How much do people know about you? This is an important question to a lot of people, and particularly businesses. Another perhaps even greater question is “how much do they know about you that gives false indications about you?”
Opinions are very important, and also very easy to forge in social media. At least the bad opinions are easy to create, and so it becomes important to address things which may give early impressions about you, or your company.
There are millions of companies hot on the trail to compiling data about you online. It is easy to imagine that all of the data is just aggregate data which applies to you and millions of others like you, but there is also a shocking amount of data about you, specifically. This is not always a huge security risk, such as people stalking your social media usage to know when you are home and away, or anything so threatening as that. However, a risk that it may impose is an early impression that people or companies may create about you, or insights to your weaknesses.
Whether you are in the business of social media, or using it to promote your business, there are a lot of ways for people to make early, and perhaps false judgments about you. This is not limited to subjective statements about you or your company, and it is often presented with objective data.
I will point out a handful of the social media ranking and measurement tools that people may use to gather an opinion of you. Some may appear as little more than tools to allow people to boast, and promote themselves as being greater than reality. Others may cause a greater impact, especially when used to form a composite view.
It should be noted that each of these services are subject to errors, and often have network limitations imposed by their sources. The data should never be presumed as completely accurate, but again, when a composite is created, it begins to paint a clearer picture.
Klout: “The Standard for Online and Internet Influence”
Klout has some pretty compelling data collection and measurement metrics (see Klout website). Klout measures influence of users across the top social networks, Twitter, Facebook, and soon to include LinkedIn. The service seems to be making a lot of progress with improvements such as daily score updates, which used to be limited to every six days.
On the surface, Klout may just appear to be great for producing bragging rights. However, the emphasis is for discovering others who are measurably influential within given industries or topics. This gives it huge potential for networking as people seek influencers. On the other side of the coin, it could also show competition where you are lacking.
I like Klout’s idea, and with a large group of developers working on their service, it seems they are putting significant effort into it. Since the release of a recent plugin, users are able to view Klout measurement in the popular desktop social media tool, Seesmic Desktop. This makes it clear that people are viewing this data, and most certainly forging opinions.
I believe that Klout has some real potential to add value and move their service forward. I must also say that, although they may be completely wrong about this, I am definitely flattered by their assessment of me as a “Celebrity”. Heck, roll out the red carpet … the Murnahan limo tweeted from 48th Street and is headed this way! Roll Out the Red Carpet!
HubSpot Grader Tools
HubSpot has created a suite of individual tools for social media and website measurement, including a Facebook grader, Foursquare grader, Twitter grader, and more. I generally place much lower value on any singular social media signal when compared to aggregate data across multiple sources, but people are using them. The number of people using these tools to discover other influencers or forge opinions, as opposed to seeking bragging rights, is unclear.
Out of 8,213,218?!In my experience, most ranking services which only grade based on individual services are extremely easy to “game”, and especially with Twitter. I have seen my name at the very top of each of them when I wanted it there, and it often only takes a very short time (hours, not days). Twitter is a pretty challenging place to numerically assign accurate and meaningful values to users, but services like HubSpot’s Twitter Grader, Twitalyzer, TweetLevel, and many others are trying very hard. I have previously pointed out that any algorithm to measure Twitter can be cheated, and often with ease. Here are some reference points for that statement:
PostRank measures social media engagement of blogs. Yes, blogs are social media. If your company does not have a blog, please stand up and hold out your wrists for a good slapping. Didn’t you read “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog“? Your competition probably did.
PostRank pulls data from many sources, which makes it far less fallible than others which only measure single points of data. PostRank is still limited to restrictions of networks, and simply cannot aggregate all pertinent data. However, it is more compelling than many measurement tools because it aggregates and assigns measurements from an impressive collection of data points.
The image below shows an example of a PostRank score for a given article which shows what PostRank knows about it. Again, I must emphasize that PostRank data can still be flawed, due to network restrictions and the sheer volume of data which is to be reported.
Example of PostRank Measurement
Advertising Age’s “AdAge Power150” Accuracy Through Composite Data
Advertising Age gives a great example of increasing relevance and accuracy by producing a composite view across more data points. The “AdAge Power 150” shows that if you selectively merge some of the many social media measurement tools together, the outcome can become more accurate and compelling.
