Since November I have been getting between 20 and 40 new followers every day on a startup Social Network called Chime.in. I was one of the first prolific users of the Chime.in platform, and as the newness faded I was one of the few early adopters who continued my activity. Now I am listed as a recommended user when someone new joins, and it has given me the opportunity to grow my following on that network organically even though I’m not a Social Media superheavyweight like Robert Scoble or Gary Vaynerchuk.
The small following that I’m building on Chime.in is by no means monumental, but it’s organically generated within the Chime.in network. Chime.in is also popular among its users. The interface is great, but more importantly the community Chime.in has created is an extremely rare one; the users are genuinely nice and don’t let their opinions lead them around. I also know that Chime.in expects to allow their users to start generating a profit from the advertising that will be placed on their profiles. I would suspect that Chime.in already has relatively good usage rates for a Social startup that isn’t Google+, but I expect the number of active users to skyrocket once this feature goes public.
Chime.in has been a decent victory for me, and it’s mostly because I got in early and keep my stream at a high level of quality. I chose to dedicate a small amount of time to that network because I believe that it will ultimately succeed, and that I will benefit from a decent return on my time investment over the life of the network.
I’ve also embraced Google+, although I was a little late to the party, and my activity level didn’t compare to the users who replaced their other social presences with Google+. Amanda Blain, the creator of Girlfriend Social has been noted several times as the standout success story from Google+. She had an average following on other social networks, but decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity that was the Google+ beta. She now has over 290,000 followers on Google+ and has been covered in several articles (like this one) that list her as a model for success. Other users who were a little more popular before the Google + Beta like Robert Scoble have garnered even more influence on the network, though with slightly smaller numbers.
The reason that becoming an active early adopter works so well is because of the algorithms these social networks use to list recommended connections. Since the algorithm for recommending people to follow relies on people your contacts follow, someone with a large following in the beginning will get significantly more exposure as the network grows.
I first noticed the benefits of getting in on the ground floor while playing online video games. You can be highly skilled, but someone who has had the advantage of time will ultimately be hard to replace on a leaderboard. After I had cracked the method of ranking on the popular Mobsters game for MySpace I was at the top of the weekly leaderboards every week. Even with stats that doubled the next closest player, I was going to have to play for eight more months to overtake the all-time leaders. The algorithms that are set up to award early adopters make the disadvantage even more significant on a network like Twitter or Google+.
The benefits transcend platforms, technologies, and even technology as a whole. Think about the early adopters of Microsoft or Apple stock. They’ve become millionaires many times over because they saw something of value in the beginning before the masses flocked to the products in droves.
There is a formula to organically growing your network on a budding network. You need to interact in the places that are most visible, especially to new users. You also need to keep your stream clear of low quality or offensive content. It isn’t the best time to share your friends’ content, not unless it’s really good. Visual content is also important; it has become the go to media to create viral posts on Google+. You need to follow others quickly and build your base of followers as soon as possible.
There is also a great deal of luck required. If your followers share your content and end up becoming heavily followed users themselves it will only add to your exposure. Not all platforms are going to be the next Facebook, but one common denominator between Google+ and Twitter is that tech pundits TOLD YOU SO (and capital). Everyone knew that both of those platforms were going to thrive long before they reach 50 million users. There is no reason that someone who follows social media couldn’t have been on each platform during their first days of beta testing. Here are the most important things to do next time you feel that a network is going to go viral:
- Get in Early. Networks don’t build on top of the ground floor; they raise it and build under it.
- Focus your development on that network. At least until you overtake contemporaries.
- Curate only the choicest content. Is there a meaning? Is it new? Is it something that will resonate with your followers?
- Learn all the rules, and measure your efforts. Hangouts were a big part of Google+ networking, but games were not.
- Bring your friends from Facebook and other networks. The best place to start is on familiar ground.
- Premiere your best content there. Make your followers on the new network feel like they have a front row seat.
- Be personable. The keyword in Social Networking is Social. People actually do care about what you’re doing this weekend.
