Today I spoke in Birmingham, Alabama at the PRCA State Conference, in a session titled What’s the Big(ger) Idea? How to Create Blog Content That Connects With Readers.  Here are the slides from that deck:

Thanks to everyone that attended, I really do appreciate it!

First, I’d like to point you to this video:

Thanks to Robbin for the heads up on this.

Next, I’d like to share a quote from Kathy Sierra:

“Let other companies, brands, apps battle with one another over who has the most awesome product, while the REAL battle is over who has the most awesome users.”

This video and this quote go to the heart of what I think is wrong with 99% of the talk about being ‘awesome’ these days.  All this talk about how you need to be awesome, how you need to create amazing content and how ‘awesome wins’.

Because most of that talk is focused on how YOU can be awesome.  What YOU need to do to be awesome, and how if YOU create awesome content, then YOU are awesome.

Everyone that attended the World Science Festival with Bobby McFerrin no doubt left thinking HE was awesome.  Why?  Because he made THEM feel awesome.  Note with Kathy’s quote, the focus is on who has the most awesome USERS (and it could just as easily be the most awesome customers, or blog readers).

The point is, don’t focus on how YOU can be awesome, focus on how you can make OTHER PEOPLE awesome.  If you are blogger, how can you create content that’s going to help your readers do something they couldn’t do before?  How are you going to help them solve a problem, or be more productive?  What ability are you going to give them that they didn’t have before?

It’s not about putting a spotlight on yourself.  It’s not about beating your chest and bragging about your accomplishments.

But empowering others…now THAT is awesome.

What super power will you give your readers?

Next week I am speaking at the PRCA State Conference in Birmingham, on how to create engaging content.  I’m currently putting the finishing touches on my presentation for this event, and wanted to share some of the tips with you here on how to increase engagement on your blog.

1 – Decide WHO you are trying to engage.  It all starts here.  Are you trying to reach customers?  Potential partners?  Potential donors?  You have to decide who you want to reach before you can reach them.  You should already have your blogging strategy in place that will tell you what group you should be targeting, and why.

2 – Decide WHAT type of activity you want your target audience to engage in.  This is also critical.  You need to first decide who you want to be reading your blog.  Then once they are on your blog, you need to decide what action (or type of engagement) you want them to take.  Do you want them to comment?  Sign up for your email newsletter?  Visit your website?  Email you?  If you don’t know what action you want visitors to take on your blog, you can bet that they don’t either.

3 – Give readers multiple ways to connect with you.  Don’t just hope for more comments, give visitors an option to sign up for your blog’s feed (via both Email and RSS), and give them a way to contact you directly via email.  And if you have a retail location especially, add your phone number.  Believe it or not, not everyone is comfortable commenting on blogs, they may want to contact you privately, especially if they are interested in hiring you or buying from you.

4 – Reward readers that engage in the type of behavior that you want to encourage.  Remember when I mentioned that Comment Redirect is a great plugin?  It does exactly this, when you leave your 1st comment here, you are redirected to a page that thanks you for your comment.  Why?  Because I want readers to leave more comments.  So when they do, they are thanked via that special page.

5 – Ask for the type of engagement that you want.  If you want more comments, then ask for them.  If you want more subscription signups, then add a footer to your posts asking readers to subscribe to your blog.

6 – Don’t moderate comments. Or if you must moderate comments, approve them ASAP.  But let’s be honest, if most people spend even 30 seconds writing a comment and are greeted with ‘Your comment is awaiting moderation‘ then the odds are they won’t be back.  For most new business blogs, comment moderation really isn’t necessary.  As long as your blog has a way to block spam (such as the Akismet plugin), then the only moderation that will be necessary is for the content itself.  For most business blogs it will take a while for your blog’s readership to grow to the point where you are getting frequent comments.  So as long as you are proactive about checking new comments, you shouldn’t need to moderate.

7 – Respond to existing comments.  This is very obvious, but a lot of business bloggers miss this.  Last week’s post on Why Introverts Love Social Media currently has 89 comments, but 34 of them are from me.  You have to write em to get em.

8 – Tailor your content so that it encourages the type of engagement you want.  This goes beyond simply asking for comments or emails in a post.  Think about what type of content would prompt the type of engagement you want.  For getting comments, this is fairly easy.  But what if you want more subscribers or even buyers, you need to create content that will move visitors toward that level of engagement.

9 – Interact with readers on other sites to drive interest back to your blog.  Figure out which sites/blogs current and potential readers spend time on other than yours, and interact with them there.  For example, find sites/blogs that cover your specific industry.  The odds are that some of the people you want to reach via your blog, are already actively engaged on those sites.  If you can go interact with them there, that can lead them back to your blog.  Or maybe if you are a marketing and branding firm, a LinkedIn group on branding might be a good place to connect with people and drive interest back to your blog.  And since you have already connected with these people OFF your blog, they will be more likely to interact with you when they come back to your blog.

10 – Publish new posts based on when people visit your blog.  Check your blog’s stats, and note which days and times have the msot visitors.  If you discover that peak traffic occurs every Monday-Friday from 10am-2pm each day, then there’s your likely window for when you should be publishing new posts.  If you can give your visitors new content when they are on your blog and looking for it, that increases the odds of getting their attention, and getting them to interact with your content.

