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[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 8]

As far as I'm concerned, Mike Dillard is a icon in the world of MLM...

Sorry.... I couldn't resist.
You know we love ya Mike!

[Mike what Contribution Level: 1]

Let's connect & collaborate on Facebook - I'm new to social networking : http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Schults/1379330826

[Greg Vining Contribution Level: 1]

When you are trying to be successful in any industry, it's a good idea to look at those who are already successful in that industry & model what they do. I'd say that Mike Dillard is pretty successful network marketer as well as an internet marketer.

Those are the areas I wish to be successful in, so I will always model Mike's behavior regarding theses areas.

In reality, I read very few of my followers tweets, and they probably read very few of mine. Just too many people tweeting too much stuff to keep up. Every 30 sec. there is a whole new page of my followers tweets, so unless it is a very recent tweet, I don't often see it.

It makes perfect sense to cut down on followers and be able to build relationships with at least some of them. Especially if your as popular as Mike Dillard.

There will always be people complaining about something. My advice to them...Get over it!

[Geoffrey Yumul Contribution Level: 2]

Here's a confession:

I was using a twitter software to auto-follow and un-follow members. This was at the time when I was still waiting for my free videos that Mike promised me when I signed up for MS videos.

At one point, I followed Mike. And I sent tweets to everyone about the "get rich" programs that I am currently affiliated with (that would mean Mike got it too, but I doubt he'd read it). At the time I got my MS book, I realized, holy sh*t! I am one of those who sent tweets that Mike would get. That's just embarrassing! If Mike would only take time to read my tweets, I know he'd just say "You amateur!" Hahaha!

But it never occurred to me why I was getting more followers, until I opened my DMs. 902 DMs in 4 days! What the hell is going on here?!

Then I realized what was happening. When I watched my software auto-follow people, at one point Mike Dillard is one of those contacts. Of course it would skip Mike Dillard because I am already following him. The point here is... people think they can get me as their downline because they attached a "guru" branding for themselves by having Mike as their contact. That's why I am getting followers even if I haven't been logging on to tweeter for quite some time now.

So I unfollowed Mike. Not because I hate Mike, but because I hate the DMs with pitching messages!

Luckily, I can still follow Mike here at betternetworker.

Hey Mike, sorry I was one of those who sent "amateur" tweets to you. I am a betternetworker now, I hope you'll allow me to follow you again.

Geoffrey

[Dream Team Contribution Level: 1]

Twitter can be a very difficult and time consuming tool to market and build relationships with now since a lot of the changes and reduction of spam. Has anyone really found anything effective in using twitter as a marketing tool and quickly creating a cult like following?

[Steven Johnson Contribution Level: 2]

I see three ways to build Twitter followers.

They break down into two distinctive categories:

1. Extra-Twitter

2. Intra-Twitter

Behind door number one, you have the celebs: Ashton, Demi, Britney, Oprah, Obama, et al

These people appear on the public's radar OUTSIDE of Twitter. ie, their reputation precedes them. They simply need to publish their twitter handle and it makes the news - front page news, even. Nuf said.

Behind door number two, you have methods for the rest of us. Table scraps, for the most part compared to Ashton Kutcher's (@aplusk) 4 million and counting (plus another 2.3 million of Demi's - nearly 6.5 million - WHY does everyone ignore the fact that this is a social media POWER COUPLE, not just one person? bizarre)

Intra-Twitter growth tactics boil down to just two, really:

a. tweets and @messages. If you are good enough at talking about relevant stuff, and your conversations ADD VALUE to the Twittersphere, the bots will pick you out of the tweet stream in a heartbeat and the followers will come pouring in. I maintain that your tweets should be directed at the bots, not at your followerbase, if you are seriously building your Twitter presence. Think copy, think long-tail keywords, think value, think PIF (pay-it-forward). Similarly, re-tweeting the right messages can also be useful. It takes creativity (read: far less teachable), and it's time-consuming (read: few will ever get around to doing it), but it's a powerful tactic if you get it right.

b. growing your followerbase. It's fascinating to watch how "followers beget followers" in the Twittersphere. I arrived on Twitter nearly 2 years ago, and quickly added 200 odd followers, then wandered away. A year later, my account had....SURPRISE!! 200 followers. No change. But there's a dirty little secret in Twitter. If you are being followed by people who have large followerbases, it boosts the "gravity" of your account - in hidden, insidious ways that are hardly obvious - the ranking systems, the graders, the 3rd party API tools that are playing mirror-mirror-on-the-wall on the periphery of Twitter that ONLY THE OWNER OF THE TOOL IS PRIVY TO... The upshot? The bigger you get, the bigger you'll get. People want to follow leaders, and the currency for determining leadership in Twitter, right or wrong, is not how much money you are able to earn from your Twitter activities, or how many double-opt-in leads you harvested from Twitter that month, or how big your commission check was as a result of the relationships you developed within Twitter - it's much, much simpler: how many followers do you have?

