Monday, April 20, 2015

Finding the Holy Grail—Blogging 101


 
 
Recently, I was involved in a twitter chat with WahibaChair, MBA of Simon Fraser University called: How to Get Results from Social Media.
 
In the course of events, the topic of blogging came up. The facilitator’s question was:
 
“How do you communicate in a way that maximizes conversation on social media?”

The comments proposed revolved around creating relevant and valuable content. Realizing this was the missing link, I wanted specifics. My reply was as follows:


“Ah yes, but how do you determine whether the content is valuable.”

 
The answer given was:

“That is the Holy Grail of it, Marissa! It's both an art and science, [and] takes lots of experimentation!”


Oh, the blessed and elusive Holy Grail. What is this relevant and valuable content of which they speak? Who knowst what the world wants to read? Who determineths what will be valuable and exciteth the masses?

Beats me!

I’ve been in the ‘blogging business’ for several years now, and I continue to wander about in relative obscurity, while other bloggers have hit the virtual jackpot. While droves of fans and subscribers flock to their timely and consistently updated content, my poor blog flounders in the mire of invisibility.


There are lots of measures an author can use to try and determine which content has roused their loyal readership to take action—a share, a comment, a like, or retweet. Site insights and analytics (think Google Analytics, Facebook Page Insights, Twitter Analytics) help authors determine which posts are engaging and interesting to their subscribers and which ones fall flat.

But where are these readers coming from? How do you delight and inspire people who haven’t even discovered you yet? How do you keep the content relevant and interesting for those wonderful friends and followers who do on occasion pop in to see what you’ve been up to?

Google tells us to write like the wind, keep refreshing content. The more you post (this also applies to Facebook, though Facebook also requires interaction—shares, comments, likes) the more you will rise in the rankings in search engines.

But what to blog about? If you’re a nonfiction author, you can perhaps blog about your favourite subject matter—something that is of keen interest to your readership. But what if you write fiction? What are your readers coming to you for?

If you have a book on the market and a loyal readership already, the task becomes easier. Many authors blog about their writing process, news and updates about their latest books, or they post images and videos of book tours and conferences … things that appeal to an avid fan base. But what of the debut authors? The authors who do not have thousands of followers and subscribers? What can we possibly do to get our voices heard?

There are so many authors vying for attention. So many writers toiling in the blogging trenches with little engagement, nonexistent shares, abysmal likes, or negligible follows. We keep throwing words at the wall, hoping something sticks, but until we hit upon that magical elixir, that secret to life, that mystical gold cup of relevant content our precious paragraphs and sentences fall upon disinterested ears.

So what are we to do? What is the Holy Grail?
 
I’m often reminded of The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha. This wonderful little gem of a book started with a simple commitment—to jot down one awesome thing a day. The project turned into a blog that went viral, sparked a movement, and garnered a book deal, to boot.

In this blog post by Canva: Why You Should Design Something New Every Day: 20 Awesome Case Studies To Inspire You, we are encouraged to find strength in the success and endeavors of others who have embarked on similar creative paths. The post speaks to designers, photographers, and artists, but it applies equally to writers.

Can you find something to write about every day? Can you pick a theme? Can you hone a style? Can you hit upon a relevant topic that might appeal to your readers? Can you find a way to tap into your own exuberance and creativity to pull a blog post out of the proverbial hat on a more frequent basis? Can you find something to get excited about—something to keep the juices running and the passion flowing? Both reader and writer need to be intrigued and titillated by your posts.

If you can do that, my friends, you will have found the Holy Grail!

Unfortunately, I’m still looking. But do not fear. I am of stout heart and noble intentions. I shall never give up!

What do you think? Have you found the Holy Grail? Anybody out there have a good map? J
 
In gratitude,

Marissa xo

12 comments:

  1. What a great topic! I too am throwing thrice-weekly blog posts at the wall, hoping one sticks. I've heard Kristen Lamb talk about how her blog was a middling affair until she did a post about Star Trek that went viral, and now she's The Blogging Expert. It just takes a couple good posts...

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    1. The book The Tipping Point comes to mind ... but how to get there ... :) xo

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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  2. I think one of the problems for fiction writers is that it's not easy coming up with a theme. I still remember the early days when non-fiction writers would pontificate about getting a "platform" to fiction writers. They'd talk about being an expert, but it was always vaguely defined and seemed based only on writing one book (which would likely be true for them). I'd say something like, "I write fantasy. What would I be an expert in? Unicorns?" They'd just answer with "Get a platform."

    But I also think a lot of this is the egg before the chicken. Way too many writers focus on social media as if it were the primary source of marketing. It's not. The writing is the primary source. More books, more short stories mean better opportunities to be discovered. You can blog all you want, but if you only have one book, that's all I can buy, and the result is that your focus ends up being only NEW readers, not new readers and returning readers. If I fall in love with a writer's book, I'll go back and buy more, but it only works if there actually are more books to buy.

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    1. Great point, Linda! Social media is a key way to interact with readers, both new and dedicated, loyal ones, but if that's where all our focus is going, you're right, we are definitely missing the point! I sure do not want to be a one hit wonder!

      Finding a theme is really hard, though unicorns could be interesting, lol. But for how long? How much can one possibly talk about unicorns? ;) xo

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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  3. I'm pretty far from the Holy Grail when it comes to blogging. I have a style with which I blog that seems to go over well with the few people who drop by, but it's a sort of absurd, humorous style completely at odds with what I'm attempting with my fiction. I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem down the road or not, but for now it's kinda fun.

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    1. That's a good point, Mike.

      How much of our professional persona has to incorporate our 'brand.' And how loose can we package that brand? Is there room to play on our blog but write in a different style? I'd like to think so! I think if we are authentic then that comes through in our novels and our blogs, and hopefully our readers will appreciate the diversity. :)

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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  4. Great post! And one that all bloggers should be considering.

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    1. Thanks, Mary. :) I'm glad you liked it. xo

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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  5. I'm a terrible blogger. Thus post gives me hope. I will be awesome and find awesomeness daily.

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    1. You're already awesome, Niki! So you won't have far to look. :D xoxo

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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  6. Hi (again) Marissa...Thanks for mentioning me and the SFU Twitter chat!

    You're absolutely right: It is not easy AND it all starts with better understanding your audience. Here are a couple of things that can help - especially if your (future) book is not published yet and you're not as sure what your future audience may like:

    1. Social Media Audit: Means reviewing the content, engagement and audience data in all of your channels where you are currently active. In addition to Facebook insights a great tool that can help is FollowerWonk.com (it's free) and your Twitter analytics at ads.Twitter.com (if you haven't already checked it, there is a lot of cool data ...). You have a good presence on Twitter and this will help to define the interests of your audience.
    2. If you have an "idea" of who your readers could be, then find out who ELSE do they follow/like/engage with and learn from THEM. For instance: What blog topics do they write? What kind of images do they use? etc.
    3. If you have already done these steps then exposing yourself (through guest blogging like what you are doing over here) to other similar but higher authority/readership sites will help to get you noticed and bring some of that audience and traffic back to your site. By getting to know those who comment on your posts you'll be able to generate more ideas on WHAT to write about.

    And by the way, this is something EVERYONE struggles with - not just writers. I look forward to speaking with you more about this "topic"! (I hope this comment went through :)

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    1. Thanks, Wahiba!

      Those are great suggestions! I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a little more insight into the mystery of social media success!

      I'm a little lean on #2 and haven't really attempted #3. Guess I better roll up my sleeves. :)

      In gratitude,
      Marissa

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