Make Noise and they Will Come – Part 2

Part 2 of Make Noise and they Will Come – Part 1 which I published previously regarding how a politician took a wrong avenue in gaining new possible voters. I wanted to continue the conversation expanding on the effect of it in Social Media.

The previous post aligns  with a tweet I saw from the Mayor of my hometown @MayitaEMelendez who uses her account to broadcast instead of engaging with her community. I have written to her via twitter and I have never received a reply. When you look at her less than 50 followers I guess it must be hard for her to reply to all of them. If I take a quick look at  who she is following it clearly reveals individuals in the press with the clear message that she is more interested in projecting a message than using a tool to create relationships.

If we look at the Mother’s day tweet she sent on Mother’s Day we can clearly see her interests are to the Mothers of Ponce she really does not care about anyone else who is outside of her hometown and my question is does she genuinely care about the mother’s of Ponce?

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MayitaEMelendez/status/67203110375931904″]

I always use @MayorBillFinch from Bridgeport, CT as an example on how politicians use twitter. (Let me also comment that he also has an awesome team behind him like @bambambpt). Look at @MayorBillFinch’s Mother’s Day tweet and compare it to @MayitaEMelendez and I will let you be the judge.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/MayorBillFinch/status/67212557299101696″]

Not only does @MayorBillFinch have more followers but he makes sure to get back to everyone either via his account or via his team. A few months ago my brother, who lives in Bridgeport, had an issue during a major blizzard in the city. With just a few tweets sent to the account, the City of Bridgeport took care of his issue.I have chatted via twitter  with @MayorBillFinch, who is thousands of miles away, yet the mayor of my Hometown decides to ignore my tweets.

I see how many politicians are missing out on a great opportunity to start building relationships with people like me that would be willing to support a good candidate. Some people have elevated  politicians on the Island  to royalty. I think tools like twitter can deomonstrate whether or not a politican thinks they are too important to deal with their constituents.  Politicians really need to demonstrate that they are not in office for the money; they are there to serve the people.

Everytime I go to my hometown, I see how the streets are torn up and how the few businesses that are there are closing. I want that to change. Maybe @mayitaemelendez should break geographical and political barriers demonstrating she really cares and help her town rise up might make me change my mind about her.

Make Noise and They Will Come

The way that these politicians, car dealerships, Radio Shack, and Vianderos use social media is the same way they use the loud speakers; make enough noise and the clients will engage. They way I handle people seeking that type of attention is by putting them on my ignore list.

On Mother’s day 2011 I unfollowed @mayitaemelendez because I clearly saw how she only cares about herself and probably has an intern managing her account sending generic tweets. Everytime a politician drives near my house making lots of noise I don’t vote for him and ensure that the people around me do the same.

Let’s show those politicians and other business individuals the need to create relationships instead of looking for votes or a hard sell. Find individuals to use as examples like @MayorBillFinch and how they are getting things done. I visit Bridgeport every six months and I always see something in better shape  or something new. I visit my hometown once a week and I always see how someone went out of business or how a street has more potholes.

Take the opportunity to use Social Media to get things done quicker and more effectively not as another channel to hypnotize people. Believe me it won’t work!

Editor’s Note: Before editing this post I got some great advice from @chrisbrogan over at the Kitchen Table Companies (Affiliate Link) on how there is a difference in Popularity and being Successful.  I think a few of these individuals that can improve what they are doing are playing the popularity contest.

photo credit by A .