Monetizing Your Blog in 2015: Getting Ready for the New Year

"How Do I Monetize My Blog?"

We've all seen this question a million times. And the people who answer it seem so confident - these easy steps are all they ever needed to monetize their blog.  It seems so easy, but why isn't it working for you?

Today's post include four steps, but each of these steps are pretty big ones. We're not talking fairytales - if you want to make money in 2015 with your blog, you need to do some real work on it right now. So let's get started!

Giving Your Blog a Winter Tune-Up

When cold weather comes around, you tune-up your car, recaulk the windows. When the weather warms up, you take to the garden to prettify your yard. Seasonally, you do maintenance on your house and yard.....

...so how long has that blog looked exactly the same?

As time changes, technology changes, and expected levels of technology use changes, as well. Layouts that were great in 1998 are embarrassingly painful now. It's time to shake that blog out and give it a look-over. Great big embedded files aren't important, what's important is that your blog is lithe enough to be shared and commented on. No wants dancing hamsters any more. What you want and need are a core audience of engaged, passionate readers.

Ask yourself,  Is My Blog Sociable?

Every corporate site has sharing links, but there's nothing sociable about them. You can share company news for years and no one from the company will thank you, unless you have a massive readership. If you have sharing tools on your blog, can you track the shares, know what people are saying and where they are saying it? Monitor who you top sharers are and be able to thank them where they spread the word. Being sociable will build a strong brand and a strong bond with your readers. Reward them with your time and attention when they engage and they'll be back for more.


Have Realistic Expectations

Whether you're writing about a niche topic or trends in technology, your audience size will be the key factor in what you can reasonably expect from monetization. The demographics of your audience will also be key. 250 readers everyday is significant to you, but even if each one clicks on those ads and affiliate links, it's not going to add up to much. The halcyon years of affiliate income is long gone, as retailers and ad networks are squeezing down hard on rates.

Audience size and readership demographics will affect potential income - but it's your readers engagement that will ultimately decide whether you succeed.  If your posts get high engagement - more than just a like, but actual conversation, people ready and willing to engage with your content by sharing their thoughts about it, you'll have a better chance to successfully monetize.


Don't Be Afraid to Talk About It

The very personal relationship you build with your audience is the real draw for your blog. Unless you're working with a major magazine site, readers are reading your blog because of you - your stories, your perspective.

When you launch your monetization campaign,don't slide it in when no one's looking, don't be subtle - tell folks about it! If you've done everything right, your readers will jump at the chance to be part of the team, and make your blog an income-generator for you. They want you to succeed, so help them to help you. 

Get your blog tuned up, ramp up on being Sociable, and come back next time for some good options for monetizing your blog in 2015!

Doing Less - How to Unlock Amazing Customer Service

Can doing less satisfy customers more?

There have been many studies about how small rewards create less pressure and instill more creativity and receptiveness. The Candle Problem is the one I refer to the most. But for today, as I so often do, I'll resort to parable to answer this question.

 Parable 1: On my other blog, which deals with an extremely narrow niche of a niche, I created the "Hero program," in which people who buy an item off my Wish List for me to review get the least of all possible rewards - a jpeg image of a badge. This program took off so quickly that there are times I'm often pressed to keep items on my list...and I had to create a premium tier for people who wouldn't stop giving me things! The point here wasn't that I was giving them meaningful physical rewards, but that I was giving them recognition. I'll come back to that in a moment.

Parable 2: I recently called up an airline to request an upgrade for my upcoming trip. I am flying with my wife and while I have barely-elite status, she has none. The CSR said, "You'll be upgraded first, then she will, if there's room." I replied, very slowly and calmly, "But you're going to do *everything* in your power to make sure we both get upgraded, right?" And I kept on her until she actually said those words back to me.

Which brings me to my actual point.

Customer Service has two key components:

  What you do for people

and

  How you do it

What you give people is the actual reward. Whether it is a little gesture of thanks, or a new car, the reward itself is only as important as the feeling of "seriously, we appreciate you" that the customer gets from it.

Truly frequent fliers probably don't notice anymore when they get upgraded...they expect it, demand it, feel that they've earned it. It's their due, not a gesture of appreciation for their business. 

How you do a thing is 99% of the impact of excellent Customer Service. Is what you're giving a true expression of gratitude for the customer's business and support? Or is your loyalty program instead of a true expression of gratitude?

My Heroes know that I appreciate them...from the bottom of my heart. The badge is worthless, my sincere and heartfelt appreciation is priceless. And they know that. In Parable 2, had the CSR said those words - even if she was lying - to me the first time, I would have felt much more appreciated than when she responded with "Well,I don't know...there's not much I can do."

When I call a business that I've supported for years and say, hey, can I get a coupon or something, the wrong response is "Well, we don't have anything like that." The right response is to offer something, anything. "Of course, ma'am! If you come in today, we'll give you...." It absolutely doesn't matter how small the thing is, it's not the the thing I care about. It's the way the thing is presented. What I'm actually asking for is that you recognize and appreciate me and my business.
So, if an airline says, "We see that you've flown with us three times this month and we just wanted to say 'thanks,' so here's a free drink coupon for you." It's worth, what, $6? But it would make me feel good. Like someone noticed me. I feel that my contribution is recognized.

 Providing customers with a pleasant feeling of recognition for their business is the very least thing and the most effective thing you can and should do for good customer service.

Everybody's Talking At You: 3 Really Important Things You Still Don't Get About Social Media

The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride in the Social Media world. People who should know better misusing their public platforms to say unfortunate things, people using traditional media arguing about the wrong parts of the problem and the great piranha tank of social media weighing in with opinions without context.

There was a lot of misunderstanding on all sides and everyone was wrong. And in the mix of screaming and screaming about screaming, everyone missed the three lessons everyone who works with Social Media needs to know.

Lesson 1:

You Cannot Control the Message

In the closed world of the conference room, you might make an off-color joke about the mail guy. Depending on your level of power, people might pretend it was funny. If you have less power, someone might look at you and say, "that was uncool." You then backtrack, claim it was a joke. But the mailroom guy is not likely to hear about it, whatever happens.

In Social Media, even with locked accounts, you are speaking to an open room. Once out there, a screencapped image can live on forever. Forget claiming an account was hacked or that it was a joke...the evidence of your inside voice can and will get to the mailroom guy....good luck getting your mail forever.

