10 Ridiculous So Called Social Media Rules – Part 1
If you're interested in Social Media, you've most likely come across many blog posts on dos, don'ts, and "rules" about Social Media. I find these very interesting, because there seems to be a general consensus on some of these "rules" even though there are very successful blogs that don't follow any of them. Here's the first part of a two-part article of 10 rules that I think come up the most often in blog articles and which I hate the most. My point is not that all Social Media rules are ridiculous, but that rules are made to be broken, and you shouldn't pay too much attention to them.
1. Publish often
Publishing often has the advantage of giving your blog a better ranking on Google as well as giving you the edge as far as first impression goes. What it doesn't give you though, is high quality content. When you post an article every day, you can't have thought it through all the time. I followed high profile bloggers such as Chris Brogan and Seth Godin for a few months, and these people post every single day. Although these 2 bloggers deserve kudos for the hard work they do and everything they have contributed to their communities/tribes, they can't keep up with great articles indefinitely by publishing everyday. We could also mention the kind of sacrifices it requires on a personal level to write 7 articles a week, for free. You can also read an interesting comment from Mike who raised an interesting point about posting less being not so much of an issue with RSS feeds nowadays in a previous post here.
Famous counter example: As an example Dosh Dosh is a successful and influential blog that publishes rarely, but has top quality content and long articles.
2. Engage people in a conversation
Most people follow you or comment on your posts with the hope you'll follow back or that their comment will draw traffic to their blog. This is not true 100% of the time, but I'd say the 80/20 rule would apply here: 20% or less of your followers are real fans and create 80% or more of the valuable and relevant content such as questions, ideas, links, etc. Trying to engage a conversation is a noble cause, but it won't happen by itself and it's most likely to take a lot of time before you're having a real conversations with your "fans". Keep trying to get as much feedback as you can, but if you're like 80% of us, replying to your fans won't take you all day.
Famous counter example: Seth Godin doesn't even allow comments on his blog which basically kills the idea of having a conversation and he still runs the most read blog on marketing in the world.
3. Be available, all the time
Chris Brogan is a blogger I really admire and who has done a lot for his community and he's probably the most available person in the world, which means that he sleeps 4 hours a day. He will try to reply to all the emails, tweets, facebook, friendfeed, linkedin, etc, he can possibly receive. I can't imagine the burden of having to be available all the time and the different consequences it can have on your personal life. I'm a strong believer in First Things First
Famous counter example: Let me reuse the Seth Godin no comment example here and make sure your read this blog post about what happens when you unplug. Someone also brought up no-tech Sundays, an idea I love and that I sometimes do.
4. Publish short posts, or break a long one into many smaller posts
I think it really depends of the audience you're targeting. I find my "true fans" to read all my posts even the very long ones and I've actually had more success with my longest posts. I have short posts for new comers and longer posts for regular visitors who know me better and have read some of my previous posts. If you publish less often, but try to have a higher quality, then length becomes almost irrelevant.
Famous counter example: Let me use Dosh Dosh as an example again, you'll notice that the typical post is much longer than average blog post.
5. Add value
What does that mean anyways? It's by far the most overused expression in Social Media right now, there is no article you can possibly read without having the words "adding value". First of all, I wish I knew what they meant by value here, and second of all it seems to be derived from business value. I believe a blog is all about experience and no so much about the value you add, but the emotion you can create. That might be the new direction my blog will take… hhhmmm
Famous counter example: One blog that has been very successful and which doesn't, in my view, add value is PostSecret. It might be argued that it entertains, but I don't really see the value it adds. Another blog that could be arguably added to this list is the onion (22nd on Technorati ranking) who reports humorous fake news.
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You make some very good points here, Matt. I also agree with you that the rule that you must "add value" is particularly questionable. I guess, in a way, it depends on why people are reading your blog. If they are reading it just to be entertained, then adding value seems irrelevant. On the other hand, if they are reading it to learn something, perhaps this is what "adding value" actually refers to. The term does seem a little hard to define, though. By the way, I am honored that you would actually mention my comment in your blog post, hahaha.
I think some people could argue that being entertaining adds value, but then it just means that value can be anything that makes you read a blog and makes the expression "adding value" meaningless. I really want to focus more on the user experience and creating an emotional connection over the next couple of months instead of being a content creator, publishing often and adding value. Not that it doesn't work and I want to publish junk, but you can't differentiate yourself using the "traditional" way of blogging since that's what everybody is doing. Anyways, the whole blogosphere is drowning into too much information and blog posts, creating more stuff more often will not help.
Haha! Honored!? Well I feel honored you take the time to share your thoughts on this blog
No seriously, I think you bring very good points and thanks for sharing!
I guess I can see what you are saying about the need to create an emotional connection. I have found that I have received the most positive response towards my blog when I have written about topics that have broader social implications. I guess its because these are issues people really care about and want to discuss, rather than some technical issue that may be useful to know but that nobody really cares to know unless it is absolutely necessary.
Anyways, I'll be interested to see the direction this blog will take over the couple of months, then!
Interesting… I definitely have to do some testing and digging to prove/disprove the theory of emotional connection, but you just gave me a good start, thanks!
Which one of your posts have been the most popular so far, in terms of readers? I'm curious to see if the conditions underlying readership for our blogs are the same even though they're about 2 different topics…
The two posts of mine that had the highest number of readers were my post on generational differences in the workplace and the one on google's decision to stop censoring its search engine in China. It was the google one, though, that people seemed to want to talk about the most.
Thanks Mike!
I'm trying to look for trends and what makes people spend more time reading certain posts. I find there is a lot of fluff about what's right and wrong when it comes to blogging, and yet it seems to be based on assumptions and so called common sense.
I'm working on a post that will explain the emotional/experience theory. I'd really like to have your feedback on that one. Let me know!