I mentioned earlier that I missed out on the beginning of Google plus. Two years ago I was laid off from my job and was forced to work low wage jobs just to pay the rent and buy groceries. I couldn’t afford to pay an Internet bill, but even I was aware of Google’s new social network. I knew I missed out on an opportunity, but by June when I started back to work I had set up a Google+ account (even though I still didn’t have a home Internet connection). I was subjected to a similar form of bad luck when Twitter opened to new users. In the run up to the beta I even applied for an Intern position with the fledgling network. I did manage to set up a Twitter account shortly after they launched, but never got the chance to take advantage of the early days when there were few limits and the early adopters were the most prolific users.
Many Social Media coaches advise against using a platform in its infancy. I always hear that no one knows what a platform is capable of, or if it will be a worthwhile investment of your time. This could be true with a platform like Chime.in or Pinterest (both are doing quite well now), but when it came to Google+ it was a no brainer. What do you have to lose anyway? These networks are free to use and it takes a minimal amount of time to establish a presence. If you’re networking on Facebook anyway, your friends will still be there when you get back, believe me. You won’t need to be a prophet to see the next big opportunity. The writing will be on the wall (Facebook walls, Twitter profiles, blogs, and news websites).
Still wanting to increase your following? My new E-book “How to Get More Facebook Likes: The Comprehensive Facebook Master’s Edition” recounts a case study I made during my early days of developing my Facebook page, and touches on every single viable method to increase your Likes count. Let me tell you what works, what doesn’t, and what could potentially cost you. It’s available through the Store. For a limited time you can also get a Free Copy by joining my Monthly Newsletter mailing list. The form is at the top of the page on the right.
I agree. Here’s my question: where can I find all the new social networks before they are buzzing?
I’m late for G+. Yet, I do think Chinm.in and Pinterest have distinctive features and I use them everyday. They add value to my social networks activities.
Nicolas Liu recently posted..Top 10 Tricks for Getting Better Sleep
Twitter: nicolascpa
Nicolas,
I would say the best sources are sites like Mashable or Tech Crunch. Startups reach out to them to try and get press before releases. When Twitter was being developed I read about it on Yahoo!. It was getting a lot of coverage because of the high level of investments it was drawing. Usually a wide array of investors is a good sign. Tech analysts advise those investments, and if you notice most of the startups have only a handful of angel investors footing the whole bill.
When these startups start buzzing, they’re hard to miss. Everyone was talking about Google+ prior to the launch of the beta. You have to use some reasoning yourself. At this point it is going to take REAL innovation to syphon users off of the other great platforms.
You also now have the advantage of being surrounded by users who keep up with trends and startups. If I don’t catch something new coming and blog about, someone else will (Like Tony mentioned with Proliphiq). Just keep an eye out for things that spark your interest.
Adam Justice recently posted..Why You Need a Google+ Brand Page
Twitter: etelligence
Great post. I agree. I have been doing some freelance social media marketing and I preach early adoption of any new platform, but it seems that people are really resistant. I was EXTREMELY late to twitter only starting to be active a few months ago and I can’t get ANY new followers. While on Chime.In I joined the first day the beta launched and had been active my number of followers quickly doubled my twitter presence. Due a lack of time I moved away from the site and noticed that the growth of my followers has exponentially slowed while others I was on par with earlier flourished. Social Media requires a lot of EFFORT and a lot of CONSISTENCY, which I know is something I am still learning for myself, because I tend to act in a “when I feel like it” manor. Another success story I had with early adoption was Proliphiq the social media search engine. While my influence scores are low on the site, I reviewed it the day of launch. My personal blog with the review has been quadrupling in hits because of my Google rankings for people who search for the site and having been shared a first review on different sites. So I definitely agree early adoption is the way to go!
Twitter: AlbaneseTR
It is so hard to keep up with all the new social media outlets. I feel overwhelmed at times. Never thought when I started blogging that I’d be signing up for so many sites. This Chime.in sounds good, but I often wonder how many of my followers pay any attention to anything I ever post.
Excellent read for sure.