So call me a contrarian but I will happily continue to follow anyone and everyone who follows me, and give anyone and everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, nationality, niche, profession, holders of bizarre, even insane and useless ideas, age, religion - the opportunity to follow me back - at least for awhile - and then, regardless of who they are: Mike Dillard, Dan Kennedy, Oprah, the president of the United States, the pope - if they don't follow me back....buh bye! nice knowin ya.... my unfollow tools will have their say in the matter.

Note: the statement about a conversation that is just as relevant today as it was 9 months ago (a veritable eternity in social media timescales) might need some re-thinking. 9 months ago, there were 1/3 as many people on Twitter (maybe even less). 9 months ago, there were no Twitter lists. 9 months ago, Twitter and Facebook didn't "talk to each other", nor was there anything going on between linkedin and Twitter. 9 months ago...well, you get the idea.

[Andrew Peel Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 3]

I am pleased to say I was and still am one of those who disagreed with Mike's logic. I respect everyone on Twitter has their own way of using it and I may be wrong, I frequently am, a post which 'dictates' how to use Twitter is almost creating a "Twitter must do it this way elite" of which quite a few Instructors on Betternetworker are members.

Twitter is a free social media tool and their are a range of opinions on how to use it. I can quote several equally respected social media Gurus who say always follow back, Perry Belcher, Thomas Powers, Penny Powers.

My point is that there is no one way to use Twitter and for Betternetworker to delude itself into thinking it has the only way is in itself quite dangerous.

My message is make your own mind up, try several ways, use the functionality of Twitter to work for you. To become successful the process is, plan, do, review as opposed to plan, do, tell everyone else.

I have a strategy for Twitter in keeping with my own advice I will avoid the vanity of telling everyone they should do it my way however am more than happy to post on techniques that I have found fail to work. For the record I have 11k Followers whom I have followed back and yes if you follow me I will follow you back unless you have no profile photo or are something like a car dealership who does nothing but spam their products then I unfollow and block such a user.

I leave you with this thought, you are invited to a real networking event there are 300 people there and you know only 1. You go round meet a vegetable sales representative. You are selling information products. He offers you his business card are you going to refuse it because he sells vegetables? Or can you think outside the box and say that vegetable representative may come across people who want information products and remember I was nice to him and give my card to that person? It's called the serendipity of random connections which is an area of expertise Betternetworker seems to be missing an Instructor in at the moment, of course I accept I may be completely wrong.

I think you wrote a thoughtful and useful article that raised an important thought provoking question on how to use the fastest growing social media tool available to network marketers and direct sales representative when they use how best it works for them.

[Jeff Schechter Company: Numis Network Contribution Level: 2]

Hey Raymond,

Thanks for stirring up this old argument again. It happens to be near and dear to my heart. Yeah, I was one of the ones who criticized Mike for dropping all those followers. I went on to collect over 20K followers. And, for a while, I was flying high. Putting out good content, making nice connections, getting leads.

Then, all of sudden, with a barely whisper, it all changed. If you use Twitter, you know what I mean. People stopped listening. Raymond, you are totally right on this one. It is not the medium it once was. Because of all of the spamming, people are tuning out. In that respect, it can really only be used as a means to connect with people on a smaller scale.

Although I continue to put out good content on Twitter, I no longer have the audience I once did. Again, I must tip my hat to Mike Dillard. While we were all clamoring to brand ourselves, he was sitting back, and using Social Media CORRECTLY. There's no question I've learned a big lesson.

At this point, I'm still looking to connect with great people. But, like Fernie said....unless you @ me directly, it's unlikely I'll even notice you. Sorry....its just the reality of the situation.

Wishing everyone a beautiful Holiday Season!

Shecky
http://RockYourMLM.com

[Eric Walker Company: SendOutCards Contribution Level: 4]

Well said Shecky. Continues to be true. Seems that to be effective in social media, it's actually advantageous to make your circle smaller. It's seems similar to building deep as opposed to building wide - and I don't necessarily mean that in a "build your downline" sort of way. It's about audience and community.

How do you think this relates to Facebook? Seems there has been a lot of talk about marketing on Facebook, and I've been paying attention to many different approaches. Some are radically different. While others, specifically larger names in the blogosphere, are actually recommending to unfriend.

I understand it all depends on your goals, your niche. Would like to hear differing opinions here.