In the example of AdAge Power 150, they have implemented measures of Todd Points, PostRank, Yahoo InLinks, Alexa Points, and Collective Intellect. Their calculations are explained on the Advertising Age website, and I think it makes a useful example of how social media measurement can be used to form a composite view. To further the depth of the data, most of their sources pull from multiple other data sources.
Summary of Social Media Measurement
Social media influence and authority of a company or individual is not easy to measure, but many people are seeking this data to make estimated guesses about you. This is becoming more prevalent as measurement tools are integrated with other services. It is easy to let down your guard and assume that nobody actually uses this sort of information, but they are, and in huge numbers.
If your online representation is weak, competitors can key in on that weakness and use it against you. On the other hand, if your online branding stands tall and reflects industry authority, it can lead to furthering your network and growing your business opportunities.
One common fact about each of these measurement tools is that in order to be viewed as relevant, you must make consistent efforts.
P.S. One of those measures of PostRank is comments. Strangely, my blog scores sky high, even with a considerably small number of comments, but you can still do your part! Tell me what you think, and how you feel about all of this measuring? How might it affect your business? Do you have a favorite?
I recently visited with a friend who is pretty aware of technology, but he still feels a bit awkward when it comes to blogs. He spoke of how subscribing, commenting, and joining into a discussion can feel a bit daunting if you are not sure how it all works. When I looked at it from his perspective, I realized how right he was. Perhaps bloggers don’t look at things from a new user perspective as much as we should. We should try harder to be more welcoming of the uninitiated, and that is what I hope to do here.
I am writing this for you, whether you are completely new to blogs, or an experienced blog owner who may have forgotten how lost you felt when you were just figuring this blogging stuff out for the first time. I also want to inspire you with some significant benefits of participating in blogs.
My friend mentioned how some people have their little picture by their name, and wondered how that happens. He really snapped me back to the reality that this whole blogging thing can be a little confusing to “ordinary” people (as opposed to “blog people”, of course). I intend to help clarify some issues of how to participate in blogs, how to find blogs worth discussing, and how it can benefit you even if you are one of those “ordinary” people.
I will begin with the very basics, so if you already know this, I urge you to be reminded that many others do not. If you have your own blog, it is easy to forget all that stuff you have learned about blogs and how they work. Here is a question I have heard more than a couple times:
How Do I Get My Picture to Show Up on Blogs?
I suppose I will begin with that little picture beside peoples’ name. No, it does not mean they are a member of some elite blogging fraternity. Having your own unique picture show up on blogs when you comment is as simple as creating an avatar. More specifically, a “Gravitar” which is a globally recognized avatar image that you can use in more places than a Visa card (that’s a lot).
Gravitar Setup: In order to set up your Gravitar, simply go to Gravitar.com and sign up. You only need to do this once, and it really is easier than you may expect.
There is a benefit to the image, too! A graphic along with your comments can be strongly identifying as people read through comments, and especially at blogs where you plan to return often. People will identify with your avatar faster than by reading the names as they read through comments. If you are interesting to them, they will be looking for your image.
They Want My Email?!
I am probably the most reserved person you ever came across when it comes to giving out my email addresses. In fact, I am borderline obsessive about this. I love having a clean inbox, and I hate when people clutter it with junk. This is especially true with some of my prized email accounts like my very special one that is only seven characters, including dots and the “@” (example: x@xx.xx). Yes, I hate giving out email addresses on websites!
Gravitars are based on the email address or addresses which you specify at Gravitar.com. Most blogs and forums use Gravitars to pull in your avatar, which is why they ask you to enter your email address. Of course, email addresses are also one way that blog administrators can quickly blacklist people who spam their community with useless or offensive comments. This is a good thing … a very good thing.
If it makes you feel any more comfortable about the matter of email, I have a specific email address which I use for commenting on blogs, and I receive no spam at that address at all. I really do feel totally safe on this matter. Additionally, many blogs allow you to use your image from other services like Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, Yahoo! or others, but don’t get flustered. I am getting to that part, and it will be easy … have a little faith.
What About Commenting Systems Like Disqus and Intense Debate
When commenting systems like Disqus and Intense Debate came along, I was really reluctant at first. I liked the good old standard system of entering my name, email address, and website address, adding my comment, and clicking “Submit”. That made sense to me, and it was so simple.
