into a huge tangible asset.

——-

This is Part 1 of a 4 part series of related articles that will be published on this website as a run-up to the publishing of Trajectory in December, 2011.

TRAJECTORY IS COMING SOON.

My new book, Trajectory, will be published in January, 2012.  If you found this article useful, you will love the book.  You may read the first chapter, The Perfect Trajectory, by clicking here.

Trajectory Information

Anticipated Final Publish Date: January, 2012.

Anticipated Price: $24.95

AVAILABLE ONLINE: In addition to the book itself,  buyers will receive a password to the Client Login section of this website at no additional cost, where they can view the book in its entirety online, read supplementary materials and use expanded tutorials.  Importantly, as the Social Media landscape changes, additional material not available at the time of publication will be available here.

Any questions?  I am here to help.

If you are a businessperson searching for answers, or you know someone who is, I am very easy to get in touch with and I am eager to help.

Don’t be shy, be effective instead.  Take action.

Simply call the number below.  During normal business hours, (8 AM – 5 PM Scottsdale, Arizona time), it is my direct line.

If I am unavailable, just leave a message.

If you would prefer to exchange email I would love to here from you.   Just email michaelstewart@jerichotechnology.com or click the email badge below.   I promise I will get back to you within 24 hours.

If you believe your company can benefit from a robust and highly professional Social Media Campaign, complete the following form for no-obligation information and an application.

Our Pricing

Request For Proposal

How to Achieve Escape Velocity

This concept is a vital part of the Trajectory Formula, as it appears in my forthcoming book.

Escape Velocity

In physics, escape velocity is “the speed above which an object will depart on a ballistic trajectory, and never fall back to the surface nor assume a closed orbit.”

Such an object is said to “escape” the gravity of the Earth.

To leave planet Earth, an escape velocity of 11.2 km/s (approx. 40,320 km/h or 25,000 mph) is required.  The required speed is a precise and absolute requirement.  24,000 mph is insufficient.

Once escape velocity is achieved, continued energy is less important.  The object’s rise will continue unabated by atmospheric friction and gravity.  Advancement is effortless.

What This Can Mean for Your Business

Trajectory will help you attain escape velocity in your business.  It will generate predictable thrust that leads to sales and profits.  And perhaps most significantly, it will propel you beyond a higher orbit — into a self-perpetuating and lasting upward trajectory.

In the Trajectory Formula, escape velocity is the sum total of the components of the formula, added together to give your selling effort the kinetic energy required for Trajectory Selling and guaranteed success.  This immensely important section of the book is purposefully left to the end.  Why?  Because it relies on everything that comes before it.

Think of it this way:  When a rocket hurdles into space, it leaves the Earth’s gravitational force behind because the propulsion systems, avionics, aerodynamics, computer systems and a wealth of other components are acting together elegantly.  Nothing is left to chance.  Not a single circuit is extraneous.  Every cubic inch of the vehicle is packed with applied knowledge — from Einstein’s theory to the most advanced science.

As the Space Shuttle leaves the bonds of Earth, it incorporates the dedicated efforts of countless engineers, mathematicians, computer experts and astronauts.  And when its mission is concluded, its legacy remains the launching pad for the next generation of adventurers.

Hopefully, so it is with Trajectory.  Nothing has been left to chance.  Not a single chapter is extraneous.  Every page of the book is packed with over 20 years of accumulated knowledge — from basic marketing to the cutting edge of Social Media accomplishment.  When the book is published in December, it will carry with it a comprehensive formula for capturing online success.  And it is my hope, that it will provide the launching pad for the next generation of online entrepreneurs.

It’s Not Your Father’s Bottle-Rocket

There are simpler ways to launch a selling effort.  There are countless theories on how to sell through Social Media that will demand much less of you.  There are many approaches that require less study, thought and effort.

But in one man’s humble opinion, all of these abbreviated formulas are simply bottle-rockets — offering momentary flashes of excitement, but destined to fall back unceremoniously to Earth.

TRAJECTORY IS COMING SOON.

My new book, Trajectory, will be published in December, 2011.  If you found this article useful, you will love the book.  You may read the first chapter, Overview, by clicking here.

PREVIEW TRAJECTORY: To preview the complete Mind View, (conceptual diagram), of the new book Trajectory, click here for a free download.  

Trajectory Information

Anticipated Final Publish Date: December 13, 2011.

