Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Stop Counting and Start Connecting



1,000.  10,000.  100,000.  1,000,000.

Whatever your magic number is, admit it--you're counting.  We're all playing the numbers game.

When we're not compulsively checking our website hits or our blog comments, we're accumulating Twitter followers, Facebook fans and blog subscribers like notches on our social media bedposts.  Me?  Guilty as charged.

But what if we turned all of that focus outward? 

Started counting how many people we've reached out to, how many blogs we've commented on, how many people we've connected to one another, how many good things we've said about others and their work?

Would the numbers even matter?

8 comments:

  1. I guess it would be just like getting rid of the scale! Which I did, too, btw. Years ago. And it made my life much better.

    Maybe I should take Woopra off my bookmarks bar.

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  2. Why are we women obsessed with numbers for validation? Btw, did you notice I changed my header and bio? ;)

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  3. Hello....my name is Denee and I'm a Statsaholic. Thank you SO much for reminding me that relationships are with PEOPLE...not a computer. Great post!

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  4. Actually, I'm not. The numbers game in social media will drive you crazy if you allow it. Quality is more important to me. I'd rather have 3 solid,reliable, sane contacts than 3,000 people that I don't know.

    I think it really boils down to your strategy and how you measure the success of your brand.

    I tend to believe that if you rely on the golden rule, engage with integrity, shun an opportunistic spirit and cut-throat competition, the numbers (or quality connections) will come.

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  5. @Denee--Thanks! I needed a reminder myself--Google Analytics can suck you in!
    @TBS-Wise words, as always, my friend.

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  6. I am happy to report that I'm not too obsessed w/the numbers. I rarely check my web stats, I don't even know how many friends/followers I have off the top of my head, and I threw my scale in the trash two weeks ago when we moved. The only number that really matters to me (aside from my bank account balance) is that my email inbox gets down to ZERO by the end of the day (or two days). You're all totally right - relationship and contributing to the conversation - not numbers - is what matters.

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  7. Thanks, Kristen. And yay for throwing out your scale! I usually don't know (and in fact, I'm trying to cut down on FB numbers!), but I do get a bit obsessed with web numbers, and it's easy to start comparing yourself to others or wondering why a certain blog didn't resonate more. Just my reminder to myself to focus on people!

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Thank you so much for reading my blog! I'd love to hear from you!

xoxo,
Laura

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