Now let’s have some “whisper time” while I tell you a little secret …
[Mark leans in close and screams into ear:] Disqus and Intense Debate Do Not Require a Signup!
This is the one thing that made me so frustrated when I saw these commenting systems gaining popularity. It appeared that I needed to sign up for more stuff. I already had my Gravitar, and I just wanted to add my two cents to a blog. Why did they make it so darn confusing all of the sudden?!
I am really glad that my buddy brought this to my attention, because I felt the same way. Somehow I had this misconception that because the blog commenting systems allowed me to log in, that I needed to log into something. This is not the case at all. You do not need to set up a new account to use either of these systems. If you want to make a comment on a blog using any of the popular blog commenting systems, you may comment as a “Guest”. You can still add your email, use your Gravitar, and add the link to your website. Let us end that confusion right now, and put a period after it.
The benefits of these systems are numerous, but optional. They allow you to click a button to use your Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, Yahoo! or other profile information, but it goes further. They also let you easily share the blog articles you comment on, along with your comments, across social networks. Sharing is still optional, even if you log in using these services, but there can be great cases for alerting friends on what you are discussing on a blog article and getting their opinions, too.
There is still more benefit! These services also aggregate comments that you make on different blogs into one place where you can go and see replies to your comments, and thus making it easier to respond to them, ask or answer questions, build rapport, build community, and etcetera. They also include profiles that you can use to follow other users’ comments and join in their communities of interest, too. Of course, I cannot give you my login to see all of the goodies, but here is my public Disqus profile which shows comments I make on other blogs which use Disqus.
In my opinion, these are some really useful tools, and more bloggers would probably adopt their use if they, and their readers understood the full benefit and usage. That means ending the confusion surrounding them, but I am trying! I use Disqus commenting system here on this blog. Try it out by adding your comment. It really is as easy as I said.
How to Find Good Blogs
Can you believe how many blogs there are out there on the Internet? There must be a squillion people blogging about everything from A to Z. Finding the good ones which fit your interests can be a lot easier with the right tools. Try a Google blog search (http://blogsearch.google.com/) for things which interest you. Try a Twitter search, and monitor it regularly! Even if you do not have a Twitter account, you can still find a lot of value in the search features. Get creative and try it out at search.twitter.com and be sure to try the advanced search. There are also a lot of blog aggregation services like Blog Catalog and Technorati, along with many which are targeted to specific interests or industries.
A great place to find useful blogs is by paying attention to what people with your same interests or in your career field read. You can often find that out by watching their Twitter, Facebook, Digg, or better yet, go look to see which websites are linking to their website by searching their web address on Open Site Explorer. If they leave comments on blogs, you can bet the links will show up. Just think of all you can do with that information.
Once you find some blogs you like, subscribe to them! You will really not get much benefit from a blog if you make it easier to overlook them. I use Google Reader to subscribe to many RSS feeds, but I subscribe to my favorite blogs by email and by RSS just to be sure I keep in touch with them. If you want to know more about tools to help with blogs, I strongly suggest reading “6 Essential Blogging Tools for Bloggers and Non-Bloggers“.
SEO and Blog Commenting
Why should you participate in blog discussions? Have you ever heard of WiiFM? It means “What’s in it for me?” You want to know the answer of what’s in it for you, right? After all, you are still human, even if you are one of those “blog people” I mentioned.
The benefits of blog commenting are not just as they seem. Certainly there is a strong benefit from a SEO (search engine optimization) standpoint, but let’s not get irritating with that! I will touch on this topic and then move on. If you take this as a suggestion to go out with a hope of leaving meaningless comments on a bunch of blogs to become popular, you will not be popular in the way you like. In fact, I consider it a horrible SEO strategy (but very common) to try and use blog comments to build up your incoming links. Sure, blog comment links can be quite valuable, but without being courteous and useful, you are just peeing down your leg. You will find a much more profound benefit by being useful, and I will explain that.
Think of it this way, if you try to use blog commenting as a tool for SEO, imagine how much greater value you will find if your comments make people like you and want to know you. If they come and read your blog, they may like what you have to say there, too. This is precisely the reason my blog here at aWebGuy.com is listed with a link from every page of a whole lot of blogs in their “Blogroll”. They are also more likely to reference you with a link in one or more of their articles. That seems a lot more valuable to me than the SEO value of links from a few comments I made. Wouldn’t you agree?
