How to improve your blog community by being yourself
As we all focus on search engine optimization, blogging, and social media… we tend to forget a very important element – Personality.
People want the real you (if they want you at all).
I’m not implying that we shouldn’t be professional and show subject matter expertise when we write, but is that it? There are millions of people talking about the same topics I talk about and probably yours too. Now that we know we aren’t the only ones talking about social media, how can we improve our blog communities by being ourselves?
1. Write down three important personal interests and put them in your bio.
Cheesy? Yes. Painful? Maybe. Useful? Definitely. If you’ve had a blog for more than six months and the three things you write down can’t be found in a post or in your About page, we’ve got a problem. If people take the time out of their days to read our ramblings, unless we’re THE thought leader in the industry crushing it with every single post… we’ve got to let them get to know us.
Three “personal” things about me influence a lot of what I write or talk about and have all served as conversation starters online and in person.
2. Write as if you are talking to your friends or colleagues.
I too get the Dictionary.com Word of the Day, but that doesn’t mean I need to use it in each post. The goal is to get people to take the time to read and hopefully follow a call to action (comment, subscribe, buy, download, etc.). Today the word is jnana. Do you know what that means? Do I look smart or intelligent for using that? Be conversational and serve your audience – if your audience knows jnana, you get brownie points.
3. Be passionate about things you believe in or are an advocate for.
Please understand that the tips and tricks to making a blog successful are important, but balance that with the fact that in less than 20 minutes… I can start a new blog talking about whatever I want. There is more noise than ever and to build a community, you must either serve a niche or build relationships – ideally both.
If you are motivated to write a post that evokes emotion, do it before you change your mind. To this date, my post with the most engagement (shares, comments, emails, direct messages, discussions, etc) is my most personal post. One that I debated writing. One that I reread four times before posting. One that I wrote at 3am. Passion and expertise differentiate.
4. Reply to comments and share, share, share.
If you receive a comment, take the time to respond – whether publicly or private. Reading and commenting takes time and to the best of my knowledge, we don’t yet have an infinite supply of that. Showing your community that you’re listening, processing, and thinking about what they say is extremely important.
Also, check out the blogs and tweets from your readers. Chris Brogan suggests that we should share 12 times as much as we self-promote on Twitter. Think about that before posting five tweets with different variations promoting that recent blog post. Reciprocity helps strengthen relationships.
5. Extend your reach and get away from the computer.
Since the beginning of time, human interaction has been extremely important. As we create more and more tools to facilitate this online, we forget that in-person interactions are still extremely beneficial. While I say that somewhat tongue-in-check, it is important to make those face-to-face connections when you can. It could be a customer a few miles away or a commenter attending the next industry conference you’re going to. Take the time to cultivate those relationships and you won’t have to tell them when you publish new blog posts… they’ll know. Be yourself and get out there and network.
The benefit of being yourself…
I’ll be the first to admit that most of these tips are not revolutionary or ground-breaking. Often times, the simple things are the ones we neglect. Personal branding is extremely important, but if your personal brand is simply a professional façade with none of the things that set you apart… you’ll just continue to be an information hub. Think of your favorite blog and I’m confident you’ll know at least three things about the person writing it.
While this post isn’t about metrics, in my opinion, repeat visitors are more critical than first time visitors. Far too often, we choose to monitor “Visitors” because it is the largest number, but there are far more variables there. Keep a constant eye on your Repeat visitors and try to narrow the gap between your first time and repeat folks. The smaller that gap is, the stronger your community is and the more engagement you’ll see. Being yourself is the fastest way to get there.
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Core competencies and focus: Beaver Begone vs. Exterminator Inc.
Is your business built around your bread and butter? These days, everyone wants to be bigger, stronger, faster, and everything to everyone. Is your business suffering because of that?
On the way back from the beach, we saw what looked to be a deceased hog in the back of a truck. Granted, we were in a relatively undeveloped NC town… we weren’t shocked… but a bit curious I guess.
As we drove closer to the truck, we realized that it was a gigantic beaver… I’m talking oompa-loompa sized beaver. As the truck pulled into the local Piggly Wiggly, we conversed about what a beaver has to do to deserve such a fate and also what kind of person parades around town with a giant beaver (TWSS)? Was he stopping at the local grocery store to get some spices to cook the beaver? Was it one of those it’s coming right for us kind of things?
I began to beat myself up over not capturing this epic moment on camera or video (no texting while driving folks) and we decided that this merited a U-turn.
Immediate left, swerve through gravel, dodge a shady guy on a bike, back in the game.
The unlucky beaver now sat in a Hardee’s parking lot while the victor chatted with a local. Evidently, Jalepeño Thickburgers are the trophy meal of choice. We sneak around to his truck… and capture this golden picture.
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Beaver Begone
- That is right my friends. Phil makes a living killing beavers. Write that down. This leads me to a bit of Strategy 101.
What is a core competence?
Obviously, we could search for the best definition… but I’ll take a stab. A core competence is a competitive and sustainable advantage that drives value. In dumb guy speak, a core competence is something you do or make better than others, for a long time, that people want.
- You have to be better at something.
- You have to be able to sustain that advantage for some reasonable amount of time.
- People have to want it and preferably pay for it.
Faster, cheaper, stronger, bigger, cooler, and even lighter can all be core competencies. Most companies only have one core competence… this means that most (successful) companies focus on what they do better than you. This is what I like to refer to as focus. Yes, it is one of my favorite words. Yes, I use it a lot.
Focus is awesome.
