Who Cares
As a guy who does technology, but has somehow found himself in a marketing-heavy role, I’ve got a lot of opinions. Some might be wrong. You’re always welcome to correct me if you disagree.
Marketers: please, please, please think really hard about the recipient of your message. It seems SO easy, but I find that people talk about how amazing they (their company/product/etc) are. I’m glad you’re proud, but is that what you want to tell me? Because if I’m the customer/consumer/user/partner, you know how I’m thinking, right?
- What’s in it for me?
- How does this impact me?
- Do I have to do something?
- What’s this going to cost me?
The other thing is this: please re-think which details you think I might care about. I passed an ice cream truck the other day on the road. The side of it read: Serving fresh ice cream since 1934. First, your ice cream better be fresh. Second, I don’t care when you started. I want ice cream. Finally, ice cream is fun. People LOVE ice cream. Why not talk about the fun?
Please. Ask yourself after every little scrap of copy you write, “Who cares?”
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The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Photo credit, striatic
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What Were Your First Steps
Let’s do a post inside the comments post today. I’ll ask some questions, and then let’s talk about it in the comments. Fair?
What were your first steps into social media?
Who were your early people you admired and followed?
How did you get started?
If you were going to give advice to someone starting out, what would you tell them?
What will you do in the next few months with social media?
(Let’s see where this goes).
Advertisers Take Heed
This will end up seeming really echo chamber, but I saw this post by Teresa Valdez-Klein that cites this post by Ken Burbary for finding this great video:
Advertising. Ah, yes.
What it Felt Like to Have No Blog for 8 Days
Friends have asked me what it was like not to have a blog for the last eight days. It was interesting. First, I felt like I was without a voice. Sure, I had Twitter, but I didn’t have any place to really stretch out and share my thoughts. Yes, I could utter or make media in other forms, but I felt like my main voice was completely taken away.
I felt deaf, too, because the conversation that I’m used to hosting here at [chrisbrogan.com] was somewhere else. It was on other blogs, all over the place, and sometimes, I’d participate, but other times, I felt like I missed everyone else’s opinions and feedback. I felt like I couldn’t hear you as well, because you weren’t able to simply connect through here.
I felt blind, because I use my website as a way to know whether or not what I’m saying matters. I watch for the impact, and try to improve my message when it feels like I’m faltering. With eight days fewer subscriptions to my site, I felt like all my momentum was gone, or at least, I couldn’t see it.
Blogs Aren’t Everything, But They Make a Good Home Base
Several people were looking for more information about me over the last week, and they found very little when swinging by my crippled site. If you click through and look at the website itself, there’s a picture of me, contact info, and all kinds of information on what matters to me. Without my website, you had to guess based on the other places where I make media.
This all made me wonder about companies who don’t use blogs. Maybe you don’t know because you haven’t felt it, but there’s a huge (HUGE!) difference between a static website where you try to collect leads, inform people, and take orders versus a site that builds into a conversation, a voice, a listening post, and a way to see your impact on the marketplace you care about. If you work for a company that doesn’t have a blog, can you share with us why your organization doesn’t blog?
Should all companies blog? Not sure. But boy, I sure felt wrapped in gauze by NOT having some kind of sounding board back and forth.
What’s your take? What do you think?
Oh, and if you’re not a subscriber to this site, please consider subscribing for free or getting a copy sent to your email inbox:
Photo credit, JMurawski
Five Levels of Social Conversation
Friend, deep thinker, and prolific email friend, Bill Cammack and I were talking about how people use things like Seesmic and other media to make conversations. I told him my theory that I like to believe there are five general categories of conversation out there. Bill asked me if I’d blogged about it, so here it is.
Five Levels of Social Conversation
I believe there are roughly five levels at which we communicate on tools like Seesmic or Utterz or Twitter (to a lesser extent):
- My Dog Has Fleas - baseline social conversation. No different than what would be said in line at a grocery store, and not usually that interesting.
- Let’s Talk About X - conversation, but hit or miss on real insight.
- Hacks and Energy - lots of good stuff, still a little hit or miss, but with more engaged/engaging types. (Not sure why I call it hacks, but I mean when you suddenly get into a bit of fast energy flow).
- Production - people who understand the medium and are “making” something, but who aren’t into conversation, per se. (like Internet TV shows.)
- Serious and Deep - rarest of the rare.
Most of my conversations probably fall into 2 and 3. Sometimes I produce something, too, but not so often. Am I serious and deep on the web? Not usually in video.
What do you think? Am I missing anything? Is this silly?
Thanks for the email, Bill. I’ll reply on that a little later.
Photo credit, Bill Cammack.