NOTE: To all of those who have blessed me with a link in their blogroll, or in an article, I truly appreciate you! I am still planning to add a blogroll here someday. In the meantime, I still try to write something about you whenever I can.
When you comment on a blog and include your URL (website address), it will appear as a link on most blogs. Those links are what search engines use to discover and judge the value of websites. More links means more value, but of course it is not that easy. More of the right links can add huge value. The SEO tactic of seeking blogs with great search engine ranking just to leave worthless comments misses the target in a big way. Just imagine if you said something funny, interesting, useful, or otherwise put your unique spin on a topic. People are more likely to like and respect you, and there is definitely a better chance that they will want to know more about you. I have gained a lot of readers because they saw my comments on another blog and liked my take on things.
An example I recently suggested to a client was to use blogs to learn more about her related industries. She just opened her second Pilates studio in Aventura Florida. We talked about how to book up her new location by looking at who wants or needs her services.
We discovered that golfers can benefit from Pilates. I suggested that she read more blogs about golfing and get to know the community. She also said that equestrian is another area she sees a lot of business. I suggested getting to know the equestrian community in her area. Just reading about these topics, alone, can help her have a better conversation when these people contact her, but also give her a lot better understanding of their needs when it is time to write about these things on her blog. If she choses to comment on topics in these fields with something useful, she could become a lot more valuable to the community. It adds up over time, in a big way. Now, imagine how nice it will be for her if her website lands in the blogroll of a handful of related blogs because they like her input.
Good Blog Commenting
What is a good blog comment? Sometimes it is perfectly fine to add a brief comment just to thank the author, but it is far better to say what you really think. “Thanks, great blog post.” is about generic enough that you may just earn the sugar-free cookie award for being boring. Step it up a notch and ask a question, answer a question, or do something more than look like you are just trying to get a link on their blog. Trust me on this … bloggers are pretty skeptical about those “Thanks, great blog post.” people. There are thousands of people in India (no offense to my Indian friends) who are paid about four dollars a year to sit and add “Thanks, great blog post.” comments to blogs.
You can do better, and it really does make a difference! Doing better usually means that you should slow down and participate. The scan-and-click nature of the Internet leads to a lot of waste. If you actually slow down and give your attention to the blogs you like, and the blogs where you find value, you can create more value for yourself.
I should note that bloggers love comments, and it validates their hard work. It makes sense for it to be really easy and inviting for users to add their input. I would probably have a lot more comments here, but I am just crazy enough to put my toll free telephone number all over my blog. I love having brainstorming calls from friends and strangers. It keeps me sharp. My phone rings … a lot! Since most bloggers probably do not want my telephone bill, a fantastic alternative is comments.
Stop and Read the Comments!
Once you find blogs that you like, be sure to read the comments. Those comments are written by other people who may have similar interests and you may find that you really like them. You may find a connection to your next great customer, friend, supplier, or job. If you do not slow down and pay attention, you will never know. If you don’t leave your comments, they won’t either!
People ask me about blogging every day. They often ask me by way of a search engine, but they also ask me by telephone, in person, and a lot of other communications methods (no carrier pigeons, please).
I have written a lot of blog articles, and I have written a lot about blogging. As an example, I offer you my “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog“, along with the many others you will find in my blog archive. I have also written about reasons blogs fail.
A blog is a great hub for search engine optimization and social media marketing efforts. This is a fact which is undeniable and proven with a lot of data. A blog can also require a lot of time. Time is money, and somebody must be held accountable.
When I consider the various blogs (websites) where I write, it is as if each one of them represents different aspects of my persona. Some of them bring out my perfectionist side (the prominent side), and I am compelled to read them over and over to be sure they are perfect before publishing. Other blogs (websites) are more fun and I can whip out my wacky sense of humor.
In any blogging effort, I find that the more time and effort I invest, the more valuable it becomes to me. In the case of my blog at awebguy.com, I have invested a lot of time and effort to have all the pieces fit. It serves me commensurate with my effort.
