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If You Want to Build Engagement, Build Your Learning First and Never Stop Learning

When people think of growing an engaged audience, it’s usually in reference to blog readers; or an email list; or visitors to a sales page on your website; or listeners to your podcast; a social network community, or similar.

But what are we really building an audience for?

Is it simply to participate (click through on an offer or download a product)? Or is it to interact, via comments on a blog, tweets, Google+ conversations and more?

If it’s the former, then do we even care about engagement?

After all, no-one says anything on a sales page except the seller, so where would the need for engagement be?

If it’s the latter, though, and you’re looking to build a truly engaged audience or following, then understanding your blog audience is key to building your goals for what that engagement will look like, and what your end goal really is.

It Doesn’t Need To Be About the Sale

When I first started this blog, there was no agenda for it to be a lead generation platform. While a lot of business blogs will act as a cover for a sales message (and there’s nothing wrong with that), my goal was a bit different.

Instead of having a ton of ads and affiliate links, and subconscious messages to drive traffic to the website of the agency I ran at the time, I simply wanted a place where I could put ideas out and have others respond to them, no matter whether the response was positive or negative.

There were so many blogs out there that simply state a point of view and don’t encourage further conversation – I found little to get excited about on these blogs. So I made a decision.

While I couldn’t guarantee that I’d get a lot of readers, I would guarantee that those who did find me would arrive at a place where their view was just as important as mine, if not more so.

I’d also keep my viewpoints honest, even if it meant pissing off the “leaders” in the space that I was blogging about (and that’s happened a few times!).

Again, this meant that readers would know that they could come to my blog and learn exactly how I felt about something, and they’d have the platform to share their frustrations too, whether they agreed with me or not.

By doing this, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had some great discussions on here, and these have continued across the web on platforms like Google+ and Facebook walls.

There may not have been a huge amount of conversation in the beginning, but I stuck to my goal of having an open mic where all opinions are respected equally. For me, this has led to the growth of the blog since these early days more than anything else.

Learning As You Go

Of course, like anyone, I’ve made mistakes along the way, and I know I’ll make more – that’s just how we are.?For example, a few of my early posts were the kind I call “traffic jams” – lots of traffic, but not going anywhere.

The lists posts;
The “Top 10 Ways to…” posts;
Simple posts about Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Basically, the types of post that were easy to write but had little real substance.

That’s not to say they were written that way deliberately – every post I’ve written has been with good intent.

But from a satisfaction viewpoint, there was little to be had from some of these earlier posts. I could have easily stayed on that path, and would have probably had a lot more subscribers than I do today.

But the likes of Mashable already has these types of posts covered.

Instead, I wanted somewhere that would be a real source of engagement. So I learned from the early posts, and made a more conscious effort to write more questioning posts, and try to offer up ideas that weren’t available elsewhere.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Write more questioning posts, and offer up ideas that aren’t available elsewhere #blogtips” quote=”Make a conscious effort to write more questioning posts, and offer up ideas that aren’t available elsewhere”]

And it worked.

My subscriber list grew, as did the engagement with my readers – and not just on my own blog. There have been some great examples of continued discussion as readers took the original viewpoint into a brand new direction and really made me think about the original post.

For someone that thrives on that kind of exchange, you can’t ask for much more than that.

Accepting Change Needs to Happen

It’s not just the interaction where the benefits have come. By building an area of trust where people would feel welcome in a safe and open community, it resulted in that same community showing their own value.

For example, when a non-profit consultant attacked me personally regarding a social media-led charity project I had founded, the community rallied in numbers to counter the claims, resulting in her removing the piece from her blog.

They also rallied round me when I was seriously ill in 2010, and for that I will be eternally grateful. So, yes, opening up your blog offers some huge benefits.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have done anything differently – heck, if we’re always satisfied, then we aren’t growing! If I had my time again, I would have implemented some things differently.

