Lets take my data here on BIZCATALYST 360°. Of the first 16 articles I published, this is what I discovered.
- I garnered 41 comments across 16 articles that are distributed to tens if not hundreds of of thousands of people. To date I have achieved average views of 127 per article with 3 comments each.
- I have no idea if that is good or bad in the world of engagement, but I’ll go with bad. But it gets worse …
- My third article has the second highest view numbers and accounts for nearly 50% of all the comments across the 16 articles. Comments garner views. It is a virtuous loop.
- I know that because of the 17 comments on that third article, half of them were mine. And that is the point. The comments allowed a dialogue to emerge between me the writer and the reader.
- Meanwhile, the most viewed of my articles was number 10. Not so many comments, on BIZCATALYST 360°, but high viewership because I pushed that article out to another group of people that are not part of this community, but are interested in the topic. And the offline comments were really good.
- Bottom line, outside of those two articles – I had close to zero engagement.
But actually the effort to provide that feedback every week is tiny.
Here is my process
- Every week, just like us all, I receive an email from Dennis, which highlights the weeks articles that he has curated.
- I batch open every link to a set of tabs on my browser.
- I at least speed ready every article – and if it truly catches my eye, read in detail.
- As I read through – I click on the embedded tweet links in each article that are already prepared and formatted by Dennis and the team.
- And then I ‘buffer’ every article. (Check out bufferapp), which has the result of tweeting, G+ing and LinkedINING (are they even words) that article. If I used Facebook it would do that aswell. If I paid for buffer, I would also be able to Pin it through this process.
- 100% are tweeted and G plussed – and about half feed my linkedIN.
- I also comment if I can – either a thank-you to the writer, or if I have something to say as a comment – something more related to the piece. An acknowledgement if you will that I have been there – and wanted to let the writer know.
Beyond this, I also happen to run several twitter accounts, so I also cross tweet the links and favorite between accounts.
Here’s The Thing
When I looked back, I discovered that I had personally shared, promoted and commented on other articles each week as much as I have been in total to date. Maybe my stuff isn’t interesting, that’s ok. This is not about me, or my stuff. It’s about working together. But it is those comments that are absolutely telling. Those comments where I wrote ‘thanks’. or added a point. shared a perspective, asked a question. 40% of those comments weren’t even acknowledged.
Those writers are in broadcast mode. Why wouldn’t they seek to engage with someone that is commenting on their work? It isn’t hard … if you get a comment – Dennis will send you an email with a link directly to that comment.
So – What’s My Point?
For me, I don’t mind. I am not a professional writer. I don’t have a voice. Yet. I am learning. But I am a mathematician. In rough terms, Dennis has a roster of some 200 writers; 34 Columnist, 51 Featured Contributor and 115 Guest Contributors.
If everyone of us took that email he sends to us each week and promoted 10 of the articles that he sends in his weekly email – each article would receive 200 tweets, 200 pushes into LinkedIN and and and …. imagine how that would put the writers on the map. Imagine how it would put BIZCATALYST 360° on the map. But if we don’t … why exactly should our readers – the other 100,000 or so people out there that get exposed to our work.
We live in a new world. The publicist is a dying breed. We are our own publicists. If we don’t do it, trust me, no-one else will and we get reduced to watchers.
As Will Rogers said;
“We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
Me? The curb is fine – if you are there voluntarily. I just don’t want to be kicked to it. In fact, I won’t be.
Two additional links that you should tap into if I am hitting a nerve. Dennis is coming from the point of view of what any professional should be thinking about and acting on every waking hour. He’s right. What do you think? Want to change?
- Dennis Pitocco: In Search of Professional Etiquette
- Dennis Pitocco: In Search Of (Real) Engagement – Interview with Marcia Zidle)