I normally include a creative image to represent each article. The pictures in a blog post have a surprising affect with readers. They enhance the message and set a tone. I suggest always using a creative image in a blog post! I am skipping the image this time.
I also spend a lot of time adding page descriptions, blog tags, blog categories, and even recording a podcast for many of my articles so that people can listen instead of reading. Of course, these things require a lot of work.
When I finish all the production, then I need to share my articles across my social networks. Sure, a lot of this can be reasonably automated, but a human approach is always better. In fact, the effort is quantifiable and I am going against my own style to produce and publish this article.
Changing Blog Formats
The point here is that I am changing formats. I will still provide my lengthy articles making strong points using things I know. In fact, I have some great pieces coming up soon, so if you have not subscribed, I would like to encourage that you subscribe now. I will also be including some short and simplified clips in the mix … like this one. This particular article is intended to be a quickie, and I will actually save a ton of effort which some people will notice.
As I contemplate changing formats to a less time consuming style of blog, I feel compelled to offer the advice given by many parents as follows: “Do as I say, and not as I do.”
I want to offer you this cautionary consideration. Many people think they can get by doing less than what it takes to produce a great blog, but then still expect great results. It does not work! I have paid a lot of dues in the realm of blogging, and I can assure you that this article will garner far less attention than the ones I spend a lot of time and effort to produce and publicize. For me, that is fine, because I am actually not here to sell you anything. If you want to sell something, you really should do all of that extra work that may seem useless to you.
I will likely provide much more of the “bare bones Murnahan” in the future. This time, I just wanted to say something useful and fast. OK, maybe it did not seem fast to you, but I nixed the podcast, image, and a ton of the other work that has helped to make this blog popular. I also hope that you still find it useful, and preferably before you choose to cut corners.
Look Mom … no frills! If you intend to skip the extra work in producing your blog, just be sure that you do not rely on it to bring in more business.
The bottom line is that if you want a blog to boost your bottom line, you should go the extra mile.
Most of us will probably agree that collective thinking as a community is more beneficial than our individual thoughts. This does not mean we will all adapt to the thoughts of our community. Sometimes we will disagree, which can also prove beneficial. The fact remains that communities think bigger than the sum of their parts. This is why we have terms like “two heads are better than one” and why social media has become so useful for cultivating ideas with collaboration, for those who choose to embrace it. My blog thought for today is about the communities which we create, and how much of the community involvement is easy to overlook.
Blogging creates small communities which are often loosely connected, and it does so in some unique ways. Some of these small communities which blogs create are closely connected and some are only loosely connected but yet just as valuable. Often times, the community effect is simply the sharing of an idea which seeds thinking for others. It creates a collective intelligence which guides us on our way.
The ideas I write here on my blog must have received influence from somewhere. I could not have written about SEO and social media marketing 20 years ago. Sure, I largely write from my experiences, but it is influenced by a community of others. Sometimes the influence is a thought that I saw expressed in a blog or combination of blogs, then I nurture the thoughts and add my experience. Thus, it still reflects the community thinking I mentioned. When I can define sources of my inspiration, I try to link to those blogs so they will know that I am a part of their community. I also try to add my thoughts to the respective blogs’ comments and hope that it benefits the community.
Your Community Extends Beyond Your Blog
Many bloggers are too critical with their perception of community, simply because they do not recognize ways to measure it. One of the greatest gifts a blogger can have is a huge stream of comments on their blog articles. Blog comments are just one notch below the prize of a link referencing their work in another blog article. However, this is not always the most important measurement of their community reach.
Sure, I am one of those who wonder “why didn’t people add their two cents” in the comments, or why they will use my work without crediting me, but then I look at the other measures and I can relax again. Yes, the comments bring the sense of community into one place where it can all be sorted out and discussed, but let’s take a look at other ways you can know you made an impact.
If your blog is syndicated through RSS (basic examples of syndication: Squidoo; GoodReads; BlogCatalog), it likely reaches a lot of other places where it is discussed. When I click “Publish”, I know that my blog is automatically published to a lot of other networks, so I try to be mindful of this. I try to keep an eye on what people are saying “over there”, too. There are a lot of blogging tools to help you measure this, and you will find some of the in the article titled “6 Essential Blogging Tools for Bloggers and Non-Bloggers“.