Being tone deaf to the AIDS crisis or Middle East uprisings will not make you look clever, it will not get laughs, except those "Hah-Hah!"s that accompany pointing fingers as you go down in flames. Political and social crises are not acceptable vehicles upon which to piggyback your marketing messages.

If you wouldn't want 7 billion people seeing, talking about or retweeting it - don't say it.


Lesson 2:

Everything You Say on Social Media is Relevant

The person you hire to spread your messaging is You. The message they spread is You. The name that is used in those messages is You. It is not Social Media's fault if you won't admit that yours is not the most popular company.

When a person states in their profile that they are your PR person, they will speak about your corporate culture 24/7. If they post dismissive, rude comments at 3AM on Saturday after a night out, it will still reflect on you.

There is no "time-off" for your company. No kicking back, taking the shoes off. Everything ever said by you, about you or for you reflects on you.


Lesson 3:

Social Media is Not An Advertisement

In a discussion with an agency recently, we commiserated over the case of the client with a missing clue. They want to get straight sales conversion from a Social Media profile but they don't want to do actual sales tactics. Apparently, the client believes that merely liking their page - and never hearing from them again - should magically convert into higher profit.

Advertising works because it saturates a space. Social Media works because it doesn't saturate a space, it targets very specific, very precise areas. Social Media is the way we communicate with people in small, deep pockets of the Internet, not broad swaths of it. If you're looking to work the advertising funnel model of conversion, do not go with Social Media.

You get to choose one way to communicate: You can talk to everyone through advertising or You can talk to a few people through Social.

Both can create value for your brand and your bottom line...but you have to choose each one for itself, mixing them up doesn't really work.

Learn these three lessons about Social Media and you'll never be embarrassed again.

Why People Unfollow/Unfriend/Disconnect Your Business and How to Re-Engage

When you're a small or medium business owner, there is both power and prestige in having a strong Social Media following. And it can hurt your bottom line if there's a mass exodus of those followers. There are any number of reasons why people stop following your business, and today we'll look at ehy people follow your business in the first place - and what keeps them engaged or drives them away.

Why People Like, Follow or Connect With Your Business

1) Immediate Need - the customer is looking for a product or service something your business offers.

2) Advocacy - The consumer could be a repeat customer looking to a) support a business they like or b) to get coupons/discounts for products or services they have enjoyed in the past and wish to get again.

3) Non-Business Loyalty - A friend owns, works for, or has some other allegiance to the business and the consumer is showing to public support.

Having gotten consumer interest in the first place, why do so few Businesses retain their interest? It's relatively easy to get someone to "Like" a page, and it is even easier to lose followers with a single misstep.

Why People Unlike, Unfollow or Disconnect With Your Business

Let's start with Non-business related Loyalty first. If a person's reason for following a business has no relation to the business itself, then their reasons for unfollowing/friending them are likely to to be the same. The friend has moved on, or gained enough traction, or they had a falling out.  Supporting their business is just not a high priority anymore. This is a problem mostly for extremely local-focus businesses, which rely heavily on word of mouth.

How to Re-engage: Turn your friends into valued customers and gain real loyalty for your business by reaching out with meaningful connection related to your business.

When Advocacy lapses, it is important to recognize interests and needs change over time. The company may no longer be relevant to me.  There's very little that can be done about this loss, except to be gracious and express a hope for future reconnection.

It's important to acknowledge that you company may have alienated the customer in some way with bad customer service or uncompetitive pricing, or poor product or services.  Consumers may become tired of self-promotion, poor response rate or dislike the fact that no one is curating the social accounts. At this level, there are *so* many reason a person might unfollow.


How to Re-engage: An advocate is almost always going to be a customer who wants relevant, authentic contact and content. Many companies seriously drop the ball with their customers at this level. Instead of thinking about what customers can do for you, consider how your business can make a difference for customers. Talk with them, as opposed to advertising at them, invite good customers and loyal customers to special events, offer "tell a friend deals." Invest time in your relationships and in your Social Media.

If the reason a person followed you was Immediate Need, thhey no longer need to be in contact with your company. Not every unfollow is a personal insult.

How to Re-engage: If you've done your job and created truly Social interaction, they'll be back when they need you. Acknowledge the Tare and move on, working with those people who want to stay connected.

Losing followers is inevitable. The best thing to do is make the trail back to you appealing and open. Build bridges, don't burn them and you'll find your following growing naturally.

You're Not the Pied Piper, Part 2: "One Too Many"

In Follow Me! Follow Me!, we discussed companies that ask you to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, sign up for their newsletter...all so they can give you the same press release in 5 fabulous formats!

Today, we're going to look at other side of this bad social media practice - the "One Too Many" syndrome.

Company A offers a reward: Like them on Facebook! (Okay, no prob!) Then follow them on Twitter. (Um, okay...) Now, tweet this canned response with a hashtag! (All right...) Now, take the code you receive as a DM to their website to get your reward! (Too late, I've moved on.)

Company B offers a contest: Like Us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, then scan this QR code, go to that website and register, to be entered into this contest for a free something worth about $10!

It's a classic case of "one too many."

Followers should have to do one thing. Either they scan in the QR code or they give a FB like or Twitter follow. Then give them the reward. Customers are not toddlers, they are not dogs. Ask them to do too much, they'll wander off, bored.

Every additional step a company requires from consumers, leeches their interest in whatever contest, or junky reward. No, they will not scan a QR code, then like your FB page to get...what? A few bucks off? A free soda when they spend $50?  A free sticker? The "reward" is rarely worth the time and effort

Consumers are not following your company to bump up your numbers. They expect value from you.

Exclusives, special deals and good content will bring in loyal followers. And loyal customers is what you want, not people who sign up for contests.

Wibbly-wobbly, Returny-wurny | Lessons on Social Media from Doctor Who

In 1963 a children's show was created in the UK. It was meant to be an educational show, a show that would transport its audience through time to the past to witness the Aztecs or Ancient Rome. It was marginally successful until someone decided that while the characters were traveling through Time, they could also be travelling through Space. The show, Doctor Who, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and is more popular than ever. But it wasn't a smooth ride at all.

For the first years of its life, the show was popular with children (and their adults) as a sci-fi show, with evil baddies, ambiguous morality lessons and a charismatic, mercurial lead, The Doctor. In the 1980s the BBC leadership was absolutely dedicated to killing the show, but fan pressure - now global through Public Television support for the show in America and Australia - brought it back from the grave, for a while, until the show was once again cancelled after the 7th Doctor played his last spoon....