[Maya Kasabov Contribution Level: 2]

Hello members,
I wasn't present for some time, mainly due to unfortunate personal circumstances involving caring for
very ill person and barely having time for anything else, being rather isolated. So at night I wrote to get some relief of stress finding that it helped. I somehow became a blogger and I love it. Still caring for my pupils, of course. So I came back to visit, answered some mails waiting for me, checked some articles and when I came across this one, I realized that my recent blog (not typical of what I mainly write about, it is from my category "Daily news and Hints") touches this particular subject in a little "sarcastic" way. So here you have it, I think many would agree with me.
I wish all of you greatest success and my special greeting to Dean Mc Namara, who was one of the first to welcome me to this community and I am glad he is doing so well. Cheers Dean!
Maya


"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."
Napoleon

"We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are,
not as they are said to be."
G.B.Shaw

Sudden "Indigestion..."
By Maya

Please do not concern yourself my dear readers, it's noting serious. I didn't commit sin of mixing the wrong food, far from it. Its just an "experience" I had, and so enlightening it was!
I received an e-mail from someone and there was a link to something like "Twitterholics" so I clicked on it and to my surprise I suddenly found myself in the " Alice's Wonderland!"
There was an endless list of people who like to "tweet" on Twitter and it started with celebrities. I never ever follow any celebrity (to be honest, none can impress me with anything) and now seeing that huge following, my simply human curiosity was awaken and I decided to check on some of those short "pearls." Then I, who practically never uses most used expression of English language right after "like" being convinced that language has a lot to offer in the area of "superlatives" to begin with, I did say that "WOW!" And I must repeat it... "WOW"! But don't get me wrong. The wow wasn't admiration it was expressed astonishment that so MANY could follow so "little".
I spent about 10 minutes of my precious time randomly checking page of bout 5-6 "brains"and
unwillingly acquired:

"Indigestion" from just one page of listing what one or the other consumed in a form of food or drink or was going to...
"Tiredness" from complaining up to 4 times on one page of being tired (here I must add also I was so sorry for those who are for practically doing nothing get so overpaid... it must be really very tough)
Copied: *I had a stressfull morning... at CNN now, can't wait to go home! I'm over this press trip! Exhausted
*2am & I have to get up at 4:45am! Tomorrow will be brutal!
*I have been up for a few hours at a photo shoot! I'm so sleepy!

"Acute anxiety" for those who had to go dentists and to vet's offices with their pets, chores that none of us had to do... lucky us!!!! Really, serious concern for their state of well-being. But I am such a heartless individual that my concern was aimed for the PETS!
Copied:* At the dentist for a good teeth cleaning! This is serious!
*2am & I have to get up at 4:45am! Tomorrow will be brutal!
*I have been up for a few hours at a photo shoot! I'm so sleepy!

But I must admit I felt also
"Gratefulness" LOL! for sharing with everybody that "top secret" of going morning to studio "XYZ." I thought all their fans would know by now which "show" it is... but, perhaps, by following so many celebrities and so much wisdom could be rather taxing, so reminding it periodically could be certainly good idea and valuable information. Silly me!
However, I must not forget:
"Happiness" for sharing lines like this one:
Copied: *Obsessed with my Stuart Weiztman thigh high leather flat boots!!!!! WOW! (I think name's spelling is Weitzman, but after all what it matters, I don't own such a boots:) )
Content Summarized! What do you think?

So my congratulation to all those millions of followers who have found such a "hidden treasures", so much unselfishness wisdom, good heart, inspiration, good soul and spirit..that Mother Teresa would lower her eyes in humility (God Bless Her Soul) and what I, regretfully, wasn't able to see.

Well, I think that's just enough. I had enough after 10 minutes for the rest of my life. If someone could tell me ONE, single ONE out of ALL those billions of so called "Tweets" to be found there that enrich their life I would really be happy to discover it.

And then I remembered all the other "Twitters" those I have met. Sure, not all were superior (thankfully sharing secrets what one does every hour of the day is on a sharp decline not finding here so much interest like in a "land of wonder) I just presented) we are just ordinary people of all kinds, but generally I must say this:
Thank you all, ALL YOU from all walks of life. You really do share, you bring information to others, information of value, of originality, specific information, surprising information and not just that... I thank you for inspiring those who need it, doing seminars, teaching, leading, helping solve various difficulties for free, post news about life, politics, economics and other worthy events. Offering hand to newcomers in marketing, sharing your discoveries, making this community thrive. Comparison is astounding! I am glad I'm member of this community.
It is nice when people follow you, but you do not really need millions. Millions is a mob. It is blind following of a "mirage." You do not want to do that and also you do not need that kind of followers.
It gives you nothing besides witnessing enormous egos and selfishness. You want more from your life and it can't be found in a world you have nothing in common with. Learn where wisdom could be found and with that you become also smarter, happier with better common sense and start living your own life and enjoy it more. You have only one life. Do not waste it in a wrong place!
And by the way, there are people to be followed, especially nowadays in such a dangerous times for the country. Those should be followed in millions, they are heroes of the day, they fight for your Freedom. Wake up!
Lets meet at Twitter! On the RIGHT site and lets Share!

Maya