1. I would have posted less frequently

I started off writing a blog post a day (and sometimes I posted more than once on the same day). Sometimes this made me publish stuff that, in hindsight, could have (should have) been better.

In the middle of 2011, I made a conscious decision to post less frequently and really ask questions of the stuff I wrote about. I’d like to think it made me a better blogger and resulted in deeper conversations and points of view being exchanged.

2. I would have been more honest

Let me rephrase that – I would not have been afraid to speak more honestly. There were times early on when I wouldn’t have offered a negative opinion about certain people, since I (incorrectly) thought they were right. Turns out we all get blinded by vacuous respect.

When I realized this, and began writing openly about questionable practices or calling out BS, it opened up a new level of understanding between blogger and reader, since others were clearly thinking the same thing.

3. I wouldn’t be so closed off

One of the things many bloggers complain about is that social sites like Twitter and Google+ have seen comment numbers decrease, as conversations about a post shift to the network as opposed to taking place on the blog itself. But that’s missing the point.

Engagement comes in all shapes and sizes and, while your blog may be the most desired place for discussion, true engagement allows the discussion to expand wherever people feel most comfortable talking. ?If I was to do anything differently here, it would have been to get active on a Facebook Page sooner (and now Google+).

[clickToTweet tweet=”Engagement comes in all shapes and sizes – don’t limit conversations to just your blog. #blogcomments” quote=”Engagement comes in all shapes and sizes – don’t limit conversations to just your blog”]

Because, ironically, I’ve tended to find that the more willing I am to converse away from my blog, the more likely people are to click through and read more of my stuff. And that’s a win-win in anyone’s book.

Why we can never stop learning

Of course, this is just personal experience and thoughts on my own blogging journey. Will the above work for you in helping to meet your own goals? Maybe, maybe not.

A lot will obviously depend on your own data. For example, going by my analytics, the demographic of my readers is absolutely right for the content I’m producing. And tools like Postmatic, and the conversation that springs from there, can help?me optimize even further for new audiences.

I know that when I’ve used the framework of what’s worked for me when helping others set up a new blog, they do tend to find a good level of engagement from the off. So, the fundamentals mentioned above may be useful – but don’t quote me on that!

One thing that is guaranteed, though, is this: if you want to build engagement, then build your learning first and never stop learning.

Learn who your audience is;
Learn what they want to read;
Learn where they prefer to converse;
Learn how to be open;
Learn that you’re never 100% correct.

If you can see where you’re going right, and learn to notice where you’re going wrong, it’s a lot easier to take the steps needed to meet your own success metrics, whatever they may look like.

And if you can do that? Well, you’ve just laid the foundations in building your engagement model. Now you just need to keep building.

And with the right data behind you to support these foundations, the next steps won’t be as difficult as the early ones.

How to Build a Loyal Blog Community With the Power of Give

One of the conversations that often arises when talking about blogs is community, and?how to both grow and reward loyalty.

Making sure your blog community knows you appreciate them helps in several ways – there’s two way respect between blogger and reader/subscriber/commenter, as well as opportunities for advocacy?and blog growth through referral.

One way to do this is to offer exclusive content to blog or newsletter subscribers – a free ebook or white paper, for example.

Of course, that approach on a blog would mean that to really benefit from exclusive content, your readers/community would have to be subscribed to a newsletter or email subscription. Which would then negate the rest of your readers that don?t subscribe this way, but still show loyalty by coming back time and again.

So what ways could you reward on your blog, for both subscribers and everyday visitors/readers?

Loving Your Blog Community

Face it, without a community a blog is nothing more than a broadcast platform. Your community nurtures the growth of your blog; it helps share with others; it defends if needed; and it keeps you growing as a blogger by sharing great insights in the comments.

It doesn?t matter if it?s a personal blog or more business-oriented ? community is the real king (sorry, content lovers). For business blogs, community is the relationship to the sale ? look after it and look after your business.

