Archive for November, 2010


Is the Internet destroying your culture … or creating it?

Nov 10th

24 comments

“Mass culture is dead. Every one of us is creating our own version of culture.”

This quote from futurist Faith Popcorn sums up a lot of things I have been experiencing lately.

Whether it’s YouTube-inspired dance moves, crowd-sourced literature, or my own personalized information stream, the Internet is inexorably un-tethering  culture from the places on earth and moments in time.

Culture used to be narrowly defined by country — perhaps even a region within a country — that had its own way of dress, food, art and lifestyle. But what happens to this concept when all art, music, and literature is globally-dispersed, user-generated, open-source, multi-platform and available on demand?

Well, for one, I sense that I am creating my own individual “culture!”

Not long ago, pop culture in America was largely defined by TV networks, local newspapers, ad executives, Hollywood and record companies. Now, I make my own newspaper. I watch programming from all over the world whenever I want to, and largely commercial-free. There is nobody in the world who  watches my “TV network” or listens to my “radio station” or reads “my newspaper.” I am surrounding myself with the World Culture of Mark. And through my own publishing, I’m influencing the culture of others.

Even something as physical and seemingly regionally-specific as dance is evolving digitally and globally.  Chris Anderson recently gave a compelling TED speech on how the rise of web video is driving this phenomenon.  In one example, he showed how dance moves now spread through the world, are enhanced and improved, and then sent back the other way again.  A global culture of dance is evolving through what Anderson calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation.

Personally, I like it!   I get a rush out of connecting to the world on my terms and my time. I love experiencing these amazing new cultural mash-ups.  But over time, will these rich historical cultures be diluted or even forgotten? Will we have museums to the regional cultures and customs the Internet diluted — or destroyed?

So much to think about and this is a subject EVERYBODY can have an opinion about!  Here are a few questions for you. Pick one that interests you and tell me what you think about it in the comment section!

  • Will the Internet eventually create a definable World Culture?  Is having a global cultural icon like Michael Jackson a sign of this?
  • Will the rich customs and culture of a place like France or Japan be made less relevant to the next generations by a digitizing, globalizing world?
  • What are the implications of an Internet culture that seems to favor the English language?
  • Are you creating your own user-defined web culture?

Ten reasons to blog – even if nobody reads it

Nov 7th

177 comments

Building an engaged community through a business blog can be extremely difficult — sometimes impossible. Look at companies like General Electric who do an amazing job with their blog and yet have almost no “community” or comments at all. There must be some good business reason they do it, right?

There better be. Every corporate marketing activity must somehow be tied to creating shareholder value and blogging is no different. Let’s look at ten legitimate business reasons why your company should be blogging — even if you can’t seem to build a community of active readers.

1) Search engine benefits — This may be the most obvious business benefit of blogging. Search engines give preference to websites that have fresh, relevant content. Hubspot research shows that sites with blogs get 55% more traffic than sites without blogs — even if there are no readers!

2) Marketing differentiation — Finding a way to stand-out may be the most difficult chore a business faces. Do your competitors have a blog? If not, this might be an opportunity to establish the voice of authority in your industry and enhance your brand image with customers.

3) Infinite search life — A few weeks ago I received a call from a potential new customer in the Middle East looking to me as a possible marketing consultant.I had to wonder how in the world they found me! Turns out they were looking for somebody who could help explain where the future of social media was going and when they entered this into Google, a blog post I wrote a year ago popped up!  Your content keeps working for you month after month!

4) A cost-effective sales call — You might not be able to visit your customer every week or every month but a blog is an excellent way to provide a constant drip-drip-drip of communication to remind them of your products, services, and why you’re special.  If they don’t read your blog, re-purpose the content in customer newsletters and sales materials.

5) Your content engine — Your investment in a consistent stream of quality content can be leveraged in many ways to support a content marketing strategy. I use links from blog posts to answer customer questions, as the basis for speeches, newsletter content, and as reading assignments for workshops.

