Eric WalkerWhy I “Unfollowed” 250 People on Twitter to Help My Internet Business |  

Hopefully you’ve read my post about how I slashed 1,100 “friends” on Facebook in the name of better serving my soon-to-be internet business — Start Marketing Smart.

And the whole point was to better interact, respond and give value. I felt I’d serve others better, and ultimately my internet business would be better served, to shrink my Universe.

Doing so will allow me to know first names, connect on a personal (internet) business level and be like the “mom and pop” businesses of yesteryear.

That’s how I want to run my internet business. That’s where I think the internet and social media is heading — customer service. The internet business that can serve the customers best in their area of expertise will win the most customers.

This is a no brainer in offline business. Of course it’s going to be same online. (Do you think it already is?)

So as a start up internet business, I actually want to cut the fat, skin the cat, shave the dog — whatever you want to call it. My goal is to make my world smaller before growing bigger. I want to serve one person at a time.

It makes total sense to me (and if I’m communicating properly, to you) that I unfollowed anyone who wasn’t following me and anyone who hadn’t tweeted in 72 hours. I’ll talk about my rational for this in a moment.

If you really want to leverage your efforts on Twitter (or any social networking platform), I feel you must earn trust and spend time conversing.

This conversing and connecting breeds familiarilty, which may (or may not) help your internet business, but is definitely bound to help ones brand.

Any internet business will bear the fruits of the labor associated with social networking.

Truth be told. I’ve been doing Twitter all wrong since getting started. Now, I don’t really think there is a right or a wrong way to “do Twitter” beyond the obvious.

I never thought about WHY I was using Twitter. That is a big problem. I had to intent. Intent is everything because it shapes goals. Without intent and goals, I think social media is a gigantic suck hole.

The Twitter Frame for Internet Business

Funny how you feel when you’re finding out it’s real — Neil Young from Sugar Mountain

For just over a year I’ve been on Twitter, more or less twittling my thumbs. No intent.

It’s a real eye opener when you realize it’s your internet business that you have to grow. You must account for everything you do. If I’m going to be on Twitter, I better damn well know the reason because clicking @Chris Brogan’s links all day isn’t going to build my business.

My intent and my passion is to serve. I can’t really serve people if I just posts links and make broadcasts that lack engagement. Twitter is a personalized communication tool, not a platform to blast links.

A Twitter list (or any list) is only as good as the person communicating with it.

I know this to be a fact as I have been behind the scenes of big lists, and have run analytics on the effectiveness of those big lists as it relates to driving traffic to a blog. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. And I’ve seen WHEN what works and when it doesn’t.

One of the main things I have noticed is responsiveness can vary drastically depending on how well you interact with your list.

Big Unresponsive Twitter Lists are Pure Vanity. It Won’t Help Your Internet Business

Again, my opinion. We’re all doing it wrong in someone’s eyes. What is effective for one may not be effective for another. What resonates with me, may not resonate with you. Keep that in mind as you’re reading this post.

I am now going to address why I unfollowed people who don’t follow me. I’ll talk about why I decided to unfollow those that haven’t tweeted in over 72 hours.

I decided to un-follow the big dog mass marketers and/or the A-list bloggers (unless they were following me)

Here’s why — my strategy is to make my point of contact with those “big reputation” internet marketers and A-List bloggers in the comments of their blog.

I’ve to keep a list of A-list bloggers, B-list bloggers, a list of up and coming bloggers that I keep an eye out for and/or visit semi-daily. I also have keep a list of “reciprocating bloggers” that have commented on my blog that I want to return the love too. I make the rounds.

Same goes for the “big reputation” internet marketers, but to be honest, they’re mostly not the interactive type. They mostly don’t resonate with me. Nonetheless, I can serve their followers so it’s worth it to be seen in their company.

Here’s what I do, and I think this will work for you too. I comment at their blog, followed by a tweet about their post. Something catchy with a link to their blog. In this sense, I’m giving love, value and promoting others. This is a sure-fire way to engaging with new people.

Again, important to note that I’m making their blog my first point of contact. and using that to extend a conversation at Twitter.

Here’s an example so you can see what I’m talking about.

Jonathan Fields’ blog is called Awake at the Wheel.

Jonathan is an A-List blogger, and although I’ve Tweeted with him a couple of occasions, it’s nothing really.

Jonathan is on my list of daily blogs to read. On Saturday, I he posted this: http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/a-kid-a-tie-and-a-chocolate-smile-simple-acts-of-kindness/

So I comment–

Hi Jonathan,

I think this is my first comment here at this blog, although I have been here to read before.

Nice reminder about the power of slowing enough to see reality as an opportunity instead of something to pass through to our own continued illusions.

Quick question – On those days when perspective is a tough sell, and you DON’T run into the boy with the candy or his grandpa with an appreciative smile, how do you slow enough to feed yourself the xray vision sometimes needed to see the opportunity that is every day living?

Good stuff.

Then I Tweet:

@jonathanfields “…open yur heart, there are a thousand passing moments that carry w/ them opportunity to come alive…” http://goo.gl/jSe3

I like Jonathan Fields. I like how he writes. I respect his knowledge, and I’d like to get to know him better.

He’s a successful blogger. He markets smart. He’s an entrepreneur. He is aligned with his passions and that is enveloped with his business.

Do I think he’d ever need to purchase my products, coaching, services or consulting? No, I don’t. But his network might. He’s active on Twitter. His followers are responsive (I’ve done my homework).

So what I do is comment at the blog level first. Then back it up with a retweet that links to the post.

In this sense, I’m bringing the best of blogging and Twitter together to form a connection. It takes the guess work out of Twitter, and creates intent.

Quick Question: What’s your approach to Twitter? How do you intend to use it to help your internet business?

Like This Post? Follow me on Twitter.