...Only Doctor Who didn't die. Bizarrely, it was picked up by an American television network, which of course focused on all the wrong things, and annoyed the British fans no end ("The American Movie" is how the 8th Doctor's tenure is known among fans.) But it did something unheard of. 40 years old and the show hadn't died. Like a Monty Python character, it kept reassuring us "It wasn't dead yet." And fandom hadn't moved on. With a body of episodes in the hundreds, still showing on Public TV, then reluctantly released by the BBC on VHS, the DVD, fandom wasn't dead.

And neither was the show. In 2005 the famous blue box known as the TARDIS landed once again in the UK and it was alive, again. The "new" Doctor Who, which picked up with the 9th Doctor and has now made it to the 11th is more popular, more global  - and more financially lucrative than ever before.

So, what are the lessons we can learn from this story?

Return on Time - Perseverance isn't overrated

In the days before Venture Capital and Y Combinator, sometimes all you had to rely on was Time. Having a good idea five years too early can gut a company. But Apple proves the point - when a good idea takes time, perseverance, passion and a soupcon of delusional belief that you're right, playing the long game can lead to success.

Return on Investment - Throwing money at the problem works too

When the BBC demanded better ratings for the 7th Doctor, and they were competing with Star Trek: Next Generation for share of the TV Sci-fi watching audience, the creators of Doctor Who were in a bind. They scraped up more money and put on the most sophisticated show their budget would allow. In comparison with earlier seasons it was fantastic (despite that, the BBC was grumpy again, and they killed it anyway.) In 2005, the showrunners pulled out the stops and the re-launch of this iconic show was as good as anything else on TV. No plywood hallways, no two-set shows. Doctor Who was a big kid now. When you've strained to the edge of what you can do with Time, Investment pushes you to the next  level.

Return on Social is Wibbly-wobbly, Returny-wurny

The 10th Doctor famously stated, "Time is wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey." If there is a single lesson we can grok from The Doctor and his travels through our airspace and time, it's that Return on Social isn't a matter of simple eyeball formulas or likes or shares. In the days before the Internet, Doctor Who fandom created fanzines, wrote fiction, gathered together with friends on Saturday night to watch the show on Public Television, went to conventions to meet the actors. It has always been a social product. DW fandom were early adapters of online technology, expanding their contacts in fandom globally. When the new show launched, fandom was all ready for it. The network was built, ready and waiting. Virality wasn't an accident, it was 40 years in the making. And that is why the new show is popular. BBC and BBC America have made it more accessible, but the Internet does the rest.

Return on Social means a little push here, a nudge there, circle back and start again. When the formula doesn't work exactly as planned, passion and engagement can carry the project along. Superb execution pushes the boundaries and then back to the beginning yet again. Social is wibbly-wobbly, but if Doctor Who teaches us anything, it's that it can absolutely be returny-wurny.

The 4 Pillars of A Healthy Online Community

Whether we're reaching out to a specialized subject community or to a broad social network, we're looking to our contacts online for information, suggestion and recommendation all the time.

More of our lives is spent online in the communities we join and build, and more of our time is spent handling the issues that arise in these spaces. Communities exist on investing sites, shopping sites, health sites and entertainment sites. There is hardly anywhere online one can go where a community is not at least part of the equation.

The question then is - how do we build healthy online communities?


Defining Community vs Network

For the purposes of this article, I want to define how I am using the word "community" vs. "network." 

A "network" in this context is the web of contacts, acquaintances, friends and colleagues we acquire over time. These may be circumstantial - professional colleagues, coworkers, etc.;  or social - friends, relatives, acquaintances. Networks may be organic and/or intentional.

Communities are, for the purposes of this article, always intentional. A professional community may be an association, a personal community may be a group focused on a hobby or interest. Networks can grow without our specific intent to do so (a friend introducing us to another friend for example) but we seek out community with intention.

Groups on Facebook, subReddits, hashtags on Twitter and other smaller pockets of interest on larger platforms can function as communities, as well as focused lists, forums, sites and even whole social networks.

Online Communities are, therefore, groups of people we intentionally seek out in order to...what? 

People seek out community to gain/share/impart information.

The guy who tells you about this lunch on Twitter - he's imparting information. Not very relevant or targeted information, admittedly, but hey, there may be someone out there who cares that Taco Tuesday at the Taco Stand is outstanding. It might be noise to you, but it's signal to the guy who shared it.

So when we seek out community, we have the intention of finding folks who will share info that is more signal than noise - i.e., stuff we care about. This may be information of relevance to us professionally or personally, but the point is, we look for a "community" where this kind of information will be shared.  

When we join a community, we are all initially consumers of information. We might read FAQs, ask a few folks for their thoughts, read what is being said. We join to gain information.  We join as "consumers" of information. Over time, some people find themselves with the right experience or temperament to share or impart information. These people contribute information. (Contribution is sometimes rewarded with badges of achievement or rank.) Generally speaking, even new people can see that there is an upper class of users. These may be called senior members, power users (or the star-chamber cabal, depending on the level of resentment harbored by non-power users) and they will have both cognitive authority and be the object of resentment on even a healthy community.

Building a Healthy Community

Every community want to be a healthy community. Like our own bodies, there's a certain amount of health one can establish as a solid base on which to build. For a community, these include good moderation, inclusive policies, scalable architecture and a soupcon of humor when dealing with other humans. I.e., the hardware, the software and the humanware should be as flexible and scalable as possible.

On this base are Four Pillars that support the Community.

       Contributor                                             Contributor

Top-Down Communication	Peer Communication
Peer Communication	Bottom-Up Communication

        Consumer                                              Consumer

Consumers come into a community with a desire to know, learn or share.

Let's create a fictitious community called Labville, where high school students can discuss scientific experiments with other students and get prompts from older students and teachers.

Adam joins Labville first as a Consumer. He reads posts by Barb and Charlie, both students who have done the same experiment he's working on now. Adam asks a few questions, but mostly reads. He is a consumer involved in Bottom-up Communication. Once he's learned that Daniella is doing the same experiments and has similar ideas as he does, he starts to talk to her as a peer. Adam and Daniella are joined in their "Experiment Y" discussion by Eugene and Frieda. A peer group is forming between them and they generally don't reach outside of it unless they need help from Barb and Charlie. The groups now engages regularly in Peer-to-Peer Communication.