So what are some of the ways to reward a loyal blog community?

Exclusive Content

As I mentioned earlier in the post, this would normally be via a newsletter or email subscription, so may negate some of your readers (although it?s a great way to build an even more loyal community on subscription too). Some of the things you could offer might be:

A free ebook;
White papers;
Solid business advice not normally seen on your blog;
Discounted offers on affiliate programs.

There?s a lot you can make exclusive to really say ?thanks for being part of my community?. You?ll have a better idea of what would appeal to yours ? all you need to do is put that into action.

The Freemium Model

Because exclusive content needs an exclusive outlet to really make it work, you run the risk of excluding the readers that visit every day, comment and are as just as important a part of your community as subscribers.

So how do you make sure that you?re not ignoring them and focusing on your exclusive content?

Episodic content. This can work in two ways. You can either write a series of educational posts on topics your readers would find useful, or you can offer the first chapter of any ebooks that exclusive content subscribers receive. That way, ?normal readers? still receive value and can decide whether to expand into the subscription option.

Actionable content. Want to be seen as a thought leader or serious blogger in your space? Then offer action points that anyone visiting your blog can take away and make work for them.?John Haydon does this all the time when it comes to non-profit advice, while Jon Loomer is one of the go-to guys for Facebook marketing tactics you can use regardless of business size. Help others; help you.

Highlight your community. Another way to reward your community is to give them some reader love. By coming to your blog every day and commenting or sharing you, your community is helping you grow awareness of you. So do the same for them. Have them guest post on your blog, or post about someone from your community?when you feel they might appreciate a pick-me-up. We all like to feel appreciated; make sure your blog community knows you appreciate them.

Protecting Your Community

Growing your blog community is the first part; but it doesn?t stop there. Just as your community nurtures you and helps you, so you need to do the same in return, but take it to an extra level ? by protecting them.

Think about it ? if someone?s taking the time out of their life and schedule to read and share their thoughts on your blog, the very least you should be doing is making sure it?s somewhere that they want to hang out, and feel comfortable doing so.

Make it clear you won?t tolerate abuse to your community. One of the best things about any blog is the comments section ? so many great thoughts and ideas can come from here, and new friendships can be made. So making it a safe haven is paramount ? protect your commenters, protect your blog.

Have a comment policy. Not only can a comment policy?help you set both guidelines for new visitors, as well as assure your current community you have their best interests at heart, it ensures there are no grey areas as to why a comment was removed. It’ll also show new visitors your blog is a safe haven from trolls and bullies – something missing from a lot of online outlets today.

These are just some examples of how you can use your blog to reward the people that make it what it is. There are a ton of other things you could do?? the main thing is you?re at least doing something to reward your blog community.

After all, they reward you just by stopping by each time ? thanking and looking after them is the least you can do, no?

Why You Might Want to Unsubscribe From This Blog

For the last six years or so, this blog has shared content that’s been focused on marketing, social media, influence and data. It’s been a collection of topics that have interested me and hopefully raised interest in you to dig beyond the usual social media-driven content.

And while these topics (mostly) still interest me, they don’t drive as much passion in me as they used to.

As I wrote three years ago,?there’s only so much you can produce without repeating what’s already out there; three years later and it seems (to this blogger, at least), not much has changed.

Instead of blogs taking a critical thinking approach, many simply chase eyeballs with thinking that was new three years ago,?but today is simply recycled viewpoints (no matter how they try and dress it up as new).

Instead of really driving the direction of thinking around social and where it can go, they rely on Upworthy-style headlines for their business blogs, while failing to deliver with the content that follows. At least Upworthy, as cringeworthy as their link-bait tactics are, deliver on the content related to the title.

It’s this laziness in exchange for traffic that sees so much potential stalled; and it doesn’t instil any desire to continue to be a part of it.

So, time for a change.

It’s Been Great, And I Understand If You Go

Perhaps my train of thought around the changes I’m making around here are grounded in the fortuitous position of not having to sell anything.