I think of a blog as the hub of social media for a business. It really is the center point, but it is not always the actual website where the blog resides that receives the discussion, or gives and receives all the benefits. It is the information of the blog … the message, which is the hub, and not only the website.
Important Community Tip: Look outside of just your blog.
I can reliably measure that over 80 percent of my blog’s engagement comes from outside of aWebGuy.com. That is a sizable statistic to overlook, and it makes up a massive portion of my community. Just imagine how easy it would be to miss this critical part of the community I work so hard to build.
Syndication can spread a message far and wide, but it also carries a responsibility to know how the information was received and how it may adjust your thinking on a given topic. This could mean Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, other blogs quoting your work, and many other possibilities. Discovering these places and finding out what people had to say can be very useful. Plus, if you seek them out and communicate with the respondents, it gives pretty compelling evidence that you care what people have to say.
If you count on Trackbacks to find all of the places your blog content is being discussed, you will surely miss a lot. Taking extra care to follow the flow of your work can be quite enlightening.
As a person who writes blogs, I do not have any delusion of being a critical piece of a community outside of my own blog. I try to be valuable to the larger community, but I am just a cog in the machine. This big machine will run with my participation, or without it, but I remain here to keep fine tuning it in my own little ways. I add my little piece of “community” with my thoughts and I find that it often benefits me, and hopefully those around me, too.
Thoughts for My Blog Community
I want to leave you with some thoughts to consider about your blog community, whether you are an author, or reader.
When you think of your community, what does it mean to you?
There are a lot of organized blogging communities, but what about the extended community which influences your blog or is influenced by it?
How are you building that community?
Are you overlooking your expanded community?
Which blogs provide influence to you (links welcome)?
Sometimes the value of blogging is simply found in the collective thinking accumulated from multiple sources and experiences compiled by the author. This does not always require direct two-way communication. All the same, it is often greatly enhanced by participation.
These questions I have posed are not just rhetorical questions to help you think about your blogging efforts. If you have an answer, please share it with the community.
Performance auto parts may not be on your agenda to buy, or to sell, but the automotive performance parts industry can still provide the basis for a useful marketing exercise. If you follow this exercise, I ask that you look for ways it can be related back to your industry, whether that is automotive-related or astrophysics.
Challenges of the Performance Auto Parts Industry
The performance auto parts industry, including an astonishing number of retailers, manufacturers, engineers, wholesalers, and users of automotive performance parts have each had a pretty hard time over the past couple years. The economy tanked, gas prices skyrocketed, and the world has tried to become more eco-friendly. The significance of these direct blows to the performance auto parts market makes it a great example of the importance of marketing.
Any of these challenges could single-handedly crush a small or shaky organization, but together, they have created havoc that puts gray hair and wrinkles on business owners. For those who are left while competitors drop off the RADAR, the market gets a little stronger. This creates an opportunity to generate brand loyalty from customers of fallen competitors, and use market failures to increase market share. Without addressing market share, a company will often be just a little closer to falling off the RADAR themselves.
Imagine for a moment that you are in the business of selling performance auto parts. The thought of having heavy financial interest in this market would send a lot of business people screaming and running for the exit, but not you. You are fearless, and you are in it for the long haul. Sure, it is largely a scared market with bad influences from many angles, but you are up to the challenges of looking long-term and setting a course to success. You want the kind of success that uses the lows to come out stronger than before.
Let us think about this as an exercise to stretch our minds and discover new success. I will be your partner in this example, and together we will do some thinking about how to keep our make-believe performance auto parts business bringing in the customers and giving them reasons to tell their friends about us. We need customers, but how will we reach them, and what will we do to place ourselves ahead of the competition? Come on, partner … we are in this together, so let’s get to thinking.
This will require a lot of ongoing work, but I will offer some ideas to get us started.
Maybe We Should Blog About Our Performance Auto Parts
Blogging is popular, and it can bring in a whole lot of valuable website traffic and build brand awareness, but what can we blog about? How much can we really say about fuel injectors, turbochargers, and race-tuned suspension parts? Wouldn’t that get pretty boring?
