For those who are interested about social media in the real world please exercise extreme caution when reading about the success stories of others. Why? Mainly because one of the major ‘gotchas’ in the social media space is the promotion of numbers that make a great headline but don’t play out in reality.
A case in point. I receive the Marketing Profs e-mail updates and I saw the subject line:
What She Did: How One Blogger Attracted 80 Comments on Her First Post; It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask (or Does It?) (The full post on the MarketingProfs site is here).
Having been around the block more than a few times I decided to see just what the miracle potion was for such runaway success. What I found was that the headline and reality had little to do with each other. This is why I have some trouble with the social media “industry”. Here’s what I mean.
Go to the blog from the story and take a look at the first week of posts and the comments on that first post. The number sure equals 80 but only half of those are from someone other than the author of the post. The author exercised excellent form in responding to every comment (something I don’t do and I am guilty as charged) but saying that the post ‘attracted’ 80 comments is just not true. It’s just hype. The post attracted 40 comments.
So 40 comments is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, I would have been very impressed if the number promoted was 40 vs. the inflated 80. So I looked a little more closely at the blog as a whole and there were some serious social media power brokers like Chris Brogan and Mack Collier promoting this blog. It’s safe to say that 99.99999% of first time bloggers will not get this kind of benefit. Why hype it in the “You can do it too!” headlines then? I think that maybe the story should have had a “results not typical” disclaimer like those weight loss ads. This kind of support is not a common occurrence (although a very good one) and is the most likely reason for the initial interest.
I say initial interest because if you look at today’s post, there are 6 comments (at the time of this writing) 3 of which come from, you guessed it, the author. What might have made a more accurate headline might have read “Fast Start Aided by Extraordinary Support Doesn’t Guarantee Numbers Stay High”. Where are all of those supporters today? Look at all the posts since day one and you will see a trend.
Look, I am not trying to give anyone a hard time. However, this kind of hype is endemic in the social media industry. That’s the problem. It’s just hype. Great headline but no real merit. That’s not how we build credibility as an industry. That’s how we look like the search marketers of years past that created such disdain among actual business people because their hyperbole never matched their delivery. The truth works so much better than hype and all social media practitioners should concentrate solely on the truth. Don’t treat promotion like the statistics that can be made to say anything we want. It’s a really obvious ploy and one that doesn’t garner long-term trust.
Honestly, I hope that this particular blog does well. I wish absolutely no ill will toward anyone. All I am asking for is less hype and more truth. Is that so much to ask for these days?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
More interestingly, who cares how many comments a blog gets? Are they currency? What do they signal besides possible engagement? Then what?
That’s where my head is with comments. Instead, why only 4 blog posts in May? That’s what I’d ask. : )
.-= Chris Brogan…´s last blog ..Memorial Day =-.
Whoops sorry to disappoint you, Chris. I didn’t have as much time for my work here after the 60 posts I did over at Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim
.
@Chris. I’m guessing you changed your mind since June of last year then, Chris?
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/make-presence-management-work-for-you-2/
The Two-Way Street
Commenting is currency. Comment on other people’s blogs. Respond to other people’s tweets. Spend time in this space and it will repay you.
Be the #1 commenter on your own blog. If others have something to add, try and connect and pitch in. I can’t always respond individually to every comment, but I try to stay in there enough that people know that I respect a conversation and not just a push.
I can’t really stress that one enough.
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..B2B Marketing and Social Media – Close, But No Cigar. Yet… =-.
In reply to your post, Frank, it kind of reminds me of the Digg example. Get the right people promoting your stuff and front page is pretty much guaranteed.
It’s great that Lisa got the traction she did with her first post or two, and here’s to her long-term blogging success. But I think Marketing Profs (who’re normally pretty good) got a little carried away with this one.
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..B2B Marketing and Social Media – Close, But No Cigar. Yet… =-.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Frank. (If I may call you Frank.) I’m in the process of coming to agreement with a skilled nursing and rehab center for integration of social media that makes sense for that kind of industry. One thing I’ve cautioned them is not to have unreal expectations. It’s a slow process and an ever-moving target.
Anyway, good article.
Laura,
Please call me Frank! I will be interested to see how you do with that project. It’s an interesting idea since you will be working with some “end users” and then those who are charged with their care. Very cool.
And yes, reasonable expectations are a very good thing even though they (meaning your potential client) may stumble upon articles like I mentioned in the post that make it seem “easy-peasy”.
Thanks for checking in.
To Frank, Chris and Danny:
Well, first-off it’s pretty apparent that I am a newbie blogger from the fact that I just saw this link in my Wordpress template!
Oy.
I sincerely wish I had seen and responded to this sooner because you all bring up excellent points.
It’s painfully ironic because I had actually written an entirely different version of the article in which I explicitly talked about the fact that half of the comments were from me. I went on to point out that on the days I posted my first two posts, May 18th and 20th, I actually received more comments – from other people, not including my responses – than Chris did on his blog, and more tweets as well. I even pointed out in that version of my article that Chris himself had tweeted my post and had been a factor in driving traffic to my site that day.
But there was some concern about this “comparison” approach overall and I changed direction and tried to make the post more educational. It was the right thing to do.
