Don’t forget the little ones

It’s been over 3 years since I started blogging.  The world of blogging has changed and grown so much over that time.  I’ve spoken before about the things that you need to successful in the blogging world, the things that can’t be bought or read in a book.  Many of the guides also delved into the world of social media, and how you need it to grow your blog.  It would seem that you can’t have one without the other.

Vanessa from 26 Years and Counting wrote this post about one of the methods that is most commonly used to grow social media following…like for a like.  There are so many people out there on social media and who blog, that it’s really absurd to think that we *have* to like everyone.

Reading that post, gave me a lot of food for thought.  I admin a group whose sole purpose is like for like.  However I don’t police this group, it is up to the members to hold up their end of the bargain, and interact with the pages and businesses that interest them.  We’re all adults and I can’t force people to like something.

I have discovered new blogs and businesses that I really like and even better I have discovered the wonderful people who are behind those blogs and businesses.  So I was kind of torn on the whole like for like issue.  I can see the issue with like for like.  I can see how people get upset when they have made the effort, but other people haven’t held up their end of the bargain.  However the post and the later thoughts threw me on to a completely different train of thought.

A quick Google will give you hundreds of thousands of articles about how to grow your following, how to find the next customer and how to bring in the readers.  The thing that I think that people lose sight in all of that though, is that they already have a following.

I worry that while we are off chasing that next follower that we forget the people who have supported us from the beginning.  The people who were cheering us along when we weren’t sure if we could keep writing.  The people who let us know that they are thinking about us, that they enjoy what we write.

The next time you ask how to grow your following, how to get more eyes on your words, I ask you to thank the people that have been there all along.  I ask you to remember the ‘little’ people who have supported you and continue to support you.  After all, it’s much better to have a community who loves to hear from you, who feel appreciated than a mass of faces who don’t know how hard you worked to get here.

Are you always seeking that elusive ‘more’ following?  When was the last time you thanked the people who support you in your life?

Linking up with Jess for IBOT!

 

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