George arrives and he's...a problem. For whatever reason, he's taken a disliking to Adam and snipes constantly at his work. Whether Adam asks a question, replies to someone else  - and even though he generally avoids conversations where George is active - George goes out of his way to be rude to and about Adam.

Barb and Charlie, as Contributors, will try to hold the conversations on topic and maybe Harriet, a Labville Moderator, will step in.

These Contributors will shape the conversation through Top-Down Communication.  Because Labville is not a hobbyist community, but is focused around asymmetric relationships (people who know and people who want to know) Contributors contribute by answering questions, positing thought-provoking questions of their own and guiding and focusing conversation. Top-Down Communication serves to keep conversation moving forward, or restarts it after it stalls. One of the goals of Top-Down is to inspire Peer-to-Peer Conversation among Consumers by helping them over humps in their learning

George has been behaving, but after a few months, he's started up again. Barb and Charlie have both moved on as Contributors (as a natural part of the Community Lifecycle,) but Ike and Justine are now very active Contributors. As Moderator, Harriet needs a private place to warn them about George and ask them to let her know if there are issues. The Contributors need a space for Peer-to-Peer Communication of their own, to foster best community practices, share critical operating information, training materials and provide a space for them to discuss the Consumers who might serve the community well as Contributors or even Moderators.

Peer-to-Peer Communication at both Consumer and Contributor levels fosters teamwork (and cliques.) Top-Down Communication provides a steady hand at the rudder and Bottom-Up Communication means there's opportunities for Consumers to learn and grow in the community.

These four pillars, standing on a foundation of good community practices, will be stable enough and strong enough to support a healthy, sustainable community for a long lifecycle.

Yes, Less Can Be More in Customer Service

There have been many studies about how small rewards create less pressure and instill more creativity and receptiveness. The Candle Problem is the one I refer to the most: 

As I so often do, I'll resort to parable.

Parable 1: On my older blog, which deals with an extremely narrow niche of a niche, I created the "Hero program," in which people who buy an item off my Wish List for me to review get the least of all possible rewards - a jpeg image of a badge. This program took off so quickly that there are times I'm pressed to keep items on my list...and I had to create a premium tier for people who wouldn't stop giving me things!

The point here wasn't that I was giving them meaningful physical rewards, but that I was giving them recognition. I'll come back to that in a moment.

Parable 2: I recently called up an airline to request an upgrade for my upcoming trip. I am flying with my wife and while I have barely-elite status, she has none. The CSR said, "You'll be upgraded first, then she will, if there's room." I replied, very slowly and calmly, "But you're going to do *everything* in your power to make sure we both get upgraded, right?" And I kept on her until she actually said those words back to me.

Which brings me to my actual point. Customer Service has two key components:

• What you do for people

and 

• How you do it

What you give people is the actual reward. Whether it is a little gesture of thanks, or a new car, the reward itself is only as important as the feeling of "seriously, we appreciate you" that the customer gets from it.

Truly frequent fliers probably don't notice anymore when they get upgraded...they expect it, demand it, feel that they've earned it. It's their due, not a gesture of appreciation for their business.

How you do a thing is 99% of the impact of excellent Customer Service. Is what you're giving a true expression of gratitude for the customer's business and support? Or is your loyalty program instead of a true expression of gratitude? 

My Heroes know that I appreciate them...from the bottom of my heart. The badge is worthless, my sincere and heartfelt appreciation is priceless. And they know that.

In Parable 2, had the CSR said those words - even if she was lying - to me the first time, I would have felt much more appreciated than when she responded with "well,I don't know...there's not much I can do." 

When I call a business that I've supported for years and say, hey, can I get a coupon or something, the wrong response is "well, we don't have anything like that." The right response is to offer something, anything. "Of course, ma'am! If you come in today, we'll give you...." It absolutely doesn't matter how small the thing is, it's not the the thing I care about. It's the way the thing is presented. What I'm actually asking for is that you recognize and appreciate me and my business.

So, if an airline says, "We see that you've flown with us three times this month and we just wanted to say 'thanks,'  so here's a free drink coupon for you." It's worth, what, $6? But it would make me feel good. Like someone noticed me. I feel that my contribution is recognized.

Providing customers with a pleasant feeling of recognition for their business is the very least thing and the most effective thing you can and should do for good customer service.

Moderation: Policing, Curation and Shoveling Behind Elephants

A new tenant moves into a community, notices that the grass has been trimmed, the kids are playing in the street without fear of being run over, and every Friday, there's a BBQ for the residents.

How does that happen? Well, resident fees are high enough to pay for regular maintenance, people obey the posted rules and they all chip in for the weekly affair with money, time, or supplies.

That sounds idyllic, but in reality it's just as likely for new residents to chafe at the rules, and work harder to find ways around paying the fees, and be annoyed by the constant clipping of the grass.

In online communities the secret ingredient to a peaceful life is almost always good moderation.

***

Good moderation looks awfully like the secret police to those members of communities who just can't manage to follow rules. Transparency in moderation always sounds good but involving the entire community in moderation only produces good policy when the community is small and there is a consensus of purpose. Once the community grows larger than the founders it's almost impossible to maintain that consensus.

Moderators, like the police, have an unpleasant job and no one likes them for doing it. They have to be parents, expressing disappointment at bad behavior, reprimanding when the behavior escalates and, ultimately punishing when it becomes untenable.

***

In a library, collection librarians are tasked with managing the size and content of the collection. They know the space limitations, budget constraints and what their community needs from them. This is not an abstract concept - a library filled with classic literature, when the community around it needs employment resources is a terrible mismatch. The gap would harm the library as much as the community.

Moderators, like librarians, have to have awareness of what the community wants from the community. If the majority of the community likce having a nice library, as unpopular a decision as it is, Moderators will have to remove Playboy magazine from the shelves. This may mean keeping tabs on "joke answers" or memes as answers because, while they entertain, they lessen the overall quality of the community. Not surprisingly, while the community wants a nice community, if they are the one posting the joke answer, it still hurts to get slapped.

***

And then there's times of crisis. On online communities, crisis looks like nothing at all to people who are not involved, the end times to people who are and the inevitable "this community sucks now" to people on the sidelines.

