Posts tagged blog community building
How to turn blog readers into brand advocates
Mar 7th
By Srinivas Rao, Contributing {grow} Columnist
If you have been blogging for more than a few months than you have super fans whether you know it or not. You just have to keep an eye out for them. Fortunately there some key indicators.
- They comment regularly
- They send you personalized emails
- They share EVERYTHING you write
But simply knowing who they are is not enough. The same way you water seeds for a plant, you must cultivate your super fans.
Approachability
One of the things that will immediately set you apart from other bloggers is how approachable you are. As people become more well known online they seem to become less approachable. Approachability may not scale, but it doesn’t have to since it leads to raving fans. My two rising stars who are extremely approachable are Leo Widrich and Marcus Sheridan.
- Leo’s startup Buffer has been wildly successful in the last several months. It was recognized by the Wall Street journal as twitter app of the the year. I’m a huge fan of the Buffer team because they are some of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Success hasn’t gone to their head.
- If you read GROW, then there’s a good chance you know Marcus Sheridan. In the last year Marcus has really made a name for himself and his career is taking off. If you go to The Sales Lion, you’ll see that he responds to every single comment and he’s extremely down to earth. Despite starting to become “famous” online he’s still very approachable.
Vulnerability
In the book Click Ori Braffman analyzes the factors that lead to instant connections between people. One of those factors is vulnerability. When you allow yourself to be vulnerable with your content, you become human. You put yourself on the same level as your audience. You end up talking to them instead of at them.
A few weeks ago I thought about emailing Mark and giving up my contributor position here at {grow} because I couldn’t meet his quality standards — I was having trouble coming up with anything original to say. I thought most of what I had been writing lately was garbage. When I told him this, he said I should write about the fact I have nothing to write about! Looking back I realize that anytime I’ve been stuck, Mark encourages me to be vulnerable because people are able to relate to it. Chances are, other people are having this problem too.
It’s easy to create this picture of success online. But when you let your guard down, and expose your imperfections, people click with you and start to become super fans. Vulnerability makes you human.
Go far down the social media rabbit hole
When somebody comments on your blog or tweets one of your posts, if all you do is respond in those mediums, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to cultivate a super fan. When somebody you’ve never heard of shares your content or mentions your name on twitter for the first time, make it to point to check out who they are.
- Find out what their real name is
- Visit their blog
- Add them as a friend on Facebook or other social network
- Get a more in-depth view into who that person is beyond their twitter handle
You never know who you’re talking to.
Setup a Circle, List, or Group of Super Fans
In Tribes Seth Godin talks about the importance of enabling the members of your Tribe to communicate with each other, but usually the communication ends up being limited from member to leader in the form of comments. I think a fantastic example of somebody who has managed to cause communication between the members of her Tribe is Gini Dietrich. If you look at the comments on her blog that becomes immediately obvious.
You’ve probably also heard before that it’s easier to sell something to people who are already your customers than it is to sell to new ones. Anytime somebody buys something for you or is extremely supportive of your work, you should create a list, group or circle specifically for them. These are the people who will cause your tribe to reach 1000 true fans. Treat them accordingly.
One on One Conversations
In his book Little Bets, Peter Sims highlights the work of Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank. Yunus was actually a professor of economics, but what resulted in the idea for the Grameen Bank, was going out into the trenches and talking to people. Yunus won a nobel prize for his work on the Grameen Bank.
You’ll learn more from 20 minutes of talking to one of your readers or customers on Skype then you ever will from surveys and market research. If somebody sends you an email raving about your work, setup a conversation with them. These lose informal conversations allow for a much deeper and more rapid diffusion of valuable information.
Create Content Specifically For Them
One of the greatest things about the technology that we have at our disposal is an ability to customize somebody’s experience with our content or business. Once you’ve identified a group of super fans, one of the best ways to ensure that they will stay super fans is to create content specifically for them. Here are a few ways to do that
- Ask them to send in Questions and record a podcast/video in which you answer all there questions
- Write an report or free e-book specifically for your super fans
Highlight Them in Your Content
One of the nice things about creating content specifically for your super fans is that it naturally results in you highlighting them in your content. When you mention one of your fans, they automatically feel a stronger connection to you. You can do this in a few different ways
- If you have a blog, link bank to something they wrote
- If you have a podcast, mention them in an episode
- If you’re doing video, mention their name on camera
Cultivating super fans really comes down to one thing: listening to your audience. If you look back at everything above you’ll notice that all of these ideas are about becoming a better listener.