Think about a relationship you’ve been in… you can’t do everything perfectly. I mean sure… you can cook a five star meal, belt out the newest John Legend track, arrange your own floral bouquet, dance like Michael Jackson, and identify every bird known to man, but odds are… he or she will remember one key thing about you. He’s nice. He gave me his jacket. He made me laugh. Or he tripped and fell and acted like he did it on purpose.
You have to focus on your strength(s).
Phil knows beavers.
I haven’t met Phil, but if I ever have a beaver problem… I’m calling Phil.
Sure, Exterminator Inc. can get rid of beavers, snakes, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my)… but if it is a beaver… I want the beaver guy.
Key Takeaway: We all wear multiple hats, but find your core competence and focus on it.
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You Can’t Fake the Funk: A Social Media Gut Check
Over the past week, I’ve read some great contrarian posts… There were the life without Twitter posts from @djwaldow (here), @unmarketing (here) and @lisabarone (here). @justinkownacki had some great pain point posts as well, especially Why I Need You To Be a Better Audience, which had comment discussion that rivaled the awesomeness of the original post.
To add fuel on the fire, I had a great side DM discussion with @ambercadabra during one of her webinars last week where she invited me to disagree with her on a certain topic.
The limited number of folks in the social media space who know me personally know that I’ll happily disagree if I feel passionately about a subject, but I don’t do that a ton here (my blog).
I don’t think it is intentional though… I don’t think saying the same things that everyone else says or talking about topics that everyone will click on is important. It is writing with passion, conviction, or just sharing what you know.
That leads me to this post.
Tonight I was followed by another self-proclaimed social media expert. I’m not going to bash on that, because in all honesty, there are folks that I DO consider to be social media experts despite the audible groans heard throughout the crowd if anyone says that.
My favorite thing about success is that you can’t fake it.
You can’t game the system (at least not for long). And for the most part, the thought leaders self-regulate the community, even if unintentionally. The cream will metaphorically rise to the top.
Think about the last networking event you were at. For the most part, whether it is someone who is mega-famous, or a bottom feeder like myself, if you can hold intelligent conversation and offer insight… you can talk to anyone. There aren’t as many cliques in social media as it appears. Smart people like talking to smart people. Followers don’t matter. Blog subscribers don’t matter. Popularity doesn’t matter. Authentic smarts matter.
I grow tired of posts about social media etiquette. Yes, it is very important, but to me it is pretty easy… be yourself.
If you’re an ass, people will know. If you’re a nice guy, people will know. If you have your act together, people will know.
Personal branding awareness is at an all-time high. Anyone off the street can start a blog, proclaim expertise, build a following, and appear to be one hell of a social media expert, consultant, guru, ninja, or whatever you prefer.
But who the hell cares?
If we spend our time policing against the imposters – we suffer.
Our communities suffer.
All of those things will work themselves out in the end.
What are you doing to improve your community?
So people of power with your Twitter followers, blog subscribers, advertisers, sponsors, etc… What are you doing to advance those around you?
I have been absolutely amazed by the folks I’ve met that are doing incredible things in their communities… even if it is taking the time to talk with anyone and everyone about what they’re doing and what questions they have.
I love seeing that and love you all for doing that.
Being able to monetize what you love and making your career feel less like work is extremely important, but there are plenty of times we can help others without expecting compensation.
That could be volunteering select speaking opportunities, helping high school or college courses in your areas of expertise or engaging with your community to the point of being helpful.
Nothing ground-breaking here, I just think we need to say: ask not what your community can do for you, ask what you can do for your community… or something like that.
Please feel free to comment on what you’re doing to help others through social media or in social media. The NCSU MBA course on social media is coming back this Fall and I’d love to add more of you as guest speakers. Thanks for taking the time to read this and please drop a quick comment if you have another minute. :) @cnmoody
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Why Vintage Advertising will always have my heart
There are times I think I should have been born 50 years ago…
Despite my love for technology, my dorkiness with gadgets, my borderline obsession with social media, I’ve always loved vintage advertisements.
There is something so real and raw about them. The fact that I can look at something, know what it is, and say “I can haz that!” is comforting.
There are some super clever ads and new methods these days (some in my Flickr), but for me, clarity is key.
As we all evolve and update our marketing collateral and ads, please pay homage to vintage ads and be clear. Don’t lose your message by pushing the envelope.
Remember your message and be clear!
With that, PLEASE check out Vintage Ad Browser and let me know what you think!
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Revenge is not a marketing strategy
Q: What do you do when your rival, enemy, or nemesis comes up with a creative, effective marketing campaign that puts you in your place?
If you answered:
A. Assemble the militia,
B. Scream “WHY I OUGHTTA!!!” (a personal favorite), or
C. Beat them at their own game…
You are wrong.
I have AT&T phone service. I had Verizon for several years before AT&T, but had absolutely no service in my house. It turned out that I was in a pocket where there was no service and they apologized and let me out of my contract. AT&T and Verizon have battled each other for years, but Verizon’s new campaign is one of the most effective to date (a good writeup is at bnet).
It is a factual campaign even if the graphics are a bit deceiving. AT&T subsequently filed a lawsuit or two. The time, resources, and momentum that went into those lawsuits and the commercials that followed were quite frankly wasted.
It is a matter of sticking to your strategy / vision. When a great athlete encounters an obstacle, do they adjust their course or keep on moving towards their goal? When Lance Armstrong doesn’t have the lead after a stage, does he panic and pedal as fast as he can to gain ground? No. His strategy is to run his race and he usually leaves people in the dust once he approaches the mountain stages.
Consistency is important and if you want to build a strong brand, don’t flinch when your competitors poke sticks at you. Stick to your guns, build the brand, and follow the agreed upon vision. The shortest distance between two points is still a straight line – regardless of any amount of money you throw in.
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