Yes, I have the Influence Marketing book I co-wrote with a very smart guy in Sam Fiorella?- but that’s already met the goals I had personally for it (critical recognition and inclusion in university and college curriculums). For sure, I’ll continue to promote, but in the soft sell approach we’ve taken so far and which has seen the book continue to sell and hold a steady place in listings across the web.

The point is, I feel under no pressure to pimp a book and – by association – be held to a certain type of content in order to do so.

Nor am I someone who has to be speaking at the latest social media event to feel validation for anything. While there are some smart people who talk at these events, there are also many who simply turn up to repeat the same talk or keynote they’ve been doing for the last 18 months to two years, all while boasting of whose party they’re at, or what selfie they can use to show how cool they are.

That’s all well and good and if that works for you, knock yourself out – I’d rather support events where it’s not the “usual suspects” and with the added bonus of being able to tap into the minds of the next generation of communicators to see where the industry is heading.

But, more importantly for me, I’m happier simply being with my wife and two young kids – that’s the only validation I want to be remembered for.

It’s why this post has one simple message – the content is changing and I completely understand if you want to “leave”.

While I’ll still write about the topics that have been prevalent in the last six years or so, they’ll be mixed in with people stories about inspiring folks; smart folks, folks that are truly driving change in the way we do business, and aren’t bothered about accolades from the circle jerk. Instead, they’re simply building a future and a legacy.

I’ll also be promoting content you should really dig into more, to hopefully give you a bigger picture of the world around us, and encourage you to ask bigger questions of yourself, and those you surround yourself with and follow.

Simply put, this blog will become what (for me) a blog was born to be – a collection of thoughts about anything and everything at any given time.

If You Do Go, Check These Blogs Out

I’m truly grateful for the thoughts we’ve shared these last six years. Your comments after a post; your discussions online; and your emails to extend the topic have all been sincerely appreciated.

I’d love for you to stick around and see if the new direction encourages deeper thinking; but I understand if you’re simply interested in content specifically geared to social media, marketing, data, etc.

If so, I strongly recommend you checking out the following blogs and bloggers, who offer a mix of smart business acumen, critical thinking, and actual original thought (there is still some out there!):

These blogs all have one thing on common – they will ask bigger questions and they will get you thinking beyond simple ideas, and all deserve to have a place in your reader.

Again, I thank you for being here for the last six years or so. The content wouldn’t have been the same without you driving me to expand beyond the easy topic, and I thank you for that.

I bid you a grateful farewell if you do decide to unsubscribe; and I look forward to continuing to expand each other’s horizons if you decide to stay.

Cheers.

And We’re Live With the New Design

Hey there. So, notice anything different?

After what seems like a long journey (longer for some, eh, Lisa?), I’m really pleased to be able to unveil the new design here at DannyBrown.me. Built from scratch on the core WordPress platform, design has been handled by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

It’s a bit of a change for me, since it’s the first time I’ve used a fully customized design as opposed to building from a premium framework (I’ve used everything from Thesis to Headway to Genesis on here at some stage).

I have to say, I’m absolutely delighted with the makeover – I think Lisa has captured what this blog is all about perfectly, from the professional and business-like layout to the (hopefully) welcoming header and comments section.

The blog has always been about making you feel at home, but knowing that you’ll find business advice as well as personal stories of social media and marketing, and I think Lisa has got that perfectly.

It also means that, due to Lisa’s hard coding, I can delete a ton of plug-ins that will mean a faster load time on the blog. At the minute, it’s not completely optimized, due to some tables being left over from a previous theme and some conflicts within my WordPress database because of that, but my web hosts are on that and should have that resolved soon.

So, what’s some of the new stuff?

Home Page

You’ll see the funky new layout, with the featured post image rotator, as well as the drop shadow effects around the blog, the teaser boxes and the sidebar. You’ll also see a nice little speech bubble indicator for how many comments a post has received, and clicking that will take you straight to the comments.