BONUS: Experiment.  Use these proven tips as your starting point, but don’t assume that each of these are the only ways that YOU can increase engagement on YOUR blog.  Good business bloggers are the ones that can take what has worked for others, and apply it to their own efforts.  But the great business bloggers are the ones that can also create successful efforts based on their unique situations.  Every blog’s readership and goals are different, and need a unique strategy and execution.  Use the above list as your starting point for increasing engagement on your blog, not as the beginning and end.

Pic via Flickr user ausnahmezustand

“Hello, my name is Mack, and I am an introvert.”

If you are an introvert that’s active in social media, do people that you meet find it difficult to believe that you are introverted?  I get this often, so much so that I have on my Facebook page that I am “Online extrovert, offline introvert.  It’s complicated.”

But for me, it’s much easier to be outgoing online, than it is offline.  I think that’s why I love social media so much.

For example, one of the things that I hate is being in a room full of people where I don’t know anyone.  I find it extremely difficult to introduce myself to anyone and talk to them, because I assume they don’t know me and don’t want to know me.  It’s a terribly awkward situation for me, and if you’re an introvert you can probably relate.

But if I am in a group of people I don’t know on Twitter, I have little problem striking up a conversation with them.  The anxiety over having to in-person introduce myself is all but removed, and as a result, it’s much easier for me to engage with people.

Here’s another example of an awkward offline situation.  What if you have just met someone and are talking to them.  What do you do when you reach that point where the conversation has died, and you need to politely break it off?  I hate that!  But again, if I’m online, then I can leave and no one really knows.  So again, that awkward feeling is removed.

This is why I think it’s so easy for introverts to be extroverted online.  I was talking to Liz Strauss and Kellye Crane about this at SXSW, and we all felt the same way.  But the problem this creates for me is that since I *am* extroverted online, people that I meet offline expect me to be extroverted.  And I’m almost always more reserved (even at SXSW), so I can give some people the wrong impression that I am ‘stuck up’, or not interested in talking to them.  I’ve really tried to work on that, but it’s an issue.

What do the rest of you introverts say?  Do you find it easier to communicate with people online versus offline?  And if so, how do you handle meeting people offline?  Do you think there’s a noticeable disconnect between how you act online, vs offline?

BONUS: My friend Lisa has a series of posts on introverts and leadership and business.  Great reading!

One of the biggest misconceptions companies have about online and social media is that any and all negative reviews and comments should be completely ignored.  The idea seems to be that if companies ignore the negative response from customers, that it ‘goes away’.

A new Harris survey concludes that the opposite is true, if companies address negative reviews and feedback head-on, the customer often deletes the negative review AND sometimes even posts a positive one!

The Harris survey tracked customers that posted negative feedback or reviews during the Holiday shopping season on either sites that support adding customer reviews, or on social networking sites.  The survey found that 68% of customers that left these negative reviews got a response, and 18% of these people became loyal customers as a result, and made additional purchases from the company.

Now for the biggie:  Of the customers that received a response from a company after posting negative feedback about their shopping experience, 33% turned around and posted a positive review, and 34% deleted the original negative review.

These findings also support the notion that negative comments and reviews about your company can be a good thing, and something that can help your business.

The key point that companies need to understand is that the negative comment/review isn’t the most important thing, how your company responds to that negative review/comment is far more important.  And the above survey results supports this notion.

If you want to know how to handle criticism of your company online, here’s what you should do:

1 – Respond as quickly as possible.  Often, one negative comment that doesn’t get a response will lead to additional negative comments.  And 3 negative comments with no response from the company can quickly balloon into 10.  But if the company jumps in and responds quickly, that greatly reduces the chance of additional negative comments.

2 – Be thankful, polite, and respectful of your customers EVEN IF you think they are DEAD WRONG.  Common courtesy goes a LONG way here.  You have to understand that the customer believes they are RIGHT and YOU are wrong.  So if you get defensive in your response and start lashing back, you are going to make the situation quickly turn ugly.  Be polite, respectful and LISTEN to what your customers are saying.  It might help you actually….gasp…..understand why they are upset.

3 – If your customers have inaccurate information, feel free to correct them.  This often happens, and again, another way to minimize this happening is to respond quickly, before assumptions based on inaccurate information can spread.

4 – Tell the customers how you are going to address their complaints, and what the next steps are.  Let them understand that you take their complaints seriously, and that there is a plan in place to handle their complaints.

5 – Give customers a way to stay in touch with you, and invite further feedback.

One thing you have to remember is that many customers are WATCHING the interactions that you and other customers are having.  If they see that you are coming off like a pompous jackass, then that increases the chance that they will post negative criticism about your company.  And the flipside is true, if your company handles negative criticism in stride, and works to offer the customer a positive solution, that reflects well on the company, and improves the chances that customers watching these interactions will have a positive reaction.

So the bottom line is that companies that respond to negative feedback online, and do so quickly and appropriately, see huge benefits.  If you think your company needs help or training in handling negative comments or reviews online, please email me.  Or if you have a particular instance that you’d like to discuss, please leave a comment so we can help you, or feel free to email me if you want to discuss it in private.