Lead Don't Follow - To Get People To Follow You

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We all want to grow our followers base and to increase our reach - we want traffic and we want sales to reach our ultimate goal of making money.

Something I see often on social media (and on occasion here at WA) are people trying to get themselves followed in ways that in my opinion don't work very well.

I've been seeing it more regularly here at WA where members are clearly trying to get me to follow them.

I can tell you right now that these tactics won't work with me for these reasons:

  1. I very rarely follow anyone anywhere simply because I am trying to build myself up as an authority in my niche. The authorities in the niche have a very high ratio of followers as opposed to the amount of people that they follow.
  2. When I do follow someone it is for one reason only. I want to follow them because I love their content and I respect what they have to say. Their content interests me and I want to read it. Their content inspires me and helps me.

Please don't be offended if I don't follow you, don't take it personally. As a general rule I just don't follow people. I won't be offended if you don't follow me or if you unfollow me. That is your choice and I won't lose any sleep over it.

Don't do these things to get followed:

  1. Follow and unfollow, then follow and unfollow... over and over again to try and get me to notice you. Sometimes I do notice and sometimes I don't notice. Either way it won't work. If I do notice you it just looks desperate, plus you really can utilize your time better like writing content on your website to make money and build a foundation for your future. Even if it did result in my following you, I can promise you that my follow is really not worth that amount of effort, plus I would not be following you for the right reasons.
  2. Inbox me and request that I follow you. Once again I won't follow you, plus you have created such an awkward situation that is really not fair on me or anyone else that you do it to. I've had someone send me multiple requests via private message here and get angry with me for not following as requested. This is just wrong on so many levels.
  3. Every time you comment on one of my posts or training add "thanks for following", "thanks in advance for following me" or "follow me back". Once again this won't work and it also creates an awkward situation.

Lead to get followed by doing these things:

  1. Always be willing to help others without the expectation of anything in return.
  2. Create high quality, useful content that helps other members reach their goals.
  3. Create high quality content that inspires other members to keep pushing on even when they are tired and frustrated. Share your successes and your challenges that you have overcome to get there. Each little success that you encounter will encourage others to keep going. They will know that they can do it too.
  4. Be respectful and kind to everyone you encounter at all times. Build people up wherever you can, don't break them down. Be positive and stay away from negativity.
  5. Be honest with everyone, even if the truth is not what they want to hear. Do it gently and with kindness. If someone asks you for feedback and your opinion is not positive.... tell the person in a constructive and kind way. Give them something to work on to improve their website so they can move forward in the right direction.

By following these simple steps you will start gaining followers that are really interested in what you have to say. You will lead by example and become an authority.

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Recent Comments

16

Awesome advice so true and more people need to stop and think of others. Today the generation is me, me, me and hopefully somehow that can be turned around to the way it used to be.

Good advice to help us in the right direction. Thank you very much.

Fab post Lynne.
Great advice to which I very much feel the same way.
Thanks for sharing :)

Ahhh I’m so flattered you’re following me :)

That’s a GREAT topic! Thanks for exposing and sharing. It’s very obvious when people just want the Follow. It’s gotta be from the heart..

Kristy

Great post Lynne, one that befits the rank you have and contains some seriously good advice

Perhaps we need also to bear in mind, that for some, especially, new newbies here, that having just found the platform, they are applying what you and I would call poor practices shown to them by others with no knowledge of, or applying of attraction marketing, so a little slack should be cut for those type ( they will learn here) but overall a brilliant post with good advice.

Thanks for the advice I can see where following too many people can really get out of hand. I know at time I have issues with trying to keep up with all my emails.

Yes I agree with Glenys, quality over quantity any day and I love your 5th point especially Lynne - "Be honest with everyone, even if the truth is not what they want to hear. Do it gently and with kindness" That's the kind of friendship that actually means something.

~Mark :)

Very well said, Lynne.
I totally agree with you.

"Be willing to help, create useful content, be respectful, kind and have a positive mind and last but not least be honest."

Appreciate you writing this post!
Happy to be connected with you.
:-)

Well written lynne.
I dont follow many people either --- and somehow you made the cut! Lol!
For me its about time management. I simply cant read everyones blogs so i have to be selective in where i spend my time. Quality over quantity for me! Cheers

Hello Lynn, this is a good blog post, I hear and understand what you are saying! I know that on Twitter, I often find people who follow me and then unfollow me and follow me again and so on! It doesn't work with me either!

Have a great day.

Roy.

PS: I am now following you Lynn, as I am interested in what you're writing and I mean that!

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