Chances are, you have followers who you never hear from – possibly hundreds. They never DM you, tweet you or comment on your Facebook or LinkedIn posts. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that these followers don’t bring you a lot of value.
Some of them are your best listeners.
These are people who prefer not to be the talkers in a conversation – but that doesn’t mean they’re not actively involved and engaged. They are listening, thinking, absorbing. At some point they may choose to contribute a well-chosen and carefully-considered commentary, or they may just stay quiet the entire time.
When it comes to social media, growing their networks of followers is not their priority so they may not have a lot. Their communities are more likely to be limited to those they truly want to hear, whose posts they want to be sure not to miss.
If you’re being followed by a quiet person, consider yourself very lucky. Because even quiet people have a voice, when it’s important enough to them. And if they’re your fan, you can count on the world’s best word-of-mouth when they do start talking about you.
And by the way, if you have a person like this on your marketing team, make sure to give them their time and space. Even if they look like they’re not active contributors in a meeting, you can be sure they’re paying close attention. After the meeting, they will take all the information they’ve gathered and work through it – and probably come up with some pretty great ideas. (Or they’re just slackers, in which case you can show them the door.)
In the end, sometimes it’s those quiet ones you have to watch. Let them work in their own style, and they may just make the most noise of all.