Srinivas Rao writes about the things you should have learned in school, but never did and his the host-co founder of BlogcastFM. You can follow him on twitter @skooloflife
My five biggest blogging mistakes
Mar 4th
I am creeping up on 1,000 blog posts — I’ve probably blogged “a bible!” So I’ve been reflecting on what I would have done differently if I had to start all over. Here are some mistakes I’ve made, and sadly, in some cases, continue to make …
1) Pre-occupation with numbers. It takes time, patience and hard work to find your voice and build a successful blog. I am not good at the patience part. I thought I was writing some good stuff and was frustrated that nobody was reading it. I became pre-occupied with adding my blog to directories and other schemes to drive “traffic.” What a waste of time. There are no shortcuts. If you really want to build community, you have to do it one reader at a time. Give people a good reason to be there and then love them for it.
2) Trying to copy success. When I arrived on the blogging scene I looked around and found a few people “doing it right.” Basically, all paths lead to Chris Brogan, right? So I tried to be Chris, who was posting like 3-4 times a day. I nearly killed myself. trying to be somebody else. It was a rookie mistake. You have to find your own path, your own voice, your own wisdom and path. Trying to be somebody else is precisely the wrong way to be original!
3) Being a marketer instead of a blogger. I grew up in traditional big American companies. Marketing was about developing a “message” to the “target.” And that’s the way I started to blog. I was trying to fashion a “message” for an “audience.” This bored me and the blog was going nowhere. So I started to relax and write about things that interested me, to show a little more of my personality, and to take risks creatively and intellectually. Something magical happened. Instead of me finding my audience, my audience found me. And that’s a big difference.
4) The posts that don’t work. Here are the characteristics of posts that really work: short, direct, timely, useful, with an element of humor or entertainment. After much trial and error, the posts that don’t do as well are cerebral, long (over 1,500 words), and video posts. I’m not saying that I’m going to discontinue doing cerebral posts or video blogs, but they seem to fall flat compared to my usual blog posts.
5) Not being active on the blogging scene. I love blogs and bloggers. I love the fun, exchange of ideas, debate, and friendships that form. And really, that is how I built my blog in the first place — by being active in this global blog community. Regrettably, I have been largely absent for the past nine months. The new book was an ambitious project because it covers an entirely new subject — social influence as a commodity — and it took a lot of research.
The result is, I have basically had two full-time jobs for the past year. One of the casualties has been my blog reader, which is now swollen with untapped wisdom. I know this has made a difference because many of the {grow} community regulars don’t come by my blog like they used to … because I don’t visit them. These lively blog community debates are happening without me and I miss being part of it.
The other contributing factor is that my social media presence has just kind of gone whacko. Blog readership grew 400% between 2009 to 2010 and another 300% from 2010 to the end of 2011. How do I give personal attention to all of these readers and their blogs?
The cruel irony is that the more successful you become on the social web, the less social you can be. All the best practices that bring success in the first place go out the window. I am fortunate to have you as a reader and I never take that for granted. I just can’t repay the favor like I used to. Arrrgh.
Any way, those are some of my lessons learned. What mistakes have you made, or what would you have done differently? Please share your contribution to the discussion in the comment section!
The evolution of a blogger
Feb 8th
By Srinivas Rao, Contributing {grow} Columnist
As I’ve observed bloggers from all walks of life, writing about every subject imaginable, and as I’ve taken the journey myself, I’ve found that there is an evolution that takes place. In each phase of the evolution we develop essential skills, but without the courage to stay the course and go through all the phases of the evolution, we’re unlikely to unleash the creative genius within all of us. While it’s tempting to see ourselves as marketers, what we’re really doing is creating art. Through our digital footprints we’re attempting to create our personal masterpieces and leave a mark on humanity.
The Novice
As a novice you look to experts, mentors, and those who have come before you for advice. You follow that advice, almost to the letter and it actually works. You also bring to your work a naiveté and a much needed fresh perspective that comes with a lack of experience.
The Mechanic
As a mechanic you’ve mastered the basics. You can do things with a certain precision and you’re sold on the notion that repetition is the mother of skill. So, rinse, wash and repeat is the formula you follow. And this formula works to a certain degree, until you realize that being a mechanic isn’t particularly unique and you’re just part of the echo chamber. The response to your work is either lukewarm or positive. It’s not long before the formula that allowed you to make the transition from novice to mechanic stops working and you’re forced to evolve into the next phase.
The Artist
As an artist you start to find a voice. You stop looking to the mentors, experts and people who came before you. You realize that to be seen as an artist you must become one of those people. You realize that following formulas and prescriptions designed to create a similar result for every person who uses them is a recipe for mediocrity. The linear process which you have followed to the letter falls apart and you finally come to terms with the fact that creativity is not a linear process. You take bigger risks with your content and the response is polarizing. People either love you or they hate you.