6) Direct sales — Sure, you can sell through your blog!  SAP does a great job advertising training services in a sidebar on its blog. This is valuable real estate! Why not use it?  Wegman’s grocery store employees blog about seasonal recipes and show how to use their food products in new ways.

7) Indirect sales — Featuring blog-only promotions and offers or opt-in content can expose new sales leads.

8) PR – Blog posts have the opportunity for massive reach. When one of my posts gets picked up by an aggregation service like ragan.com, my message has a chance to be heard by hundreds of thousands of people. That opportunity would not occur with a press release or status update.

9) New product development — Many companies use blogs as a way to engage customers to solve problems and create new ideas. Caterpllar has blogs dedicated to each major product line. Starbucks blogs about customer ideas as a way to crowd-source new product innovation.

10) Crisis management — A blog is an essential channel to explain the facts amid chaos. In less than an hour after the earthquake hit Haiti, The Red Cross blog had news of their activities and information on how to donate.  Company responses through blogs are often quoted by mainstream news sources.

So when your company has seemingly unrealistic expectations about building an online blog community, pull this blog post out as a reminder that there are many solid business reasons to have a blog, even if the crickets are chirping in the comment section!   Is a commenting community important to you and your company or do some of these benefits make sense?

Pushing beyond the comfort zone

Nov 6th

9 comments

When was the last time you experienced a moment that made you pause and consider your approach to life?

I had one of those rare experiences last night when I attended a concert by the eclectic Sufjan Stevens. I am admittedly a huge fan of this incredibly talented performer but was unprepared for the onslaught that occurred in the intimate confines of an old vaudeville theater.

Stevens is best know for his quirky, banjo-infused tunes and an angelic voice that lifts up songs about the darkest and funniest sides of human nature.  His music is usually categorized as folk or folk-rock but last night the acoustic instruments were put aside for a computer and synthesizers as every corner of the room was filled with pulsing space-rock bleeps, pops and crackles.

Like most fans, I was looking forward to hearing his old acoustic songs but the concert instead blazed through epic new anthems. At first it was dis-orienting, maybe even a little disappointing, but slowly his musical vision was peeled back song by song and I was moved by his courage and artistry.

He told a story of experimenting with electronic sounds so deeply he felt he couldn’t get out.  He described the kinship he felt with an Alabama primitive artist who struggled to create through bouts of insanity. It was a centuries-old artistic struggle to create something entirely new out of uncomfortable places.  I didn’t like every song. Some seemed monotonous and repetitive. But others soared in epic beauty. What music could I compare this to?  There is none.  And that is the achievement.

His music reminded me of a Jackson Pollock painting. Drips and drops filling every space, lush colors spilling over a canvas. Sometimes difficult to understand, but undeniably unique.

The other signature element of Sufjan’s music is his deeply personal, spirtual and courageous lyrics.

After two hours of bombastic music filled with two drummers, a horn section, three keyboard players and every electronic gizmo in the music industry, he stood alone on the stage, playing a guitar, singing his hauntingly beautiful “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” — yes a song about a serial murderer who raped and tortured young boys.  But the song is not about this criminal horror. It is about himself. The last lines of the song had some in the audience in tears:

“In my best behavior, I am really just like him. Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.”

And with a look of humility and exhaustion that punctuated the song, he looked into the audience, waved, and exited.

Sufjan Stevens leaves nothing on the stage.  He pushes his craft to the edge of every comfort zone … and beyond.

What would it feel like to live like that?  To WRITE like that?  Is that even possible?  What’s next? I am unsettled.

If you would like to hear the John Wayne Gacy song, click below:

Secrets from the trenches: How to become a Blog Whisperer

Nov 3rd

67 comments

I just 700 blog posts on {grow} and I thought this would be a good time to pause and share some of my lessons learned for all you budding Blog Whisperers out there!