Anticipated Price: $24.95

AVAILABLE ONLINE: In addition to the book itself,  buyers will receive a password to the Client Login section of this website at no additional cost, where they can view the book in its entirety online, read supplementary materials and use expanded tutorials.  Importantly, as the Social Media landscape changes, additional material not available at the time of publication will be available here.

Any questions?  I am here to help.

If you are a businessperson searching for answers, or you know someone who is, I am very easy to get in touch with and I am eager to help.

Don’t be shy, be effective instead.  Take action.

Simply call the number below.  During normal business hours, (8 AM – 5 PM Scottsdale, Arizona time), it is my direct line.

If I am unavailable, just leave a message.

If you would prefer to exchange email I would love to here from you.   Just email michaelstewart@jerichotechnology.com or click the email badge below.   I promise I will get back to you within 24 hours.

If you believe your company can benefit from a robust and highly professional Social Media Campaign, complete the following form for no-obligation information and an application.

Our Pricing

Request For Proposal

Trajectory Chapter 77. Finding Motivated Followers

DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Diamonds are created naturally under extreme pressure, usually 100 miles or more below the surface of the earth.

When they are formed, they are already the hardest natural material known to man and have enormous intrinsic value.

They basically last forever.

In the hands of a skilled craftsman, they can be priceless.

The name diamond is derived from the ancient Greek adámas, meaning unalterable, unbreakable and untamed.  These three characteristics, aptly named, make them lasting and reliable, if not always predictable.

They come in multiple colors, but they are always valuable.

They are useful for a variety of important purposes, from commercial applications to adornment for the rich and famous.

Of course, they can also be made synthetically, and even then are of tremendous use commercially.  Beginning in 1822, Sir Charles Parsons, a prominent scientist and engineer, spent about 40 years and a considerable part of his fortune perfecting the process.

It begs the question:  Given the choice, wouldn’t you rather find a diamond than make one?

Of course you would.  Why not avoid the pressure and the expense; not to mention the time and the inconvenience?

With a little poetic license, the same can be said of Social Media followers.

They already exist in large quantities.

They are of immense value in their natural state.

They are an unbreakable asset that can last for a very long time if they are understood and well-cared for.

They may be unalterable and untamed, but that is not necessarily a disadvantage.

In the hands of a skilled craftsman, they can be priceless.

And while they can be made synthetically, why bother?

From Humble Beginnings

From a lump of coal to a precious gem, the diamond boasts millions of years of transition and growth.  From pure carbon, to metamorphic rock, to a thing of timeless beauty — the diamond represents immense value emerging from humble beginnings.

Likewise, from a pointless banality to a valuable business asset, Twitter and Twitter Followers have taken only five years for their transition and growth.  Who would have guessed that a website first claiming, “If you have a cell and you can txt, you’ll never be bored again…E V E R,” would rise to such prominence – raising a king’s ransom in venture capital, toppling dictatorships, and materially changing the world.

By the way, for those who scoff at Twitter’s business value, it might be useful to ask how it was able to topple governments.  The answer, I suspect, is that committed freedom fighters are less arrogant and better informed than some so-called business experts, a subject better left for later.

In the introductory chapter to this book, the Trajectory Formula was explained.  The formula is S = (T+C) x AM, or expressed in a sentence:  Success equals Trajectory plus Critical Mass times Amorphous Marketing. 

Missing in that formulation is the raw material that makes the formula work:  Motivated Followers. 

Throughout this book I have touched on the critical distinction between followers and motivated followers.  Knowing the difference and understanding where both reside in their natural state means the difference between mining for coal and mining for diamonds.  From cover to cover, you will never read any advice on how to find the former, only the latter.

In this chapter, the process for finding motivated followers will be fully explained.

What Is A Motivated Follower?

By definition, a motivated follower is an individual requiring very low maintenance.

He or she is positively inclined to listen to your message, when you eventually provide it, without requiring strenuous motivation to do so.

Before you begin casting your net for followers, you should already know through testing and empirical evidence that your product or service will actually sell.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but once you have that certainty under your belt, it is time to take off your sales hat.

At this stage you should not be selling or propagandizing – directly or indirectly – you should only be providing relevant information in very large quantities.

Your desire should be to help, not to make a sale.

This is such a fundamental concept that it bears repeating:  While you are building and maturing your follower base, you should not try to sell to them.

Your new follower is not necessarily a buyer – now or perhaps ever — but he is naturally inclined to pay attention.   He will do so because he needs or wants solutions that your product or service may provide, even before you have explained that product or service to him.