The title was entirely “on me” in the final version and I don’t want anyone to think that MarketingProfs tried to stretch the truth. I should have ensured that with that title came the further explanation – the one that I had originally included – that I was very consciously responding to all of my commenters and that those comments were included in the numbers.
For me, responding so actively to my commenters is, I believe, the number one reason that I have created a number of very loyal readers so quickly. I have truly come to treasure each of them!
Chris, in regard to why I only posted 4 times in May? Well, I launched on Tuesday the 18th and had decided that as a new blogger, and someone who tends to write longer blog posts, that I would commit myself to Tuesdays and Thursdays to start, and then ramp up from there depending on my ability to manage it with clients and with life. So, that meant only 4 posts in May, and a schedule which I have been able to successfully manage so far.
That’s advice I received from Mack Collier and honestly believe has been the real reason for my own sense of success and joy from the blog – I followed his advice to determine and commit to a schedule that would work for me, and living up to my commitment to myself brings a sense of real satisfaction.
I was honored to have both Chris and Mack read, comment on and promote my blog the week that it launched and I hold them both in the highest regard. I read them both loyally and actually tweeted them both this morning prior to seeing Frank’s comment (I tweeted Mack from my MENGonline account), so I certainly hold your opinions on what happened in the highest regard.
I genuinely appreciate the lessons that I have learned in reading these comments here and aspire to use them to make me a better writer and blogger. Thank you – sincerely – to all of you.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend,
@LisaPetrilli
Hey there Lisa,
That would have been an excellent follow-up/comparison post, as it would be a great way to show how a new blogger found the space, the help, and expectations for futures, etc.
I don’t think Frank was “saying” anything about your post per se, more the metrics behind it and how that would compare with a normal first post.
Although I’m pretty sure your future blogging will be pretty cool, and I’ve subscribed already and look forward to seeing you grow.
Cheers, and have a great July 4 weekend!
Danny.
Hey Frank, sorry I am just now seeing this (damn Google alerts!), but I wanted to comment on this section of your post:
“So 40 comments is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, I would have been very impressed if the number promoted was 40 vs. the inflated 80. So I looked a little more closely at the blog as a whole and there were some serious social media power brokers like Chris Brogan and Mack Collier promoting this blog. It’s safe to say that 99.99999% of first time bloggers will not get this kind of benefit. Why hype it in the “You can do it too!” headlines then? I think that maybe the story should have had a “results not typical” disclaimer like those weight loss ads. This kind of support is not a common occurrence (although a very good one) and is the most likely reason for the initial interest.”
Ok first, to claim that Lisa’s total of 80 comments was ‘inflated’ is more than a little inaccurate. So comments from the blogger don’t count? The funny thing about comments is, you gotta write em to get em. You might think that without Lisa’s comments that post ‘only’ gets 40, but how many of those 40 comments were left because the readers saw that Lisa was participating? If Lisa doesn’t write a single comment on that post, it might only have gotten 10-15 comments. So by proactively responding to comments, she was generating MORE comments.
As for the ‘results not typical’ disclaimer, I agree with that. But these atypical results were mainly due to Lisa investing a TON of time before launching her blog, to developing relationships with others, via social media, and industry events.
So when we heard that Lisa Petrilli was launching a blog, our reaction wasn’t ‘Who the hell is Lisa Petrilli?!?’, our reaction was ‘Well it’s about damn time she did! What’s the link so I can read it now???’
And BTW, if anyone actually reads Lisa’s article, you’ll note at the very top she explains that: “It would be nice if I could say that I’m glowing, but the reality is that this week has kicked my butt.
My first foray into blogging has shown me that it can be a Herculean task to keep up with responding to comments and tweets while balancing clients and life.”
So it seems that she set expectations from the get-go. It’s not an easy thing to get a blog off to a very successful start, but Lisa was able to do just that.
Well hello everyone!
I figured I had “said my piece” and that was it.
I actually love how everyone is so passionate around this subject.
Lisa – It’s funny how both you and I only did 4 posts in May and I thought that Chris was pointing to me “saying something” but only doing four posts myself! My response to him shows how I perceived that his comment was directed at me and not you! Funny how we can read the same sentence and come to very different conclusions. It’s mainly because we are interested in ourselves first. After all, we are only human
.
Danny – Thanks or your comments here. You always bring value to the conversation.
Mack – Thanks for coming by! As for my statement being more than a little inaccurate, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I would say that because you and Chris attract people who understand blogging in a more in depth way than the average consumer, that the level of comments would have been high just so people could impress you and Chris because they followed your direction! This industry has a huge “suck up” factor that has to be integrated into any analysis especially when it is about an industry blog. Would you agree?
Of course, all of this is just my opinion right? I hope that everyone did notice that I gave kudos to Lisa’s good practice of responding to comments (The author exercised excellent form in responding to every comment (something I don’t do and I am guilty as charged)).
My goal is always to just try to get to the truth. Being a completely flawed human being (unlike many in social media circles
) I may step on a few toes in the process. Mine have been trounced on on several occasions and I am still standing. In the end it is just blogging and the likelihood of life and death hanging in the balance is pretty slim. Thank goodness!
Thanks to everyone for coming by an adding to the conversation even when I thought it was long gone!
Happy 4th of July everyone. Peace!