To Moderators, who have to escort anti-social, perpetually angry/dissatisfied or microaggressive members off the community and, to the best of their ability, clean up the mess afterwards - all while taking heat from people who don't really know the details - it looks exactly like the parade does from behind the elephants.

***

Moderators are unloved by nearly everyone, but essential to the functioning of a healthy community. Because Moderators are human, it's smart for a community Owner not to give them unlimited personal power, and require a certain amount of checks and balances from them before drastic measures are taken.

But if you've ever wondered how an online community can keep the lawns trimmed and hold a Friday BBQ, that's a good time to reach out and thank the Moderators.

Online Communities: Entropy Increases..Are You Seeing The Cracks?

This is a post I wrote on and about the online platform Quora, on which I am active and frankly I'd like to see succeed. Since the day this post was originally made Quora has instituted some important changed which address the issues in this article. In that case, it is rendered thankfully moot. Nonetheless, I believe this information has value in an of itself. While the post specifically related to Quora, the point I want make here is that Entropy Increases on Communities, as it does everywhere else. Watching MySpace flailing to regain relevance pains me, not because My Space is inherently bad, but because it's over. It had its time, it was really popular and now it's done.  But  could it have managed to retain relevance longer? How is it that Facebook is managing to do so, where MySpace never could? Read this and join me again at the end:

This winter marked my 2nd anniversary here on Quora. My second year was filled with some amazing things - answers being reproduced over at Huffington Post and Forbes, being named Top Writer. I've connected with amazing people here and really have enjoyed all my time on Quora.

I'm not leaving or anything, but when I (and all of you) come up on that moment, here will be the reasons why:

1) Taking away our sovereignty over our own content.

Several Quora community members have said this plainly and - for whatever reason - Quora is not listening.

If Quora makes it impossible to share the content we create on Quora, then we will create it somewhere else.

I don't know how to say this more plainly. Quora is going to see good writers take their content away from the platform, not because we don't love Quora but because we love creating good content. And we want people to read it. I wrote something great this week, but I have not shared it on Twitter or Facebook because those of my friends who might very well appreciate it cannot see or read or share it themselves unless they are sign up to Quora. Do you sign up to every site just to read a paragraph or two of good content? I don't. I wouldn't ask my friends to, either.

2) The upvote-to-view algorithm ignores the 80/20 rule of all online communities

Ariel Williams wrote an amazing post today: How promotion can reduce an answer ranking... With an actual case example.

How much more/better can it be said that requiring votes to views is punishing the best writers? Good heavens, have none of you ever lurked on a community before? Plenty of people read, think and lurk and VERY FEW comment or engage. You're requiring the best writers to prove, then prove again and again that they are worthy. And you're handicapping them by making it easier for people to see their content here on Quora, which penalizes them.

Here are the first major cracks in Quora. Do nothing if you wish, but entropy increases.

Here is my point for today  - No community fails without warning. Breaches of security, privacy, sovereignty and trust do not happen in a vacuum. Your users will first whine, then complain, then create petitions/boards attempting to notify you that changes are unwanted and unwelcome. Then, when enough of them are fed up, the exodus begins. The drain is slow at first, and it's easy to label those who leave with negative terms. But when top users  are telling you there are problems and you as community manager/owner are not listening...what do you expect will happen?

On MySpace, users were thrown under the bus for advertisers. The layout became loud and cluttered with ads that did not provide additional value for users. The main reason why Facebook is not yet already fading into obscurity is that they have so far failed to create a functional platform for advertisers. When they do, people (other than those who ran to Google+ to get away from their mothers) will find somewhere else to post their cat pictures.

Whether you run a hobby community or a product community, Entropy Increases, but not invisibly. Cracks appear in walls, voice are raised in protest. When you fail to notice the issues or address them it's not the user base you have to blame.

The Myth of Transparency - Why We Don't Really Have a Say

Every few months, it makes the news again - another change in Privacy rules on Facebook , a new agreement at Twitter, Google pulls its access from another platform, a shakeup in management, key employees leaving.... Each time this happens it causes an outbreak of prodding, poking and, in many cases, intrusive questions to dig out the "why" of what happened and all the dirty laundry.

Gossip-mongers, paparazzi, we have words for people like this in the entertainment industry and in everyday life. And yet, in an online communities there seems to be a presumption by the community that they have a right to know why decisions are made and who profits from them.

Clearly this is not the case. All of the leading networking platforms are privately-owned firms and while some of them are publicly traded, none are owned by the users. The privately owned networks have limited legal need to report even so much as executive leadership changes. Publicly traded companies must report changes...but they still have no requirements around explaining the whys and wherefores. Nor is there any moral obligation to explain personal choices by the staff about their own lives.

So why do we demand explanations?  Let me illustrate with a parable, as I so often do.

I am active in an incredibly niche industry. To say that everyone knows everyone else comes very close to the truth. A few years ago a major player in the industry landscape, having pulled itself out of two major business setbacks, packed it in quite suddenly, just as it was doing really well again.

People went ballistic. They raged and ranted about this company, how it had never been well-run, or
that it was a joke. Specifically, the President came under major dissection. He's been higgeldy-piggedly about his business objectives, running the company like a hobby, inconsistent, etc. (In reality, the market had radically altered several times over a decade, and he had merely been attempting to find workable business models, but that was never once acknowledged.)

Recently, that company has made some moves to return as a player in the field. There were positive
and negative reactions, but the weirdest and most inexplicable reaction I encountered was from members of that industry press. Two journalists told me that they were going to contact the people involved and demand details of their contracts. I boggled. Then I asked, "By what right do you demand this knowledge? It's none of your business."

The argument was loud.

A week later one of them contacted me privately to admit that I saved him from embarrassing himself
badly and ruining his credibility.

We use the products. We engage with the communities. Of course we feel as if we have a claim on those companies, but in reality, we have none. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn owe us...nothing. We use their sites for free and in return they sell our data to advertisers. Equally we owe these platforms nothing; no loyalty, no praise. By what right do we demand transparency from these platforms? Because we answer questions and talk with other people?

The Myth is that by participating on a community, we have some kind of ownership of that community. In reality, we have only our own content to leverage. Anything that we have created to make the community a better place is ours, and with some foresight, we'll have made it as portable and flexible as possible. If that content is customized for that site, well then, it's gone.