Sharon from Empire
Sharon Ruggieri recently posted..And Here’s Another $5 If You Admit I’m Your Mother…
Twitter: crazykids6
Being a Youtube Partner I am always looking for more outlets to display our crazy weird videos. I do sometimes feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the social outlets, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Blogtv, Dailybooth,G+, so on and so forth. I may need to hire a social networking assistant,lol
Twitter: sweatyghost
Well Joe, if you do decide you need someone to help with your Social Media needs, I have a recommendation for every level of work you need done. If it’s just keeping up with your various networks, there are lots of people offering that service now. If you need something a little more technical, I offer some consulting and web development myself.
Adam recently posted..Viral Virus: Ocean Marketing Is Sunk
Twitter: etelligence
I really enjoyed your analogy of investing time in social media to the investment of money in the stock market. To extend this analogy further, we could look at the most successful investor of our time, Warren Buffett.
As a self-described value investor, Buffett researches companies from top to bottom, tries to forecast their value far into the future, and invests heavily in those business models he deems a guarantee for success.
I think when taking the early adoption approach to social media, we should follow Buffett and do our “due diligence” and research these startups before investing our precious time in the hopes of getting big returns.
Some of my favourite blog posts to create involve interviewing innovative founders of social startups. It helps keep my fingers and those of my readers on the pulse of new players and developments in the industry and have been a huge source of inspiration.
Laura-Lee Walker recently posted..5 Ways to Save Time Blogging
Twitter: lauraleewalker
I’m glad you enjoyed it Laura. It’s great you brought up Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway early investors were on my mind when I wrote this post. There are several multi-millionaires because of Warren Buffet, all because they trusted his business before the masses joined the bandwagon.
Due diligence is important when considering web development strategies, and it comes into play when you want to get in on the ground floor of a network that succeeds based on quality and the idea itself. When it comes to Google+ or Twitter, no due dilligence needed. They were both apparent leaders before the first account was ever created. Great comment Laura, I’m going to have to start following your blog closer (I always try to add to an article if I comment on a friend’s blog. It’s rare when it happens here first!). Thanks for stopping by!
Adam Justice recently posted..Want 300,000 Followers? Adopt Early.
Twitter: etelligence
Great article. An example of this algorithm effect in pinterest (I believe) is Sherry @ younghouselove. With 500,000 Pinterest followers. And, as luck would have it, pinterest was tailor made for her and her target market.
Of course some social networks just click with different users, and ultimately if you don’t enjoy it, you oughta feel comfortable passing on it. For our business Facebook, YouTube, and pinterest are it. We will never try to build our brand in twitter, and we’re finne with that.
Twitter: mrjasonmiles
This site is interesting …I’m checking out Chime.in!! Thanks!
Twitter: freedomwalker77
Looks like and interesting new startup. Thanks for sharing. Social media will continue to grow and I wonder who else will join the party and give the big guys, facebook, twitter and google + a little competition. To leverage social media either for a company or individual it would be a good idea to learn the ins and outs of social media.
Twitter: Loco4Seo
Thanks a lot Adam for this great tip. actually i have been using chime.in for some time now but has not pay much attention to it. But with this info, i think i have to reconsider it once again.
Pierro recently posted..Your Internet Marketing Guide
Twitter: journeytoprofit
An interesting article.
But I’m bewildered by the central assumption: that this level of followership has value, or is even desirable other than for its own sake.
Robert Scoble, I can understand. He is a writer, and has been an evangelist for Microsoft. He’s recognized in his own right – his views are valued, so it stands to reason that people would listen up.
But the Amanda Blain example – and there are others, not to pick on her – is perplexing to me. Her popularity on G+ appears to be built on… well, her popularity on G+. It’s a staggering achievement that she has at this point about three quarters of a million circlers – considerably more than Vogue magazine, for instance. But to what end? She appears to run a website for women to find platonic friendships – a nice idea, but not one that strikes me as lucrative, and the size of the operation sort of confirms my suspicions. And there seems to be little else out there with her name in the credits. So how does she actually make a living? How does her almost unrivaled popularity pay the rent?
Another example is Michael Q. Todd. Nice guy, by all accounts. I’d be happy to share a beer with him. And if he accepted, I’d have to figure out a way to ask him – politely -what the hell *is* a Twitter Mentor? His branding is impressive, but what’s he actually got to offer? How does he pay *his* rent?
