Enchantment To Follow

I started reading Guy Kawasaki's Enchantment last night after buying it several months ago.  I'm making a commitment to embrace my blog again and to get back to the exercise of free flow writing. I'm awakening to find my authentic voice one more.

Life, now that I've been back working full time for a year totally distracts the writer in me. I've been so focused on where my career needs to go next & how I can continue to make steps to get there. It's so difficult to find regular moments of peace and solitude to allow the thoughts to flow through my pen to paper, but when I do it seems so much more real and engaging.

You shouldn't second guess yourself before the thoughts are fully composed and edited, I know, however I do it all the time. If I wait to do the brain dump, my thoughts wander onto the next topic and then I lose the base premise of what I intended to write about. The thought then falls into the vast repository of unfinished draft material.  I yearn so desperately to write seemingly effortlessly like Olivier Blanchard, @TheBrandBuilder, but we can't all be so gifted & French for that matter. Blogging for most is a legitimate part-time job.

My best writing is almost always inspired by a revelation, something I've observed or something profoundly identifiable I've read.  To me a great blogger has to constantly & consciously be in search of those sources of inspiration, which can be easier said than done for most working moms, but it is possible.

So while this isn't a book review yet (I've only read to pg.15 as well as the Coverphon where Guy explains how he crowd-sourced to get the inspiration for his book cover art: the origami butterfly), and my Munchkin is snuggling up to me for some Sunday morning "Mommy & Me" time, I'm feeling inspired to get "Back To Blogging" & make July a great month for posting.

Enchantment to follow...

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Olivier Blanchard's Social Media ROI - Part 1 of a 2-Part Review or The Lure of Blog Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Caribou Coffee...What's New?

A few reasons why I like everything that is Caribou Coffee, their involvement on Twitter & all that is right about their marketing for social networks:

 

Giving "Team Members" the opportunity to contribute to the business with their art & ideas

 

An Update: Added to the stores on Feb. 24th

Along with this one...

Examples of Crowdsourcing

 

 Website reinforcment

Reminders about the Sustainability Discount 

 

Hey, that's me!

Again, reinforcement of the discount on their website

  

Great promotional offers

 

Hope this has made you want to make a quick run to Caribou...

My "regular" Chai with 2% is my morning life saver.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

Caribou Coffee Inspiration: Guilty Pleasures - Part 1 of 2 or

Caribou Coffee Inspiration: Guilty Pleasures - Part 2 of 2

The Lure of Blog Comments

Recently I've noticed a lot of chatter on twitter where online writers are asking: "How come people lurk on my blog and then don't leave comments." Or "I see traffic...why don't people have an opinion & participate in the discussion?" I've wondered the same thing at times & I'm sure there are many others who have shared those concerns at one point or another.

When you Google "blog comments", first on the list are paid results for "Buying Blog Comments".  Sounds pretty desperate - doesn't it? So what exactly is it that makes people crave the comments in the first place? Are comments generally a want or a need?

One idea comes from a psychology tip site which says: "feedback and reinforcement are two of the most pivotal concepts in learning. One of the critical variables in both cases is the length of time between the response and the feedback or reinforcement...the more immediate the feedback or reinforcement, the more learning is facilitated." In this context, comments would seem to satisfy an important need.

"Learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli and response" - Basis from the Theory of Connectionism by Edward L. Thorndike

Brian Solis in "Engage"  says "the right comments boost visibility and contribute to a resume of experiences and prowess." This would lead us to believe that as a writer, we all are seeking validation and acceptance of what gifts we have to offer & the silence of the comment not made makes us question ourselves. In this instance I would view the comment as a definite want.

A great post title may draw your reader in, but is your content relevant to them at the point in time which you reach them? Is the post informative enough to hold their attention, evoke an emotional response, or move them to want to share what they've gleaned with others and interject their viewpoint into the conversation?

Sample Communication Model

Aristotle linked his "Model of Communication" to the public speaker, someone who's job it is to deliver a specific message to an audience. The ultimate goal is to influence the audience & move them to respond or react. In this model it would seem the online writer would have some degree of control over whether or not their reading audience responded to a post, right?

More questions to ask yourself:

• Are you creating a sense of community between your readers by sharing content relevant to a specific group of topics?
• Is your tone & voice consistent?
• Are you posing questions in your posts that people will feel obligated to respond to?
• Do you legitimately feel everything you write is your best work & worthy of feedback? If not, then don't come to expect comments on every post.

In their own words, "BackType is a social analytics platform that helps companies understand their social impact." In "Engage", Solis talks about using tools like Backtype to track your post content & blog comments.  "Link to all channels of influence each and every time they share something of significance." These "trackbacks" which "inspired your posts" will build "tunnels between the blogs, allowing new readers to discover your content."

"Give them something to share. Give them reasons to respond." - 

Brian Solis in Engage

Chris Brogan & Seth Godin write often about the importance of frequent blog writing & sharing your gifts respectively. Their opinion is with each item you publish, the result should be a positive personal learning experience. If that's the case then the less we concern ourselves about the comments themselves, the freer we will become within the process.  The more we personally intend to get out of the writing exercise the better.  If someone chooses to respond & post a comment  - then that's nothing but fat-free, calorie-free gravy. So in an online writer's world, gravy is one of those things no one really ever needs, but once in a while we really do "want".

So are blog comments feeding an online writer's wants or needs? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Marketing & the Continual Path of Learning

I've been so immersed in work - picking up some new responsibilities as well as the novelty of finally having a Smartphone that I haven't taken as much time as I'd like to unplug with a good book.  Two chapters into "Engage" by Brian Solis and I'm motivated to change that. 

I took a class at UST a while back that really reminded me that finding time for learning is so important.  It's about staying relevant, but also admitting that things change faster that we'd like in the marketing landscape and if you're not staying on top of where it's heading, you'll just fall farther & farther into obsolescence.

We have been so conditioned as marketers to value what's tested & true ~ what can be validated through the use of analytics and risk models. In this age of the socialization of media, that is no longer a given.  As consumers, we no longer buy into a top down philosophy on approaching our buying decisions.  We are finally in control and consumers are guiding the markets in new and unsettling directions.

"Don't speak to me in messages...Give me something to believe in...I am influential." - Brian Solis

Some of us are more eager to embrace these changes than others.  We can't be afraid to move forward because we don't have all the answers.  Do so & you will be left behind.  

"Engage or Die" - Brian Solis

I love the term mindshare.  Dictionary.com provides several practical definitions: 

a. The amount of attention required by something, the time spent thinking about something.

b. The development of consumer awareness about a specific product or brand in hopes that they will buy the product or brand.

c. The level of awareness in the minds of consumers that a particular product commands.  

Seriously, it's no longer just about capturing market share - the name of today's game is about mindshare, participating in conversations and maintaining visibility for your products & your brand. 

"If your brand is absent from these conversations...It means you're off the radar screens in your customer's decision-making processes." - Brian Solis 

The first major takeaway out of the first two chapters would be to remember that "we...are still learning." Mistakes, triumphs & observations are all critical to the process of establishing new norms, metrics & benchmarks.  I for one want to be that person who will speak up and encourage leadership to take the leap into their unknown.  The rewards will come as long as patience, active listening and participation in relevant communities become the backbone of your socialization efforts.

If you haven't picked up your copy of "Engage" for your library or downloaded it to your digital reader, I can tell already that this is one you won't want to miss. If you're interested in more previews, check back often. I'll be blogging about this book a few more times before I reach the end.