Change in any community comes with emotional cost, and each time it feels like upheaval but, we are owed no transparency from any platform on which we willingly engage that we do not own. Perhaps some platforms will be more transparent than others, but we have no right to demand answers to questions that are none of our business.

So go ahead and ask your questions, but don't be surprised when no one tells you "why".

Sharing Content vs Sharing Activity

If you've been anywhere near a social platform, you've seen messages like this: "Friend A likes this update" or "Friend B" has read this article" (and, clicking on the article title seems to always require you to hand all your information to the publisher before you can see the content.)

Facebook, in particular is very keen on you seeing your friends' activity. LinkedIn, too, wants you to know that a connection has followed a company, connected with someone else, answered a question, joined a group.

The problem with that is exactly the same problem as talking to a friend who walks you through every step of their day, without degree or distinction; waking up, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, commute, meetings at work, home, etc... no one wants every single detail of your day. What we'd like to hear is the juicy bits, the good stuff. ^_^

Each social platform is a different conversation. Even when you have the same people talking about the same thing in the same place, there's subtle differences in audience, tone, attention, and acceptable length. Posting Twitter conversations on LI is meaningless to anyone not already in that conversation.

Be mindful of the difference between "activity" and "content." 


Facebook wants us to know all our friends' activities. What they read, what they commented on, what games they played, etc.

If your Twitter feed is automatically sent to LinkedIn, all your contacts are getting all of your activity, your RTs, your @s, your replies. The only thing that will be meaningful to many of those people in all of that is any content you share. And how patient do you think your contacts will be when they have to wade through 3 dozen chatty posts to get to a brilliant piece of content?

Quora, a platform I adore, yesterday launched a new feature that shared your Quora activity on your Facebook Timeline. I enabled it and ten minutes later, disabled it. I have no doubt my friends on FB would be interested in some of the answers I post to questions there, but equally, I have no doubt at all that no one not already on Quora cares which other answers I upvote. While the content I generate there may be of interest, my activity on Quora is entirely irrelevant to the folks on FB.

Small and medium sized businesses on Twitter, and individuals whose expertise is their business, often have only one Twitter account. To be authentic and real, these people tend to chat as well as share good content from this same account. This works really well on Twitter, where each tweet is viewed individually but, when it becomes a stream of half the conversation on a Twitter feed embedded on a web page, it simply makes no sense at all. Like sitting next to a person on the train who talks loudly enough that you can't not listen, you're getting an intrusive half a conversation you don't really want to hear.

Worse, when companies keep their Twitter account for purely professional contacts, that embedded stream becomes an obsessively narcissistic stream of "me me me." Again - it works fine on Twitter, but watch where else it gets shared or you can seem like you are incapable of listening to others.

So, by all means, share content! Just be mindful that your not drowning it out with all of your activity.

Three Reasons Why You *Really* Shouldn't Automate Social Media

One of the unwritten rules of excellent Social Media is  - don't automate your Social Media. When a so-called Social Media Expert tries to convince you that a piece of software can make your Social Media a snap, it's a good bet that they have no idea what they are doing.

It's very apparent, however, that it is possible to automate Social Media - Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and even Empire Avenue, provide ways of doing just that. So....where's the disconnect? If you can make Social Media simpler through automation, why not just do it? Here's three critical reasons why you should make each and every connection personal:

Lack of Customization Looks Insincere

When you format a Tweet, you have 140 characters total. There needs to be no preamble, no sign-off. Everyone knows this, and no one considers it inappropriate. On your mailing list, however, this would be seen as terse - at best - and really just plain rude by most people. You're missing a chance to be approachable and human with a simple greeting and sign-off or, if you have the kind of list that uses customized images and formats, a slick-looking message. What works best for Facebook might be a short intro to the link, the link and a personal comment about the link. On LinkedIn, you'll probably want to add a line or two of insight or application.

When you boilerplate your communications, it signals insincerity. Take the time to make each communication count for maximum impact on that platform.

It Puts A Barrier Between You and Your Message

Let's say you have a blog, a Mailing List and Facebook. When you automate your Social Media, on the one hand it shows consistency, but on the other, it begins to take on a corporate slickness that makes it less human. There's one message there, and no real person behind that message. How long does it really take to email your List and let them know something terrific is happening? That personal touch gives your message a voice - and a face.

Taking a moment to write authentic communications gives your audience a voice to hear, and a person to respond to.


Closes You Off To Response

Once you've begun to automate Social Media, you'll save a lot of time. That's the rationalization, but is it true? Aside from the obvious point that taking 5-10 minutes a day to connect with people isn't really asking all that much; when you save those seconds, what are you planning on doing with them? Because you've automated your communications with your audience, the barrier you've placed between them and you goes both ways -  are you going to take the time needed to respond to people?

+1ing a comment on Google+ takes mere seconds. Responding to a tweet or a comment, perhaps a minute. If the issue is complex, you might need to take it off-platform, through mail or phone. Once the audience you're addressing with your standardized messages become faceless number counts in your stats, are you going to make that time? These people are your audience, your market - your customers. Automating communications with them may give you a few more minutes in the day, but it's unlikely to give you a few more sales at the end of that day.

Keep your Social Media real - talk with, not at people. Time invested in communicating always brings about a better ROI.

How To Not Be *That* Client

There's an infographic making its way around the Internets right now. Called the "Anatomy of a Web Design Client" from Top Web Design Schools, it's pretty clear about the pain points designers run into with clients. (Click image for full-size)

But how can you avoid being that client? After all, you aren't a designer yourself, you just know what you want. Here's a few simple steps to do before you end up having a terrible web design experience and being *that* client.

Know What You Want To Do

The initial reaction to the question of web design is very similar to the initial reaction to art, "I know what I like."

But...do you?

Name three qualities about a web site you use often that you like. Color should not be among those three things. Saying you like the color of a website is exceedingly similar to saying you like a car for the color.

If you're reaching desperately for a vocabulary to describe the things you like, you probably need to start further back in the concept of websites than you may think. Yes, sure, you use them all the time, but if you don't know what you want yours to do, you might not be able to adequately describe what you like. Designfestival has a really simple description of what a webpage is. These words listed each describe a feature of the webpage.

Until you know what the purpose of your website actually is, you're going to have a hard time knowing what features to focus on. Most business websites feature:

Information about the company/store/products or services

E-commerce - links to purchase those products/services or to follow up for more information

Demonstrations of expertise - product demos, presentations, expert articles

Not every website needs to have all of these, but business websites without any of these, end up being confusing or unfocused.