I get the unsettling impression that *much* of the Social Media frenzy seems to be networkers and supernetworkers, networking largely amongst themselves. Case in point – I came across the Twitter Mentor while trying to understand what it is, exactly, that the G+ queen does.
Bewildered,
Indeed. You pretty much sleuthed everything there is to know about them up. Amanda runs the Girlfriend Social Site, but that site isn’t as popular as she is. It’s a chicken and egg argument ya know? Jessica Simpson has a multi-billion dollar fashion empire, but she is much more famous than her clothes, and we all know it wouldn’t exist without her right?
Robert Scoble though, he’s know different than Amanda. He’s well known because he is an extremely popular blogger who either started out, or moved on to work for rackspace. You hear what you said though? He’s been an evangelist for Microsoft… well, Amanda has been an Evangelist for Google+. I don’t know the exact specifics about either of those 2, but I do know they’re 2 fish in the same boat. I was under the impression for a long time that Robert owned Rackspace, but now I think he may have been a VP or something that took a public facing position and turned it into something golden.
MQT is a little different, he is trying to be a blogger and author, and I believe he got off on a good start. He should have wrote a book about Twitter back when he had a few hot blog posts out, but I really have no idea what he does for income. I think he’s just happy to be on the Internet lol, and that’s fine with me. I told him once that he should have hosted a children’s TV show because his voice is calming like a therapist on barbituates.
You are totally right about parts of your comment, but there are some things I don’t think you quite understand. There is absolutely no way to get the following that Amanda did by networking among other networkers. She was on the lucky end of a programming bug. She is beautiful in her profile picture, and on Google + if you add 10 people, most likely 3 or 4 will be friends with Amanda. When she comes up as a suggestion with 10 other people (Robert Scoble included) who are you going to circle? She put a lot of leg work in to get her initial following in hangouts and stuff, but after a while it takes care of itself (I am still getting between 30-100 adds on Chime.in everyday, and i’m not that pretty).
If you would like to know more, shoot me an e-mail or Facebook Message. I’m in the process of actually monetizing this type of thing, and you seem astute enough to pick up some things yourself, I can fill in your blanks for ya.
Adam Justice recently posted..3 Recurring Social Media Faux Pas I Can’t Shake
Twitter: etelligence
Thanks for the thoughtful answer, Adam.
However, it’s the comparison to Scoble that I find so perplexing. He *worked* for Microsoft – it was his job to evangelize Loghorn. He was hired for that because of his blogging. According to wikipedia, he’s been menationed in The Economist.
Google probably couldn’t find a more enthusiastic flag-bearer, but she’s not a Google employee (as far as I know… Maybe that’s the magic answer!). Outside G+, she and Todd seem to be kind of on the same level, doing their own things, all good.
But on G+, she rivals Scoble. He blogs on tech issues and has for years. She posts, “I’m bored”, and 500 people reply! She even seems taken aback by it herself.
Many would kill for her flollowing, yet she doesn’t appear to be monetizing it, at least not visibly. It’s like she doesn’t know what to do with it. Maybe there’s nothing *to* do with it, and that was kind of my original point.
It’s impressive, on some level, to build up the world’s largest ball of previously-enjoyed chewing gum. Might take years of dedication and a fair bit of chewing. But while the effort is impressive, the result is just a big ball of chewing gum. It has no value. Without monetization, that’s what three quarters of a million followers is. A really big ball of chewing gum.
It’s just a very strange phenomenon. I don’t understand the currents here.
Disclaimer: I bear no ill-will to any of these fine folks or anything they do. Just trying to question and understand.
I kind of understand what you’re saying, but Scoble was a technology blogger before he got the job with Microsoft, in fact that’s how he wound up with the job. Amanda has a blog too, I’m sure. Working for Microsoft isn’t mecessarily a claim to fame, you feel me? He wouldn’t be the Robert Scoble he is today without being being the Google + Queen of 2002.