I am stunned by how many people I speak to who think of a blog in terms of simply reaching immediate customers, and neglect the blog’s contribution toward building a brand and creating a community of loyal readers. Many companies neglect blogging, because it all starts to seem like work, and they do not recognize the many benefits. So, if you don’t care about or understand all of the other valuable reasons to blog, just consider the enormous link building potential that will help your website rank better for more “performance auto parts” related search phrases.
Something we should perhaps consider is not just blogging about fuel injectors, turbochargers, and race-tuned suspension parts, but rather things like auto racing, race car drivers, automotive events, car maintenance, and a variety of other things car lovers are interested in. Maybe we could do a series of automotive performance “how-to” articles along with diagrams and YouTube videos. Maybe we could publish something about the American Le Mans Series Michelin Green X Challenge and how it is improving eco-friendly race technology. We could discuss how it affects consumers, now and into the future. Maybe we can create something interesting, informative, entertaining, or otherwise useful to our market influencers.
The racing industry and performance automotive engineers do great works to improve “greenness” of the automotive industry. If we get really creative, maybe we can even find some ways to grow our brand recognition for pointing out the good … and even great things our industry is doing to help people, economy, and our planet.
It is starting to seem like there could be a whole lot more reasons to blog than we thought. It seems like a good time to read “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog” and keep the thinking cap on.
Do Facebook Users Like Performance Auto Parts?
The fact that over five hundred million people are using Facebook seems to indicate that Facebook is useful for reaching people. With half a billion people, there is sure to be a race fan, race car driver, racing team, automotive engineer, ecologist, popular automotive blogger, or speed junkie in there somewhere who would like our company. There must be something there for us!
A mistake many companies will make is trying to pitch a deal to people instead of creating a reason for people to know and like their “performance auto parts”, and the people and culture of the organization. It is wise to note that name recognition always comes with an attached mental image. A sales pitch usually leaves little or no image at all.
On the surface, it seems that nobody in our market is doing so great at reaching the Facebook speed junkies. Does this mean Facebook is not a good tool for building a community? After all, it is not working for most of the others in the performance auto parts industry. Maybe it is a waste of time.
Upon a closer inspection, it seems that this is largely because nobody is making significant creative efforts. Most of the performance auto parts people I found are only trying to advertise their performance parts like a bad used car salesman and do very little to create a genuine interest in their brand from people who purchase or influence the purchase of performance auto parts. It seems that since spewing advertisements fails so miserably for the majority of companies, many of the Facebook pages I saw have not been updated much.
Now, doesn’t this start to seem like an opportunity for us, or would we rather let other people’s failures of strategic planning and marketing creativity dictate our success? No? That is what I thought, my fearless performance auto parts selling partner … we are in it for the long haul, and that is why we will win the hearts and minds of Facebook. Let us go there and do something brilliant!
Automotive Performance Meets Twitter
Should we use Twitter to communicate with customers, potential customers, and market influencers? It seems like it may be just a big waste of time. Who is going to do that tweeting, and what will they tweet about? What if they tweet the wrong thing and make us look bad?
Have you ever looked at the competition to see just how terrible their marketing is? It is a pretty good place to find ways you may be missing the mark with potential customers. Sometimes it is a good idea to see what people are doing in some other random industry, because then it is even easier to be critical.
Maybe we should do some Twitter searches to see what others in the performance auto parts industry have to say, or what people are saying about them. Who knows, maybe we can pick up some good information and ideas as spectators. Then, maybe we can find an angle to help us build our market and find out what people like. I suppose that may be worth a shot, what do you think, partner? Should we see what Twitter is talking about and think about ways we could do better?
What Do I know About Performance Auto Parts?
I know that it can be hard to think outside of your own four walls, but with a little exercise, it can provide great benefit to your marketing. Most people, and most organizations do not have a really spectacular plan to improve their market. When you do, you can come out ahead, but it means that you have to try harder than them. You have to think differently than them.
I hope that giving a little thought to the performance auto parts industry will be helpful to you, whether it is actually your industry or not. I suppose I could be wrong with my automotive industry suggestions and analogies. Although, considering how many performance automotive parts suppliers’ logos I have put on brand new Corvettes, it would be a shame if I was wrong. 😉
YourNew.com Racing Corvette Z06: Driver Mark Aaron Murnahan
NOTE: There are winners and losers in every industry. Marketing is often the biggest determining factor.