Single Post

Underneath the single post, there’s now a social box, where you can subscribe to the blog for future updates, as well as share with your friends if you liked the post (Facebook Like and Twitter shares are still handled separately). There are also related posts that you can click through on, and the comments section has had a complete makeover. These replace Livefyre, and go back to vanilla WordPress comments with CommentLuv enabled. If I can get Livefyre coded the same, and it adds CommentLuv or similar, I’ve no doubt I’ll switch it back on.

Sidebar

If you look to the right of the blog, the sidebar has had a makeover too. There are different sidebars for different pages, so Work With Me will look different from single post will look different from Charities, and so on. I felt it made more sense to have complementary sidebars as opposed to a generic one all the way through.

Footer

I’m saying nothing except scroll down to the bottom of the blog and check that funky footer option out!

These are just some of the new features and design changes – there are some more, which I’ll let you find for yourself if you so desire. Suffice to say, I’m really excited about the new look, which Lisa has done a tremendous job on.

So tremendous, in fact, that Lisa is now officially the web design arm of Bonsai Interactive Marketing. We’ll be sharing more information soon, as well as a very special offer to celebrate Lisa becoming part of the Bonsai family (as well as the launch of this design), so stay tuned in the coming days!

Like I say, there are some minor tweaks to carry out, but that’s more from the remnants of previous designs and plug-ins in my WordPress database. That should be resolved in the next few days, and the full makeover will be complete.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Blog Comments and Reputation Central

When people think of reactions from blogs, they normally think of negative reviews or inspiring stories.

Comments aren’t usually high up on the list of monitoring and watching what’s being said online.

Yet they should be, as a recent post by David Henderson and the subsequent conversation in the comments section show.

I won’t go too much into the actual blog post or the comments, as they’re both recommended reads and will give you a far clearer view of who may be in the right or wrong. What the post does highlight is that a blog comment can go even further than a blog post at painting an individual or company in a less than flattering light.

The gist of the post and resulting conversation is that David Henderson suggests that WordPress is an excellent medium for hosting your own online newsroom. Countering this is Steve Momorella of TEKgroup International, a company that develops and maintains online newsrooms.

What could have been a good discussion about both the validity of having your own online newsroom and how good WordPress is at running such a tool instead develops into a messy claim/counter-claim regarding the post and follow-up comments.

David seems to take umbrage with a comment made by Steve about the usefulness of WordPress and calls it a lack of understanding on Steve’s part. Steve is unhappy about David’s “disrespect” and so points out an error on David’s website.

This then results in other commenters joining in and by the end of everything, there’s a veritable “he said, she said” feel to everything.

While it makes for hugely entertaining reading, it also shows how a simple blog comment can taint someone’s view. I read David Henderson regularly. I respect him immensely and find him to be a great source of information and knowledge (although his constant putting down of PR does jade, after a while).

I didn”t know Steve Momorella prior to his comments on David’s blog post, but I do know of him now. Because of that blog post and its comments, I felt both David and Steve came out a little less positive than they otherwise might have.

While Steve’s comments have merit, they did come across as slightly leaned toward promoting his company which could be classed as comment spam. Whether that was the intent or not is down to Steve’s interpretation.

For David’s side, I felt he was being a little defensive and it maybe encouraged Steve to counter more than he would have.

From an outsider’s point of view, it could be seen as Steve is a promotional spammer and David doesn’t like comments that disagree with him. I know this isn’t the case with David and I’m guessing it’s not the case for Steve.

But see how easy a conversation in blog comments can sway a point of view?

Are you always thinking slightly about what you say and how it’s said when you comment on a blog? Or do you feel that it’s not something to worry about too much and just say what you feel regardless? Can comment conversations get away from you?

The comments are yours (no ironic pun intended).

photo credit:?Andi?