He will pay attention, not because you are overtly telling him why he should, but rather because you have demonstrated important and relevant knowledge, he trusts you and you have established rapport, even if that rapport is somewhat distant at the beginning.

He is likely to watch and listen from a distance at first – standing back, waiting to see what happens next – before he commits to you intellectually.

Once he has committed intellectually, like a diamond he will become an unalterable asset in your business, dropping to your bottom line long before his value actually shows itself on your balance sheet.  However you choose to quantify it, his value is every bit as valuable as cash in the bank.

This is the first tangible metric for Return on Investment – the sheer number of motivated followers you have accumulated.

Just like panning for gold, you will have to sift through a lot of sand before you find the gold nuggets.  It is a winnowing process.  Do everything you can (the process is explained in detail later in this chapter) to start with the right follower base – but then you must refine that base – over and over.  Sometimes you must be unmerciful when applying the rules I will suggest, but do it anyway.  They are tried and true.  They work.

Building followers, just for the sake of doing it, is a fool’s errand.  I know of some thought leaders who grow their follower base indiscriminately – some have hundreds of thousands of followers — but I doubt that they will ever amount to much.  If you don’t care who follows you, you will find that they don’t care much about you either.

What Is Your Target Market?

A motivated follower, also by definition, comes from your target market.

Understanding your target market is essential, but you would be amazed at how few entrepreneurs actually get this.

Most know what they think their target market is.  They will parrot their business plan:  “My target market is males, age 35-45, with disposable income.”  But they have no empirical evidence that this is true.

Some profess to understand their market before they have made their first sale.  How silly is that?  If no one has made a purchase, there is no discernible market, targeted or otherwise.

Before you can truthfully understand your market, it is first necessary to have tried to sell (at least in a test environment), turned at least a few potential buyers into customers, and even if that attempt was only marginally successful at least you have empirical evidence that your business is viable.

You have already learned the elements of strategy in this regard.  If not, you should take a few moments and review the chapter on Strategy.

You have internalized the Basic Six requirements for success and you are prepared to put them into action.

You have already determined what you are trying to do and where you are trying to go.

You are learning the fundamentals of the Trajectory Formula. 

You are beginning to understand Critical Mass and Amorphous Marketing. 

Now it’s time to start taking action – and your first priority needs to be accumulating motivated followers.

How Valuable Are These Motivated Followers?

One final comment may be useful before I begin to explain the process.

In a recent study reported by Berkshire-Hathaway and derived from analysis of customer viewing and shopping behavior on major U.S. online retail sites, RichRelevance highlighted the significant value of Twitter followers.

The new study drills into more than 200 million shopping sessions to uncover how Americans are browsing and shopping online – and how their behavior varies depending on whether they are coming to a site from a bookmark, search engine or social network.

This chart tells the story. 

While the conversion rate on Twitter followers is lower than other Social Media channels, (less than half that of Facebook, for example), the AOV, (Average Order Value), is higher than any channel studied.   In fact, Twitter followers spent 22% more on average than Facebook followers.

What is the practical result?

If you have 50,000 Twitter followers, you might expect .5% of them to become buyers.  That’s 250 buyers at an average AOV of $121.33, or $30,332.  Stated another way, for every Twitter follower who becomes a buyer, you can expect a 22% higher return than from a comparable buyer generated by Facebook, everything else being equal.

Conversion rates differ, but once a buyer becomes converted, he or she becomes more valuable than conversions from any other Social Media network.

One final thought:  Presuming that the Twitter followers studied are typical followers, to the extent that you have found motivated Twitter followers instead, your results might be better still. 

Step-By-Step: How to Accumulate Motivated Followers

What you will need:

While I am absolutely not a fan of software to build followers, one website is an enormously valuable tool to assist you in becoming both effective and efficient.  That website is Tweepi.com.

Promising to “make sense of your Twitter account,” Tweepi will assist you in identifying your target market, finding and accumulating potentially motivated followers, winnowing that follower base to improve results and doing all this with enhanced speed and efficiency.

As you begin accumulating followers, you will discover immediately that every moment saved by increased efficiency will pay huge dividends – both in results and in your quality of life.

As I have said repeatedly, Social Media is simple, but it isn’t easy.  You can reasonably expect, once you have fully implemented the Trajectory Formula, that it will consume a great deal of time and energy, at least for a sustained period, and you will learn to appreciate every sensible shortcut.  Tweepi is definitely one of them.