In addition, it's smart to provide Sharing capabilities, so your customers can get the word out for you.

Navigation is the unsung hero of websites. Few people pay any mind to the navigation within a site, but if you've ever been caught in a website where you couldn't find what you wanted, or get back to where you started, you know how critical good navigation is.

Take a look at sites you use often, and sites you find aesthetically pleasing. Note down what you like about each site. Pay attention to the difference between good site structure and good content. Your designer can make the first shine, but the second bit is going to be up to you.


Know What You Definitely Do Not Want and Why

The other common phrase from *that* client is, "I don't know why, but it just doesn't work for me." There's pretty much no faster way to sour a client/designer relationship. It's absolutely critical that you know exactly why a thing does not work for you.

For instance, Web Pages That Suck coined a term - Mystery Meat Navigation. These are sites that are so clever and visual that you have no idea what anything does. There's not a pop-up or a roll-over hint, either. These sites have jettisoned utility for style (or sometimes, just plain delusion.) Visit the link to Mystery Meat navigation to understand the levels of frustration this can cause a new visitor - or a returning one. In fact, bookmark Web Pages That Suck and check out what they have to say about web design. You'll learn a lot, quickly and with a few laughs. They've been doing this since the days of Tripod and Angelfire, they've seen it all.

Once you know what you can't stand about other sites, give your designer a short list: No flashing, scrolling, spinning things, no background music, no automatically downloading *anything*, etc....


Be Realistic About Your Contributions

Nothing is eternal. Even your perfect nice new website will need to be refreshed once in a while. It might have a server issue or a feature may not work the way you want it to on an upgraded browser. There is nothing you can do to make a site with 100% uptime and no errors ever. Everything on the Internet is changing, all the time.

If you are truly put off by the idea of spending any time on the phone with your internet host, and can't figure out how to add a Facebook 'Like' button to a WordPress page (or are too stressed by the idea to try,) let your designer know upfront. They may know a website manager you can hire to check in periodically to update, upgrade and clean up the back end. This is exactly as important as having someone straighten your shelves and vacuum your store at the end of the night - you do that every day, to make sure the store looks clean and organized. You'll need to have someone do that for your site regularly, too. Your designer is not a website manager. Don't expect to be able to call them at 2AM with a panicked "The site crashed!" message. The moment you do, you've become *that* client.

Vague ideas and unreasonable requirements lead directly to you being *that* client. The more you know about what you do want, don't want and why, the more likely you'll get a website that suits you.

(Unsolicited plug for three designers I use: Bonnie Wasielweski, May Young and Lissa Patillo. If you're looking for stellar design work, check them out. Bonnie and Lissa also do implementation.)

You Got Your Twitter in My Facebook! When Merging Social Media Platforms Makes Sense (or Not)

It's hard to know when it's a good decision to merge Social Media platforms. Will it make you look more accessible to have a Twitter feed streaming on your website, or will it backfire and open you to situations like McDonald's encountered in their recent #McDStories campaign?

On the positive side, merging one platform with another (Adding your Facebook feed to the bottom of your internal pages, as Klout does, for instance) will let folks know that wherever they are, you are there, too. They won't have to hunt you down and leave emails through generic contact forms.

On the negative side, the more out there you are, the more you have to be willing to remember that "Social" media is based on the idea that people are talking to you - and they expect a response.

Before you mix and match your social media, you need to create a strategy to be able to Let Go, Listen (and Respond), develop Consistency and, just in case, a Plan for a Crisis.



- Let Go

Social Media is a confusing mixture of Customer Service, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations and Sales. Companies often forget that in order to have the most effective communications, they need to focus not on themselves, but on their consumers. "Tell us why we are so great and get a prize" can work once or twice, but "Our customers are great!" will work forever.

"What if someone says something bad about us?" asks Matt Hames of Colgate University.
This question tends to constrict company's Social Media use - the fear of a negative comment. But, as Matt goes on to point out, "What is possible is engagement. If you get 10 comments and one of them is bad, it is hard to focus on the 9 good ones. The bad one takes all the energy."

Let Go of the idea that Social Media is about you. Embrace the idea that wherever you are, you cannot control the message. Not one second after you tweet, someone might have an ax to grind, or worse, someone might have a genuine problem. You need to Let Go of the concept of controlling the message. Develop a model for communications with positive and negative commenters. Learn everything you can about where a person is coming from, find a way to make the experience of communicating as satisfying and positive as possible.


 - Listen (and Respond)


Emma Haller, Marketing Manager at iFactory "If and when you receive a negative comment, don't delete it - deal with it. Your reply can add credibility to your company."

Merging Social Media might be opening a window on the parts of the Internet you pretend don't really exists, as Skittles found out when they put their Twitter feed on their new Facebook page. You can't set Social media up and walk away. It has to be managed and monitored in a meaningful way. Listen to what is being said to you. If it's acting out, you can have your creatives come up with a boilerplate that handles that, but you also need to listen to the noise for serious issues. How you handle each negative situation is twice as important as how you handle the positive ones.


 - Consistency

People have a lot to say about consistency between platforms.

Matthew Dominy Social Media Consultant points out that "by integrating your social media into your website you allow for sharing to increase your exposure and create a viral loop for your audience to easily see the social proof of your product/service."

On the other hand, Bridie Jenner of Bridie's Typing Services warns, "the mediums are very different, so something I would share on LinkedIn wouldn't necessary be right for my twitter followers, and vice versa."

Steven Lowell Community Manager at Voice123.com reminds us that "For example, a platform may auto-post your blog with a look you did not expect, or give credit to the wrong author of the article. In addition, the usage of hashtags may appear strange on the platform you are using."

Creating consistency between your social platforms is way more than just having the same brand logo. Each interaction establishes a "voice" for your company. Coming off as clueless, or disinterested sets a tone that can lead quickly to customer frustration. The more in control your "voice" is, the less likely a situation spirals into crazy.

Daniel Godin, Founder of Triton PR reminds us that, "With or without you, people are using social media to talk about your brand." So, we need to be vigilant and be aware of what is being said - and by whom. One really influential person trashing your brand can be as bad as many average people who are unhappy with your SM efforts.