I know you can go to his Wikipedia page and read about his accomplishments (remember that that page was probably curated by his hardcore fans, or Rackspace themselves because outside the Internet, no one knows who Robert Scoble is), but in 10 years you may be able to go to Amanda’s and find out things about her too. Scoble was exactly what Amanda is now before Microsoft hired him, an Internet personality. The only difference I see is that he offered Tech support and had a knowledge of technology, and Amanda has a different gig, she has a social media network for women, and I’m pretty sure there’s a blog in there somewhere.
Remember, like I mentioned in this article, each network that goes mainstream will create a handful of instant celebrities. Pinterest is another example, but usually those celebrities have been building their worth through some other platform an are just in the right place at the right time, the right set of circumstances.
One reason a lot of people try to gather big followings is vanity. You don’t have to monetize anything if that’s what drives you. On my newest website, http://socialmediasun.com/ , we’ve already published several articles that visit this theme. The big conversation among social media blogs right now is ROI, and that has been invented by the mid level social media bloggers to shame the fakes into quitting lol. Seriously, how often has the print advertising world been in a funk about return on investment? Never, because having that discussion is detrimental to their business. It helps social media managers who can spin numbers though (which I can do quite well
) so they’re pushing it hard.
Anyway, ROI as it pertains to this discussion, it’s the seperating point to where you’re going to see who does Social Media as a business and who is just playing in it. You wouldn’t want someone who was playing in it for their own sake managing your online marketing, so it’s a way to denounce what is essentially vanity. If Amanda turns her huge following into a speaking career (which is what most social media blogs do. I’ll eventually have to start speaking or hiring other people to speak on my behalf if I want to fully monetize the Social Media Sun), she’ll prove herself to be a businesswoman who turns an opportunity into financial gain. 10 years from now, she could be the keynote at blog world (guess who it is this year? None other than the Scobleizer himself).
Adam Justice recently posted..3 Recurring Social Media Faux Pas I Can’t Shake
Twitter: etelligence
I think this is where we differ: I wholly disagree that Scoble 2005 == Blain 2012.
You’re right, there is a Blain “blog” – but it appears to just be a reflector for her G+ posts – quirky memes and the like – things people like to share on FB and G+ and what have you. She just does it with several orders of magnitude more people!
What Blain is not doing is talking about technology in a way that a company like Microsoft or Google can say, “We want her in our roster,” like they did with Scoble. He talked about technology and influenced people long before “influencer” became the hot buzzword du jour. I mean literally *influence*. If Blain starts doing that kind of thing, she can look forward to the kind of future you talk about. She already has the audience – she seems to be sitting on a gold mine, and doesn’t seem to know it. She just needs to start digging.
It’ll be interesting to see how this develops, or if her fame simply wanes as G+ is replaced by the inevitable Next Hot Platform. It could go either way and I would not be surprised.
(BTW, you may be right that being a young blonde woman online personality is unlikely to work against her, but let’s give some credit where it’s due, too! Other than that, stay sharp, and keep up your good work.)
And thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I think I know what you’re getting at, that it has to do with merit, and merit does help some in this. Being pretty helps a hell of a lot more lol.
But seriously, I appreciate your viewpoint. The Robert Scobles, Chris Pirillos, Julien Smiths, they’ve been in this space even longer than me, and having experience is probably my only merit. When they started blogging, me (and most of the Internet) thought that only girls and sissies blogged. If you would have called my Network site a blog (we called it an E-zine) I would have banned you from comments lol. They pioneered this stuff, and are more likely to retire making an income from the Internet than me any of your aforementioned Google Plus queens. But thanks for that moniker, I hereby declare all the “Social Media Gurus” Google plus Queens.
And add me on some Social Network. I don’t care about your identity, won’t expose it. I’d just like to meet you because you seem pretty sharp and have an agreeable view of things.
Adam Justice recently posted..Are you Pintersted in More Social Media
Twitter: etelligence
What a great article! Congrats on your growing success. I started Pinterest a late but love the visual use of images and quickly sharing. I wonder what sites are on the horizon – Thanks for being a supportive and sweet friend
C G
Caroline Gerardo recently posted..Love Ready Haiku
Twitter: cgbarbeau