Not the one that’s probably there right now… but this one. You might also say “You’re post titles are unrelated.” Or “Stop using the ‘yours’ incorrectly buddy.”
Yeah, ok, they are a little over the top. But they probably brought some people here, and also, people are talking about it outside of the internet.
Kinda like… “Hey, lets see what the crazy looking guy has to say! You know it’s probably something good… and he might also know kung fu which is right up my alley.”
Sadly, I don’t.
I was explaining this to a friend of mine the other day. No, not that I don’t know kung fu, but why I gave myself such a ridiculous entry into the blogging world.
It really all comes down to marketing, about grabbing someone’s attention.
Cue the awesome Valentines day card by one of my favourite online comics, The Oatmeal.
I’m going to switch focus (again.. ADHD?) from the 5 post startup series that I’m writing to interject and write a bit about marketing. Actually I’m sort of using this as an introduction. My brother is taking a crash course in Marketing 101 and he’ll be dropping in to do a few guests posts on it. Keep an eye out for that. His hair is definitely more tame than mine is.
The type of marketing I’m going to be writing about is Social Media Marketing, and more specifically, in 2012.
I was watching a video on Youtube the other day titled “Blogging Tips From an Expert Blogger – Social Media/Web 2.0 (10 min),” which had some great information. The video boils down to this, and this to me has been priceless advice. When you think of the purpose of the interwebs, the people that come here are really doing one of two things (or even both).
- You’re hitting the net for entertainment (like the picture I posted above).
- Or, you’re here for information; learning it, or explaining it to others.
All right meow. Hand over your license and registration.
These two things are great to keep in mind when you’re thinking about how you should be building your community. In my case, I’ve decided to utilize my every day job, professional web services, mixed in with a little bit of who I actually am. Because this is the approach I’m taking, I’m not really trying to be anyone else online and I find that this is really working for me. It’s keeping me interested and focused.
Another great tip I was reading about was to be random and try to do things that are a little crazy (don’t injure yourself). This is what I plan on doing this year. I have a couple things in mind; a random polar bear swim, and a food drive with a twist. Doing these things keep people entertained, but at the same time they should serve a purpose. For the polar bear swim I’ll be raising money for a charity, and the food drive is self explanatory.
With social media the way it is now (super dominant) and where it’s going (super duper dominant), being socially connected online is going to take care of the essential aspect of a business’ web presence. If you’re starting an online business, this is what you should be focusing on. Sure you might not get recognized right away and your writing style might not be the best just yet (and I’m definitely not saying mine is as I’m new to this too). But you just need to be yourself, get it out there, and speak what you know. Throw a little entertainment in there and you’ve got yourself a great base for the online world.
Cheers,
Hammer Bro