CONTENT

  • Yes, it really is all about the content.
  • One blogger said he was afraid his lengthy posts are diluting his keywords. Are you kidding me? Forget trying to “engineer” your content around key words. Who really wants to read that? Just let ‘er rip.
  • Challenge yourself to write a post that ONLY you can write.  This is how you find your unique voice.
  • Taking risks pays off. I think readers recognize and reward you for stepping out of the echo chamber.
  • I am trying to use video a little more. It’s not my thing but I recopgnize that it needs to be added to the content mix. Have you tried it?  You my love it.
  • Lack of confidence is the biggest reason people don’t blog. I think that if you can tell your kids a story, give nurturing advice to a friend or tell a joke, you can blog.  Just Do It.

TIME MANAGEMENT

  • {Grow} readership (page views) has grown 600% in the past 12 months. Here is the secret to success:  Work like hell!
  • My undergrad was in journalism.  I was trained to crank out copy in a hurry. That sure helps. In fact I recently had some conversations with Jay Baer and Jason Falls and learned they were journalism grads too. A coincidence?
  • Somebody asked me if blogging is my full time job. Ha! I probably spend 10 hours a week on the blog — half of that answering questions and comments. No, I have about three other jobs!
  • I like Chris Brogan but he is the worst role model you could have as a blogger.  He has set an impossible, super-human standard. If you try to blog like Chris you will die.  And honestly, who wants to read three posts a day from one person any way?  Not even Oprah is that interesting.
  • I realize these tips are pretty lame so here is the real ultimate guide to blogging when you don’t have time to blog.

MONETIZING

  • At some point, I think it is probably fair and necessary to find a way to bring in a little money from all this content. A revenue stream would actually help justify spending more time on the blog, which will improve the quality of the content too.
  • I’ve been putting this off because I have been so busy. Yes, I’m too busy to make money. That makes no sense but it is true in my world right now : )  I’m working on a video training series based on my classes. I think you’ll enjoy that.
  • I will never do sponsored posts. I HATE those. I think we can regard sponsored posts as a failed blogging experiment. Unless you don’t mind writing ad copy and calling it a blog post for people who can’t tell the difference.
  • The business benefits I have received from blogging are astounding. Far exceeded my expectations.  I am so fortunate to have you as a part of this community and I never, ever take that for granted.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

  • So many people have told me that the comment section on {grow} is remarkable for the depth and intelligence of the people who participate.   Of course I might be a little biased … but I agree.
  • How did this occur? I honestly don’t know.   Part of it may be that I never talk down to my community. I never preach because I realize you are almost always smarter than me and the comments are typically better than the original post. I’m not threatened by that.  I love it. I’m learning too.
  • Engaging with my blog community is the best  job I have ever had.  Every day is like Christmas.
  • If you are part of this community, I will try to do anything I can to help you and your business out. We’re in this together.
  • A rule of thumb for most bloggers is that less than 2% of the people who read your blog take the time to comment. It’s higher than that on {grow} but still, it takes a ton of blog traffic to start resulting in comments. That does not mean people aren’t engaged.  So keep plugging and have faith.
  • About 85% of the blog visitors are first-time visitors.  Again, that seems to be universal among bloggers but it was an eye-opener! Most people who visit blogs are tourists, not residents : )

PROMOTION

  • I have done a terrible job promoting my blog.  I just don’t have the time to figure out the politics of Digg and Reddit and all these other applications with too many consonants.
  • Twitter and blogging go hand in glove.  I tweet each post twice to hit people at different times. That’s the extent of my promotion. I am not a role model in this area!  Basically, I rely on your tweets to keep things going. So thanks for that!
  • I guess writing a good headline also counts as good promotion, right? Don’t underestimate the power of a headline.
  • One of the standard ideas to promote your blog is to do guest posts. Estimated increase increase in traffic to my blog from guest posts = 0.001%  … and I have done a TON of guest posts. In the end, it helps my friends so I will always do them but it is a myth that guest posts build traffic to your blog.  Do it to help others, not yourself.
  • For some reason I hate identifying myself a blogger.  I don’t have the right wardrobe to be a blogger.  I’ve always been a writer. Why stop now?

So those are a few lessons learned. And I still have a long way to go. Can I just tell you how much I appreciate the way you have helped educate me along this journey? Thank you!  What have been your most valuable blogging lessons?  Are you becoming a Blog Whisperer?

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