Posts Tagged ‘community’
A Fake Apology For The Unaware
So, I haven’t posted here on the blog in 4 days.
Wait for it… Wait for it!
I’m incredibly sorry and apologize to all my 12 readers, but I’ve been…
Hold on, it doesn’t even matter. You probably haven’t noticed any difference, right?
For all you know, I did write three blog posts over the weekend – but you scrolled right past it in your RSS reader. Boy, I definitely would sound quite arrogant if I professed my heartfelt apologies thinking I was somehow an integral part of your life.
Actually, I should be the one upset.
How important are you that I can disappear for a whole 4 days in between posts and you don’t even bat an eye. How egotistical and uncaring of you! Am I just some circus monkey to you – performing tricks for your amusement only worth giving two craps about for 30 seconds a day as you leisurely skim through my hard work? You should be the one apologizing to me!
Wait a second… this may be the first time you’ve visited my blog. In that case, I obviously can’t blame you for failing to check up on me. I apologize for berating you in the above paragraph.
Actually, what am I saying? I’m not sorry at all.
The fact it’s taken you 3 months to find my blog shows how utterly full of yourself you are. You’re the overlord of the kingdom and I’m the peon slaving away pumping out content for chump change. Obviously, you have so many more important things to do than waste 30 seconds of your day to acknowledge a peasant. Really, I should be sucking up and kissing your feet, master, as I should be honored to have the privilege of your attention!
Damn, I’m really glad I didn’t write one of those posts apologizing to my readers for no reason.
I’m not sorry. You’re not sorry. Let’s deal with it!
Are Your Blog Readers Your Customers?
“The customer is always right.”
It’s a business cliche that has been around for ages. While it’s debatable whether the accuracy of this exact statement is true, it definitely highlights an omnipresent point that cannot be refuted. Your customers are your business. Without them, you’d be out of business.
It’s a no-brainer that any business or anyone involved with making money should treat their customers like gold. They’re the ones paying your bills, feeding your family and hopefully, maintaining your comfortable lifestyle. There’s no question it’s important to care for them, nurture them, provide support, foster a relationship, communicate and establish a continued positive environment for them to purchase in the future. I think we all understand this… but this begs the question, just who exactly are your customers?
To get clarification and answer this simple question, I did a quick search on Google for the definition of the word “customer”. Here is just a sample of the results:
Customer – a person who buys.
Customer – one that purchases a commodity or service.
Customer – a person who purchases goods or services from another.
Customer – one that buys goods or services.
Customer – one who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant.
What is the one thing all these definitions have in common? A customer is one that buys something. If you even want to broaden the scope a bit more: a customer is someone in which a business makes money from in a transaction.
Your blog readers are NOT your customers.
Sure, maybe some of them are. Maybe some will turn into customers. Maybe some never will. But just because someone is reading your blog, it doesn’t automatically make them a customer.
It also really depends on your business model. Are you even selling any product or service? If so, are the bulk of your blog readers part of the target market and demographic you’re even selling to? If you have nothing available to purchase, then how could anyone you encounter even be considered a customer?
Your peers are NOT your customers.
Sure, maybe one or two may buy something from you – that is, if it fits a very important need for them and you’re an expert on the subject. Otherwise, they will most probably never purchase anything and make you any money directly.
Peers are business associates. Peers will likely visit your blog quite often. They’re great to have as a resource for help, support and future business opportunities. It’s definitely a good idea to foster a good relationship with them, but when it all boils down – they’re not your customers.
Your friends, followers and fans are NOT your customers.
Sure, many of them can be. It’s quite possible a whole bunch may have bought something from you or will in the future. But out of the hundreds, thousands or even more “followers” you have (many of which are faceless names, non-engaging types or downright spam automatons) – what percentage of them are truly buyers?
Platforms like Twitter and Facebook are an absolute must for any business to get the pulse of the market. There’s a definite benefit in engaging with the community centered around your niche, but it is just that: a social network. It’s not necessarily your consumer base. Just because someone retweeted you, @replied, posted on your wall or gave you a “poke” – that doesn’t automatically make them a customer.
Pay attention to everyone, but focus more on your customers.
Everyone repeat these three words with me. This. Is. Business.
If you’re looking to make money online through your blog, it’s imperative that you really grasp this concept well. You’re creating and maintaining a business. You want to make money. There’s nothing evil about this! It’s just cold hard facts. Everything you do should lead towards to your ultimate goals. Prioritize accordingly.
