The 2 Qs

Granddad always said “...mind your “Q's”. No, he never said “P's and Q's” like a lot of other elders. And he wasn't amiss either. He meant what he said.

He was referring to the Quantities and Qualities, or as he said: “The Two Q's.” It seems that even back in his day, folks were all about “More Is Better” and hang the quality.

Granddad was a horse trader although I don't ever remember seeing any horses. But he'd trade just about anything and somehow always came out ahead. Looking back, I can see now that he understood exactly what he was talking about when he said “...mind your “Q's”.

His voice, though long gone now, came back in a very loud way numerous times this past week as I observed several of my fellow webmasters and Facebook-Friend-counters and E-Blast senders regale in how many thousands of readers, fans, friends and followers they've gotten. Seems they'll sign up anyone. But how does that translate to sales? Almost to a man, each of those who bragged about their high numbers in contacts also wailed about how poor they were due to lack of gigs, advertising revenue, festival attendees, CD/Download sales, etc.

So does signing up anyone and everyone really make much sense? Does “More” really translate to “Better”? Does having a hundred thousand names on your contact list mean much if you can't sell out a show?

Early in my radio career when I was learning to sell advertising, one of the stations I sold (for a very short time) didn't subscribe to the national ratings service to justify their rates. Instead they lambasted the ratings for what they said were inaccuracies while they instead showed prospective advertisers a computer printout of every single listener to their radio station – by name, no less. They signed up anyone and everyone who ever called the station, mailed in a contest entry, showed up at an event, etc., etc. The names numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Well, come to find out they had more than just people on the list. There were dogs, cats, horses, gold fish and pets of every kind … one even listed their race as “Tarantula”. So what good are the numbers? And how do they relate to sales? Well, in this case, not very well. In spite of their arguments for using the list, the station remained in last place year after year. Quantity not Quality was their mantra.

So Facebook Friends, Twitter Followers and E-Blast senders – what are your numbers and how do they relate to the end product for you? Having a lot is not bad but having a lot of non-producers is not worth much more than a hand-full of dirt is worth to a real estate agent.

In advertising we count the cost per reader, per listener, per click. When I sold advertising that reached hundreds of thousands in a metropolitan area of over 4 million to a small Mom & Pop retail outlet I always asked myself if they understood what they were paying for and what they were actually getting. Yeah, a lot of people heard their radio commercial, but it didn't always translate to dollars in the till. Why? Because they were reaching people who had not a care. If I hear a radio commercial that says I can get two-for-one drinks every Tuesday night will that be enough to make me drive over an hour each way through city traffic when I've got to pass up hundreds of other places that may offer the same or better deals?

The same is true in a way with Facebook, Twitter and all the others. Just because people have clicked on the Like/Follow buttons doesn't mean much unless you can really give them what they want – over and over, day after day. Otherwise most of your “Facebook Friends” and “Twitter Followers” and “E-Blast Contacts” are not much more than momentary, leaving you with a lot of Quantity but not much in the way of Quality.