The Entrepreneur
The entrepreneurial evolution takes place when you realize that simply being an artist isn’t going to pay the bills or turn your blog into a business. Everything that came before was necessary to get to this point, and now you embrace experimentation because it’s at the core of growth. You detach from outcomes, focus on process and let the chips fall where they may. You find it inside yourself to watch everything fall apart, pick up the pieces and start all over again, now as, part novice, part-mechanic, part-artist, all of which combined turn you into an entrepreneur.
So, now I have a question for you? Which one are you and what are you going to do to make it to the next phase in your evolution?
Srinivas Rao writes about the things you should have learned in school, but never did and his the host-co founder of BlogcastFM. You can follow him on twitter @skooloflife
You’ve picked the wrong goal for your blog
Jul 17th
Nearly every day I receive some variation of this question – “How do I drive more traffic to my blog?” I would go as far to say that there seems to be an obsession with traffic among bloggers.
In my opinion, this is the wrong question to ask if your goal is to build and sustain a successful personal blog. In fact, the pursuit of traffic may actually be working against your success.
Picking the right measure for success is vitally important because it should drive all of your blogging efforts. For the sake of this post I’ll assume most people reading {grow} want to build a blog community that will enhance their personal reputation, business opportunities, and financial gain.
In his remarkable classic (and one of my favorite books) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, Jim Collins articulates this better than I ever could. He describes how choosing the right metric is absolutely essential to creating sustainable success in a business. It drives laser-like focus and an activity level driven toward that goal. The same goes for blogging.
The myth of blog traffic
If you really want to build community, is it smart to focus your precious time on driving traffic? Spend some time with the Google Analytics for your blog. Click around on the statistics from people who are new visitors — “traffic” that arrived via search. How much time did they spend on your blog? Probably an average of 0.0 seconds right? How many page views? The same. It’s traffic, but it’s empty.
Have you ever had a post go viral — that special day that drives the massive traffic that everybody seems to want? What were the results? Did you get any new subscribers? A surge in comments? Probably not. In fact in my experience, other than a spike in daily “traffic” the result in terms of new readers is zero. Last summer I had one post average 10 hits a second and a week later my blog subscriptions were LOWER. My point is, a focus on traffic and hoping that a post will catch fire is probably an ineffective way to build blog community in the long-term.
The alternative metric
Now look at the statistics of the people who are return visitors to your blog. These are the people who love you and are engaging with you. You are on your way to creating powerful business relationships with them. They are the good folks who will help you grow organically.
Does it really make sense to place most of your effort into driving a continuous stream of strangers to your blog? Seeking “traffic” generates tourists to your blog. Focusing on content and your readers generates residents for your blog.
If you’re a “solo blogger” like me — balancing blogging with family and worklife – where you spend your time is a big decision. If your goal is to drive “massive traffic,” you are probably expending effort on:
- SEO keyword research and tools
- Writing posts that are keyword heavy that are most likely to catch a wave of search visitors. By definition, if you are focused on keywords you are probably writing about the same things as everybody else.
- Promotional efforts focused on the low probability that your post will catch fire
If you concentrate on serving the people who read your blog in a way that will encourage them to come back, you would spend your time on:
- Unique and refreshing content no matter what the popular keywords are.
- High engagement with people who comment on your blog today.
- High connection on a personal level — including email, phone calls, and visits – with individual bloggers and commenters who would likely enjoy your blog and become regular readers.
You can see that there is a dramatic difference in approach. And there will be a dramatic difference in results.
Spending time trolling for readers who might stick around based on a chance meeting with your site is blogging alchemy. The real gold is produced by nurturing relationships with devoted readers who will carry the message of your blog to their friends organically.
Steady gains mean a sustainable community
On a daily basis, I have no idea how much traffic is coming to my blog, but I can always tell you how many return visitors came back that day. Driving that number up over time is helping me focus on the right value-adding efforts that build a strong community that will be generating valuable business benefits. And believe me — this is a very sensitive metric. When I write great posts, people come back. Focusing on this number teaches me how to create a better blog for everybody!
If you adopt this slow and steady approach, at some point, you’ll reach a tipping point where enough people are spreading the word, and their friends are spreading the word, that you begin to see ALL your numbers start to go up.
If you have a corporate blog, I recognize that your goals may be more focused on specific lead generation and maybe SEO does make a lot of sense. But if you’re like me — trying to build meaningful business relationships — think about taking care of those return blog visitors as your first priority.
Are you serious about building a loyal community? There are no SEO shortcuts or silver bullets. You have to build a blog community just like you build your customer base — one person, one connection, one relationship at a time. And that starts with correctly identifying your goals and how you are going to spend your time.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work!
What’s working for you? Community? SEO? Or both?
Note: The link to Good to Great is an affiliate link.
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