Should you try to reply to e-mails in a timely manner regardless of who it’s from? Sure.
Should you make it a point to thank those who help promote your business? Absolutely.
Should you encourage discussion within your community and on your blog? Of course.
But when it comes down to business, real dollars and tangible, sellable assets… the actual customers, whoever and wherever they happen to be, should always be at the forefront of your attention. No questions asked.
Not readers. Not peers. Not followers. Not fans. But customers.
Repeat those three words again. This. Is. Business.
Maybe after hearing the cliche of “the customer is always right” being used time and time again, we should update it to a more accurate 2010 version: the customer is always first.
Leveraging Other People’s Audiences To Create Buzz
The following is a guest post by Jade Craven.
Recently, I did a guest post at Remarkablogger about hustling. Many people seemed to really enjoy it and Jordan asked if I could elaborate on how people can leverage someone else’s audience to create buzz. Now, I’m nowhere near as awesome as him when it comes to the humor stuff. I’m Aussie. My sense of humor is likely to get me mocked. So, I thought I’d make this post incredibly chillaxed instead!
So, what the heck am I on about?
Typically, people write a piece of content and publish it on their own blog. They then rely on their own network to spread the word. If they are feeling desperate, they will beg for attention. That’s when people DM you asking for retweets and will constantly request social media attention just so they can achieve their attention of viral.
That’s fine, but you can achieve a bucketload more success just by popping that baby on someone else’s blog.
Do you know someone in your niche that always seems to get retweeted? Or a topic that causes people to go nuts? If you guest post on that blog, you will be able to tap into that organize network.
This may be a bit geeky for some, but let me explain. If you are lucky, one action can lead to multiple audiences being leveraged. For instance, I do a number of guest posts on Problogger. Each post gets me exposure via a number of methods.
- All posts get delivered via the RSS feed. This is the main method of exposure.
- All posts are delivered to Twitter via Twitterfeed. This can lead to a number of retweets.
- Because more people see it, more people write opinion posts and mention the person that wrote the original article. This puts my name in front of more readers.
- Darren links to each post via his Facebook page. People provide additional comments and ‘likes’ via this platform.
One post can lead to five different groups of people reading your content. These are just the ones I remember while simultaneously watching a very long movie.
Tap into the right audience:
To do this, you have to look at relevant blogs in your niche. You have to:
- Check how much of their content gets retweeted. Read the associated comments and see if particular posts get retweeted more than others.
- See how many comments are on the post. This is the true sign of engagement and is where you can find fans for your own blog.
- See where else they promote their blog.
This can give you a fair idea of the potential for that post to spread organically.
You then have to check out what type of content does really well via that network. I’ve found that there are two things that influence this. The first is the viral potential of the headline. I still suck at this – you’re better off going to Copyblogger.
The second factor is how awesome the content is. Now, if you’re working your arse off like many of us you will already have a good eye for picking out the content that rocks the blogosphere. Figure out ways to replicate that.
What do you do if the post goes viral?
Let’s say, your unpolished guest post about 30 Bloggers to Watch in 2010 gets published and goes viral while you’re sleeping. What do you do then?
Firstly, you pay attention to the comment section. Encourage people to contribute to the discussion and respectfully deal with those who are picking fights. Sometimes it’s just a reflection of how much they value the community.
Second, you head straight onto Twitter. Don’t just look for straight out retweets. Look for keywords relating to that post, your name. If someone sounds like they really engaged with your content, follow them. Send a nice DM or @reply and invite them to engage with you elsewhere.
If you are respectful and give back to the community, they are likely to help you out when they see your name pop up again.
Over to you!
I’ve had so much success by leveraging other peoples’ audiences. And, while it sounds totally icky, it’s really not. I provide free content and the opportunity to earn cash in return for getting some exposure. It’s a win/win situation and gives you the opportunity to learn a lot quicker.
I understand that you may still have questions. That’s cool. Leave them in the comments and I’ll help you out.
Jade Craven is passionate about helping small businesses and solopreneurs create social media strategies that resonate with their customers. Visit her blog as she shares her stories. Jade is a guest posting ninja on many of the top blogs, so it’s an absolute pleasure to have her stop by today!
The Power of Hanging Out
Hanging Out: to socialize with your friends, whether it is of your choosing or not; most of the time the term is used to refer to a type of fun.
