How to appeal to Cat owners - Thanks PaddyPower !

How to build a Massive online Community!

 

How to Build a Massive online Community

The holly grail - it's the answer to all your problems - surely if you gets loads of people to religiously come back time and again, with loads of their fans, friends too - you've got it made.

Needless to say I've read screeds and screeds of how to's and none of them quite gave me the confidence that they know what they're talking about - so here we go "Social Media Rockstar" has got a great case study for you.  They interviewed a guy called Joshua Dorkin who runs a blog for people interested in investing in property - he took it from 2 people to 50,000 in 3 years, but more than that, they are readers, not website hits.

The story

Hello Boys... do you like your food?

As someone who's always had a soft spot for Miss Dahl I was intrigued to learn of her new direction in making a living,should we be surprised or delighted that she takes the opportunity to share her sense of taste in food?

As a long standing fan of Jamie Oliver and the TV appearances of Nigela Lawson I can honestly say - oh God, another celeb chef / cook - admitedly we are intrigued because of her previous profession but you know what she's not only a honey but has some great recipes. My favourite so far - bubble and squeak: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bubbleandsqueakcakes_93586.shtml

Try it - believe me it's gorgeous!

Blogity blog blog

Right - you've woken up, it's a wee bit earlier than usual and you think "you know what I've not written on my blog for a wee while - now's the time..." because you have the time, then you stop and think, well this wasn't very well planned, what am I going to share with my adoring public... or rather the 2 people that if bothered might take a squiz (one of whom happens to be your mother).

A couple of do's and don'ts about blogging - oh god here we go, there's loads of posts on this stuff - yes but hold on, not from my point of view!

To build trust and traction stage one:
Comment on other people's blogs that are in your industry or of interest to you - get known out-with your own network - when commenting stick to what you know and in a positive tone.

Never sell your own products, by all means endorse someone elses - the minute you push your own stuff 98% of us have lost interest.

Feature your customers - for me this week it would be the gorgeous and glamerous people at: http://www.the-lane.com/

Give useful advice away for free and demonstrate your knowlegde - that would be this post...

Keep it business like but not boring - I mean let's face it, if you write screeds and screeds of pertinent information, you wont get fans you'll get serial killers - there's a lot less of them.

Give credit where it's due - this is where I mention my old school buddy Hugh Macleod (Gapingvoid.com) and his introduction to Seth Godin and Robert Scoble...

And stop - most people have a fairly short attention span, and you have to keep them wanting more, the rules to writting a great blog I learnt from Chris Brogan - there's 28 rules in total so this is just the start...

Figured it out yet?

Have you figured it out yet?

There's TV, Radio, Press, Billboards, Direct Mail, Websites... and there's Social Media - it's simply another way of communicating your message. The difference being of course - you are no longer pushing information but creating conversations with your prospects to encourage brand loyalty and a sale.

Previously (and still) it's about making people aware of your product so that when they go shopping it's yours they'll buy - whereas now the process starts earlier in the thought process - you get the consumer excited at the prospect of being associated with your product, asking opinions and building a case where there is no other choice - so when it comes to shopping it's the very reason they go.

It will soon be a fundamental part of promoting your product or services - if you haven't been yet, get some training and get to grips with it.

Nike Air - the secret

It's a simple idea, beautifully executed - I want there to be a punch, the film is missing that wallop, don't you think?

LinkedIn and the restrictive covenant

My latest post for The Drum questions the right for a business to protect itself when its business development team are using LinkedIn - who owns the client?

http://thedrum.co.uk/blogs/colingilchrist/2010/04/02/restrictive-covenant-for-linkedin/