An Bui, Spelled An With 1 N

Apparently I need to clear my cache, because when I went back to Mack Collier’s blog, I didn’t get redirected to his new site.

Instead, I saw this title: “The idea that ‘content is king’ in blogging is total bullshit”

According to Mack, “Being Social is [king in blogging]”

The idea that good or even great content is not enough. Besides, “Good” or “Great” content isn’t even actionable - it’s too abstract. So let’s get concrete.

What makes good content?

1. Applies to your target audience

2. Findable or discoverable by your target audience

3. Helps or is otherwise useful to your target audience

For example, if you were trying to launch a new boutique geared towards teens/early 20’s demographic, you’d want to offer clothes they’d want to wear. You’d make your retail location accessible to them and you’d make it easy for them walk in by literally leaving your doors open.

One company that did this well? Abercrombie & Fitch, which changed its business from offering outdoors gear to offering clothing for the Tweens/Young Adult demographic. They even got a mention in LFO’s summer hit (’99), “Summer Girls”

Same deal with online marketing.

1. Provide germane (relevant) content - answer questions your audience may have or give them information they want to know.

2. Findability/searchability means that search engines can crawl AND index your content. If your content can’t be found, your audience can’t find you.

3. Helps or is otherwise useful - the call to action is so valuable for this reason. If you let people know what to do next and they want what you’re offering, you’ve lowered the barrier for purchase, adoption, etc.

So why does being social matter?

1. You get invaluable feedback loops from others - your content can improve based on customer/user feedback. You learn what resonates with people and what they think is worth repeating. Given the speed of publishing social media, you can iterate more quickly - concept to publishing no longer takes weeks or months.

2. You enable people to find out about you sooner, rather than later. Trust takes time. If you’re hanging out by yourself online generating amazing content, search is basically the only channel by which others can discover you. By leaving your blog, going to others’ and leaving insightful (not spammy!) comments, you’re creating other channels for people to discover you.

3. By adding or providing value (ie - being useful) you start building trust. Intention matters. Be open and honest about who you are, what interests you, and what you find interesting.

Good content is the minimum barrier to entry and great social content helps you learn, grow and refine your thinking.

Thanks to Deb Robison for the conversation that spawned this blog post and Mack Collier for his thoughts.

Imagining the plethora of information available on the internets and my inability to know what’s out there coupled with my desire to surface new ideas and information can lead me to ask myself: “So An, where to start?”

One of my favorite things about the web is the element of discovery, of stumbling upon an interesting or helpful website that I didn’t even know existed relevant to a topic that intrigues me. So while I’m a little late to the party (StumbleUpon’s been around for a few years), I find StumbleUpon keeps the online interesting for me.

StumbleUpon differs from most other search engines is a people-driven technology. It gives you a more personalized web browsing experience and takes you directly to websites that are relevant to your personal interests and preferences. By providing a community-based surfing experience, StumbleUpon provides you with interaction opportunities with other like-minded users that share your same interests. Now I’ve joined 4.5 million others in discovering new sites.

StumbleUpon takes you to new places and new adventures, something you’d appreciate if you were tired of the same old sites you frequent when procrastinating. StumbleUpon “predicts” what you’d be interested in and takes your browsing data to eventually lead you to discover killer new sites.

In addition to the discovery aspect of StumbleUpon, another benefit includes web site submission to allow others to rate your site. This could possible increase your site’s visibility on the web, and StumbleUpon can also be used as a medium for building traffic on your website. It’s a social media tool that allows you to receive feedback from the community. Put the “social” in social media, even when you’re randomly browsing.