After the initial allure wears off, we all come to the realization that it is indeed hard work to succeed as a blogger. We start focusing more on serious business-building efforts, putting in long hours to create helpful content that inspires others to seek us out.
Our to-do list keeps growing exponentially as more ideas pour out from our minds. We attack each task with a sharp knife, inching closer to what we perceive as the holy grail.
Getting our hands dirty, we promote our work hardcore using tools to spread the word and position ourselves in a market. Never passing up a networking opportunity, we vigorously attempt to connect with anyone that takes a glance at us and rush to influencers at the slightest chance to get our names in front of their eyes.
In the process, are we missing out on opportunities simply because we’re too focused on the work at hand?
Relax. Loosen up. Take a break. Open your Twitter client. Spend some time on Facebook or Linkedin. See what others are doing. Not even when it comes to business, but as real people with real lives. Talk. Interact. Joke around. This is what truly bonds people together and helps build relationships. Not talking ’shop’. Not incessant self-promotion. Not the bottom line.
You can very well make the same impact on someone simply by sharing a common interest outside of business. You can get your “big break” simply stemming from being the person who’s enjoyable to ‘chill’ with.
In a world where so many people can be connected to one another easily, the ability to network has never been more important than it is right now. How are you taking advantage of the opportunity to make an impact? Simply using the tools for work, work, work like most are? Or can you make yourself stand out more by connecting with others as real people?
Put away the business proposal. I’m not interested.
Put away your latest published book. I’m not interested.
Put away everything. Let’s just hang out. Who’s with me?
Promote Your Blog Through Online Forums Using Only 4 Words
Participating on internet discussion forums in your niche can be a valuable tool for marketing your blog. Unfortunately, many bloggers take this approach too literally and come across way too strong in their efforts to promote themselves. For those who understand the philosophy in social media (being part of the conversation and not a megaphone), the rules for interaction on forums isn’t much different at all. It’s about building trust over a period of time, sharing useful information and contributing with well thought out responses that inspire others to participate in the discussion.
“But how then do I become part of the elite clique right away and get known throughout the community?”
If you want a quicker path to success – one sure fire way to get noticed is by promoting your blog seemingly every other thread regardless of the context or relevance of the topic at hand. This is especially true if all you do is post blog links and nothing else. Oh, and make sure to have a signature that scrolls for 800 pixels and can cause a blind bat seizures. I guarantee you within a week, you’ll be the talk of the town. Sure, they’ll all be making fun of you, using your name as a verb in replacement of the word “spam” – but isn’t that what the end-goal is in branding? like Xerox or Google!
“A whole week? Isn’t there anything I can do to get tons of people to my super awesome blog within a day?”
Absolutely. This is exactly why private message systems on forums were invented – so you can talk to members behind the administrator’s back (that no-good spam nazi!) and convince them your blog is so much more worthy of their time than this boring website. My only suggestion is to prepare a comeback for when the moderators see that your PM box takes up 1.3 gigabytes of space after sending everyone your exclusive one-of-a-kind eBook. Don’t worry, just tell them you pressed the wrong button by accident… 284 times.
“That still seems so time-consuming… any one-post wonder type solutions?”
Yes, of course. I should have told you this from the beginning. It just takes four words in your blog link’s anchor text:
Megan. Fox. Naked. Photos. ‘Nuff said.








The Art of Crowdsourcing
February 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Jordan Cooper | View Comments
I’m too lazy to write a blog post today.
Frankly, I’ve just been too busy.
Over the weekend, I brokered several joint venture deals, spoke at 34 different conferences, had 107 coaching calls, set up Wordpress blogs for the entire nation of Burkina Faso and conducted a 15-hour webinar on the subject of brevity.
Ok, who am I kidding?
I obviously spent countless hours on Twitter while checking my blog stats every three minutes. Do you realize how much work it takes to talk about all the great things you’re planning while never actually doing it? It’s exhausting!
That’s why I’m leaving the job to you.
Let me know your thoughts on whatever niche this blog is about.
Let me know your thoughts on thoughts.
Share you experience with thoughts or your thoughts on experiences.
What makes thoughts thoughtful, anyways?
Can you really experience a thought without experience?
Let me experience your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Comment on other people’s experiences by sharing something thoughtful.
You don’t need experience to share a comment, in case you thought about that.
Share our thoughts with other others so they can get experience commenting on shared thoughts and provide experience sharing comments as a thoughtful experience.
Don’t you think that’s a good thought? Share!