After using this website daily for over a year, I can attest to its value even at the Platinum subscription rate of $14.99 per month, which I heartily recommend.

(Incidentally, as will be true throughout this book, I have no financial interest in this recommended solution, or any other recommendation that I make.)

Also, as a matter of procedure, I will not waste your time with learning features of this and other tools that are not directly required to implement the Trajectory Formula.  Tweepi has an abundance of additional features that you may wish to learn, but for purposes of this step-by-step tutorial I will ignore them.  Just follow the instructions I provide and you will be fine.

What you must do (all of these instructions are specific to the Platinum account level):

You can use Twitter Search and other tools to identify Twitter Accounts favored by your target market, but my preferred approach is to use common sense.  You know your market better than anyone else presumably.  You are probably following leaders in your own field already.  Whatever approach you use, make a list of those Twitter accounts (e.g. @jerichotech which is my Twitter handle) before you begin your first use of Tweepi.

• If you are starting from scratch, I recommend using Alltop.com as an initial tool.  Follow these simple steps.
• Navigate to alltop.com.
• Using the alphabetical listing across the top of the page, navigate to each drop-down box and look for categories pertinent to your market.
• Click on your chosen category (e.g. Social Media in my case) and review the “Most Topular Stories” in the upper left corner.  Each of the five listed stories are Alltop’s choice for the most popular stories in that category.
• Click on each story in order and you will be taken to the website responsible for that content.
• Review each website looking for a Twitter button, and follow it to the appropriate Twitter account.
• If the resulting Twitter account has a significant number of followers (it will depend upon your market, but the larger the better), take note of the Twitter handle and add it to your list.
• Continue with this process, until you have exhausted all appropriate categories, or until you have amassed at least 10,000 potential followers, whichever comes first.  You are now prepared for your first Tweepi session.
• Very Important:  Before you begin to follow, carefully read and understand the Chapter on Twitter Rules.  Especially at the beginning, it is quite easy to violate these rules without intending to do so.  Should you make this mistake your Twitter Account can be suspended, and believe me, you don’t want to fight that battle.

Using Tweepi:

Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to your login page within your Tweepi account.
2. After logging in, navigate to your “my dashboard” page.
3. In the “Follow new tweeps” section, click on “Follow followers.”
4. In the “@Interesting tweep” box, type in the first Twitter handle from the list you compiled above.  Don’t forget the @ sign before the name.
5. Click on the yellow “Start following” button.
6. The resulting page will be a listing of the first 200 followers (if you are in the Platinum subscription plan) of the Twitter account you entered.
7. Note the total number of followers in the upper left.
8. Change the “Tweepi presets” to default, if not already set.
9. Click on the “Last Tweet” button to resort so that the listing begins with the most recent tweet (e.g. “2 minutes ago).
10. Highlight the most recent tweet (it will turn blue).
11. Scroll down the page highlighting all rows that you have not followed, unfollowed before etc. (You can quickly highlight multiple rows by using the shift key.)
12. Very Important: Only highlight rows down to and including “4 days” in the “Last tweet” column.  Remember, you only want Motivated Followers.  If the potential follower is not motivated sufficiently to tweet within the last four days you should not be interested.  Don’t break this rule ever, though you may be tempted to do so.
13. Once all appropriate followers are highlighted on this page, click “Follow” on the lower left on the page.
14. The word “Follow” will turn gray while the follow activity is completing.  When it is complete, the “Follow” will once again become normal, and a message will appear on the bottom right showing the number of followers actually added.
15. Repeat these steps until your daily follower goal is reached.  (Again, keep the Twitter Rules in mind.)

Note To My Friends and Followers

This is the last segment of Trajectory that will be provided publicly before the book is published.  The four chapters already provided represent approximately 10% of the final publication.  Hopefully, I have given you a useful taste of what is forthcoming.  Much of the nuts ‘n bolts that make the Trajectory Formula exciting and worthwhile will be yours in the published e-book.

As I explained in the Introduction, I am honored that you would take the time to read Trajectory.   But with that honor comes great responsibility.   As my reading audience, you deserve all the respect and diligence I can muster.   Simply put, I must take the confidence you have invested in me and return it to you in the form of prosperity for your business.   That is my central goal and highest ambition.

When the book is nearing the publication date, I will let you know.  In the meantime, if you have observations or requests for added subject matter, please leave a comment.

Sincerely,