 - Crisis Planning

Sometimes, despite the best plans, a social situation explodes. Be prepared. In the best of worlds, your crisis plan sits, unused, in a file.

Before anything else, add in "Apologize Sincerely" to the top of that plan. People using Social Media are not children, they know - and share - when they are getting insincere responses. Admit to doing something wrong, THEN proceed to fix the problem. Either one without the other sends a message of uncaring, or at worst, manipulation.

Whether or not you actively embrace Social Media, Social Media is discussing you and your business. So, while you decide if you want your company blog on your LinkedIn page, or your Twitter feed embedded in your blog, it's worth the time to consider the worst possible outcomes to your choice and develop appropriate responses. Failures of over-enthusiasm are seen as more benign than failures of denial.

You may be mixing your Social Media to create a delicious new idea, or you may end up with a franken-flavor - either way, you'll want to be prepared for the best and the worst.

Best Practices for Strong, Stable Linkbuilding with Social Media

The old adage "It's not what you know, it's who you know," is more important than ever in today's business world. And, one of the major measurements Social Ranking sites use now is an objective measurement of the value of your network. This is a questionable measurement since, our networks are always valuable to us, but on the principle that links in from major industry players weigh more heavily than links from friends and family, there some value to the concept.

So, what can a small- or medium size business do to build a strong network? Let's start with Social Media Linkbuilding. Many, if not most, of the "Best Practices" guides online on linkbuilding advocate tactics that are questionable, if not outright ignored now by measuring tools. Just as poor website construction can damage your overall SEO, poor linkbuilding tactics can severely damage your Social Media credibility. Here are five simple tactics that will increase your credibility and your network value.


Converse, Don't Monologue
Like people, companies are self-absorbed. They enter Social Media spaces focused on what it can do for them. They pop up on Facebook, Twitter or whatever platform with the corporate equivalent of "Hey guys, I'm here!" and expect people to care. But, just as no one really likes the guy who comes into the room at the party and says that, no one really cares that your business is on GetGlue...until you become interesting.

Forget the press release that you now have a Twitter account. Take time every day to find people talking about your business and just talk with them. Have a chat about the sandwich, those tickets they bought - were the seats good?, news in that field...and after you're become someone to listen to, THEN tell them about the sale coming up.

Talking with people sends a clear signal that you are not just in this for you - you really get the Social part of Social Media.


Be Generous
Sharing ideas, praise, credit will make you the kind of person whose network people want to be part of. Who is retweeting you, sharing your Facebook posts? Thank them, make them feel special, make it a special thing to be recognized by you. You'll find that the more generous you are, the more generous your network will be to you. It takes so little time or effort to recognize and thank someone, there's really no good reason to not do it at least semi-regularly. Slow news week? That's a perfect time to highlight some great network contributors! Saw a great article? Tell the person - publicly. Yes a nice long email explaining what you liked about it is great, but a short "This was an excellent article" on your Social Media platform helps spread the word. This gives the author a chance to respond back and possibly a new connection for both of you.


Don't Hijack, Give Credit Where Credit is Due
When you quote someone, you're expected to source the quote. On Social Media, source your links and wisdom, too. No one likes the guy who never has his wallet...no one wants to be part of the network of the guy who never says where he saw the link first. Use via to let people know that they've been sourced. This link will come back to them...and there's a good chance that you'll get a link back from them.

People who hijack links without sourcing the original, or who run them through their own jump pages make for lousy network additions. Avoid people who hijack links and hope they avoid you.


Variety is the Spice of Linking
You're good at linking to people in your industry. You know your peers and vendors and maybe even some of your customers. But no company is an island. There are industries peripheral to yours...and many service industries that you can benefit from like research, design, finance...don't be afraid to link out of your vertical. In fact, be afraid to not link out of your vertical! The further out you link and connect, the further out your message will be heard and seen.


Be Bold
Once you've started conversations with people in other industries, there comes a moment when you can just talk with anyone. Don't worry that the person is a President of a powerful company - if they are speaking with you as an equal, just talk back to them as an equal. Social Media is a great equalizer. Be bold in who you address and confident in how you converse with them.  The bolder you are, the more confident you'll grow, and the stronger your network will become.

Use solid linkbuilding tactics to build a solid network to raise your credibility and value.

Social Media is the Vehicle, not the Destination

In the welter of tools to help you focus your Social Media strategy and tactics, to measure the results, and to increase your audience, there is an unfortunate tendency to act like Social Media is a single thing.

"Which is best for my company, Facebook or Twitter?" is a question I see all too often on professional networking platforms, as if there could be a single answer that covers all needs.

We don't presume there are only one or two models of car that fits all needs. Social Media is the vehicle - the means by which you communicate with your audience, engage them and reward them when they go to bat for you. Picking the right vehicle to communicate with your audience is critical to effective use of Social Media.

You might be targeting casual users of Social Media, people who share birthday greetings and jokes and life events and photos. Facebook, Groupon and Email Marketing is the way to go to reach out to these people. It's not that these users object to learning technology, but they don't want it presented *as* technology. Your Social Media tactics need to focus on saving these people time and money.  It's not about ad aesthetics, design or engagement...it's about rewards and convenience.

Perhaps your audience is on the go. They are tethered to their phone and their phone is tethered to their computer. These people want speed, simplicity and convenience. Twitter, mobile marketing, a proprietary app that gets them in touch with you quickly, is perfect for this crowd. This Social Media strategy needs to be about compelling, targeted content, plain and simple.

If your audience is hands on, with their fingers in a lot of Social Media platforms, you need to be ultra-responsive. These people will know if you don't understand Social Media, and have 15 layers of decision-making before a simple "yes" can be tweeted. These people also bring with them a large audience of their own on multiple platforms. Obfuscating or delaying will end up in one way - with egg on your face. If you get a comment on Twitter from someone with 15,000 followers, think twice before you blow them off.

If your audience is minimalist, they have one or two platforms they rely on and no more. They live off their phone, but don't necessarily like mobile marketing. Build in privacy controls so that you're not facing negative feedback when your cool new ad sends itself to their phones.

Luxury users are rarely cutting edge and want big rewards for their involvement. High-end shopping means high-end privacy and one-on-one personal connection. These people are not communicating with you on Facebook.

Just as there's a vehicle for every personality, there's a vehicle for every message. The medium *does* matter, but in the end, the message had better be what your audience wants to hear. Get the right Social Media vehicle to drive that message home.