So a year or so ago – January 11, to be precise – I published a piece on this blog about some of the changes that I was going to be making.
I’d been experimenting with podcasting for a few months leading up to the post, and had really enjoyed the experience.
READ MOREI’ve been writing on this blog since the end of September 2008. That’s just over 10 years here, give or take a month or two.
In that time, I’ve published almost 1,400 posts, originally starting out writing about marketing, PR, social media, and all the other stuff that came with it at that time.
But I got bored with that, and started writing more personal stuff – questioning life, our place in the world, and what it meant to be a good person.
READ MOREWhen 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.
When I first started my own 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.
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.
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 I didn’t.
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 #pureblogging” 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.
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.
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.
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.
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, or be more involved in social conversations as opposed to trying to limit them to my blog.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Engagement comes in all shapes and sizes – don’t limit conversations to just your blog.” 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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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:
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.
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?
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.
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?
For the last four and a half years, I’ve primarily used the Livefyre Comments system for conversations after each post.
It’s no surprise my usage of Livefyre lasted so long – after all, I’ve written numerous times about how their service is second-to-none, and how their social integration is bringing content creators one step closer to closing the loop on the fragmentation of social conversations.
However, as much as I love Livefyre, I’ve decided to change the way we interact with each other here. This isn’t to say Livefyre has any issues – far from it.
But, as I’ve written before, we need to be aware of changing trends and preferences when it comes to how people consume our content, and this comes down to the comments as well as the content itself.
Hence the decision to go with hybrid comments here, using a mix of Google+ Comments and Inline Comments. Here’s why, and how you can use it for your preferred interactions.
A slight riff on Canadian media legend Marshall McLuhan’s famous “the media is the message” quote, the conversations around a blog post are no longer the sole domain of the blog post itself.
Instead of comments happening after the post, and after the post alone, now conversations and discussions are happening everywhere, from Twitter to LinkedIn Groups, from forums to Facebook, and – increasingly – on Google+.
While I wasn’t a fan of Google+ originally for thoughtful discussion, that changed around 12 months or so ago, as I cleared out a lot of the people I had been following, and made it a more eclectic collection of people, thoughts and interests.
Now, as much as I love comments on a blog post being on the blog so people can see everything in one place, I’m also seeing fascinating discussions around posts on Google+ – moreso than on Livefyre, where many comments would be from long-time community members.
Nothing wrong with this, but it did mean I was missing out on a lot of stimulating and challenging conversations on Google+.
Couple that with the fact that I’m seeing more traffic and interest from Google+ than before, it makes sense to switch out Livefyre for Google+ Comments, which is what you’ll see from now on at the bottom of each post.
But, like the post title says, I’m experimenting with hybrid commenting, so I’m not just limiting interactions to Google+ (given that many folks still don’t use Google+ regularly, if at all).
Ever since content platform Medium was launched in 2012, I’ve been a huge fan of much of their approach to content presentation and consumption.
For example, the design of this blog is very much an homage to the large feature image at the top of every post. The single column content approach here is also inspired by how Medium presents content, focusing the reader on the content and not distracting anyone with noisy sidebars.
But it’s Medium’s approach to comments that I probably love the most, and am implementing as the second part of the hybrid offering here.
Instead of leaving all the comments to the end of the post, Medium instead offers Notes which can be posted immediately alongside a paragraph or sentence. The beauty of this is the comment is instantly contextual, and about a very specific part of the post, as opposed to the more general comments that can appear in end-of-post comment boxes.
Given that my goal in 2015 is to make this blog an even more personal-led content channel, versus a marketing or social media-led blog, using this approach makes much more sense.
To that end, I’ve installed the Inline Comments plugin by Kevin Weber. This allows you to post a comment simply by using your name and email, and it’ll appear alongside the exact prose you’re leaving the comment about. An example can be seen below (click to expand).
As you can see, there’s a little comment bubble with the number “12” to the right of the main content. Click that, and the conversation happening around that specific paragraph is there.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Context is the connector between content and great comments. Make sure you’re fostering contextual discussions.” quote=”Context is the connector between content and great comments. Make sure you’re fostering contextual discussions.”]
It’s a clean, elegant way to interact. Most importantly, it’s contextual which, for me, is what great content and discussions are all about.
Which system you prefer to use – Google+ or Inline Comments – is entirely down to your own preference. If you’re a regular Google+ user, then the G+ Comments at the end of the post would probably make more sense.
If you’re more about native WordPress comments, and keeping things simple (without the need to have a Google+ account), then obviously the Inline Comments would make more sense.
Both will give you instant notification when I, or another commenter, replies. On Google+, you’ll get an email to your Gmail account, and with Inline Comments, you’ll receive an email from me notifying you of any new replies to your comment. You can also subscribe to all comments, if you wish – just choose that option at the bottom of the Inline Comments area.
There are some things to keep in mind while I experiment with this set-up.
Hopefully, these are just minor quibbles that don’t impact your experience here if you want to try Inline Comments. Kevin, the developer, has advised he’s implementing a major uphaul of the plugin soon, so issues like these can be addressed.
In the meantime, if you want to leave an Inline Comment, and you’re reading on a desktop browser, you’ll see the comment bubble fade in as you scroll down the page. Simply click that where you want to leave a comment (I’ll leave some examples for you to see).
I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes, and please, do share your thoughts on this hybrid approach (either in Google+ at the end of the post, or through an Inline Comment).
After all, you’re just as big a part of this blog’s ongoing growth and experimentation as I am – so don’t be shy in letting me know what you think!
Note: Due to a current glitch between my theme and Inline Comments, I’ve reverted to native WordPress comments using wpDiscuz for now. Once the glitch is resolved, I’ll switch hybrid comments back on – thanks!
