Socially Popular - Latest Comments

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:39:30 -0000

Hey Timo,

This is great advice and you hit it head on man. Thanks for the sweet insights!
-E

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Timo Kiander — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:02:32 -0000

Eric,

I agree with this.

Finding what your customers what - not what you think they want - is the key.

One way to know this is to survey them - ask them what they feel about your content. By that way you can direct your content towards right direction - and not just target your peers.

Timo

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:13:26 -0000

HaHa, I do but it goes to a differ mail acct. not my main one I see more often. I just didn't think about it until you said that.

Yeah, it's a tad pricey. Cool man I'll holler at ya when I know the days.

Thanks again for the heads up on the email thang.

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:11:04 -0000

What up Martyn!

Yeah, it's really difficult to link it up. We just know this stuff like the back of hand. Thanks man.

Hmmm... Thanks for letting me know. It should, I gotta check my aweber rss link again.

Right on bro, pretty sure I'll be at Blog World now. We should definitely kick it there man.
-E

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:56:42 -0000

What's up Maria,

Yeah exactly! It is so easy to fall into that trap but hard to notice it.

Awesome thanks so much for the input. Hope you have fantastic week :)

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Maria — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:09:37 -0000

It's easy to fall in that trap because you are thinking that whatever you are talking about in your blog may be too easy (because you think everyone knows about your subject as well as you do). So you end up writing more advanced stuff-> writing for your peers instead of your customers.

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:22:29 -0000

Hey Ashvini!

Yeah, you said it just right. If your blog is based off a business or something you're gonna sell or about to. It should be structured toward your customers. It doesn't mean that every post has to only be about that but more often than not.

If a person's business is selling to their peers then its cool. Usually that's being a game changer in that industry.

Great stuff and thanks so much. Hope you have an awesome day!
-E

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Ashvini Saxena — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 06:51:57 -0000

Hey Eric,
I think you have hit the nail on the head. It is important to understand that like everything else a blog based on business should not move off from its main theme i.e. business. Infact with time and while networking we make plenty of friends and sometimes we tend to copy what they are writing so as to just fit it. Once in a while it is okay to do that but do it more often and you tend to lose what your blog is all about ( a business).
So it is a good idea to have a balance about things that people would like to read and things that you would do because you are part of a group.
Great video !!! very explanatory.

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:55:05 -0000

Hey Brody,

So for the cleaner they could've talked about how to take care of delicates the pro way. Or just about what detergent they think is best for the consumer, what clothes not to mix etc... all that good stuff would really differ them big time.

Repair company? We need to talk about that dude.

Sure you peers read your stuff but eventually even bloggers want to profit from what they love, which is blogging for some. If that's the case they need to write to the customer (their market), build the community of customer which turn to great experiences and eventually sell them something.

Just cause you own a clothing store doesn't mean you should blog about how the clothes were made or where the fabric came from. You capture the emotions of where they could where these clothes, what pairs well, and what's in style right now. Illustrating a story they couldn't even see themselves.

Whoa, can I say tangent.

Cool man thanks so much. Yeah Laura and Corbett are Awesome!

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Ryan Critchett — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:41:36 -0000

Eric bro - This is huge. Ya know, I haven't thought about this at length but I remember talking with you about this. First, thanks for the shout man, means a lot - Great to be a part of what you're doing. So I totally think this is a huge deal. Like.. what would the cleaners audience want them to be talking about? Whatever that is, would be the ultimate blogging strategy.

Makes me think, ya know? A PC repair company for example (which I just started) ((we'll have to talk about that)), blogging for the customer... hmmm.

I totally agree with what you're saying man, good call and sharp of you to point out the fact that we often don't realize we're blogging to our peers, not the consumer.

Perhaps a balance is needed? Depending on what you're doing? AH! This has me totally thinking. On Imark, I blog for people who want to learn more about social, biz evolution and new marketing, but I also blog for my peers as well, because a lot of them are reading the blog. Do they get tips? Yea. Am I selling something? Well, besides consulting services, locally here in PA, no.

But if I was, it would certainly effect what I'm writing about.. or.. who I'm writing it to and even without something to sell, you're making a huge point bro.

I'm gonna continue to think about this. FOR DAYS.

Sweet vid man, nicely done.

Nice to come across Laura and Corbett - checking out their stuff.

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:43:55 -0000

Yo Steve,

Yeah, exactly just because you know it doesn't mean someone else does. Sometimes we just feel that things we know are so simple but at one point we didn't know that either.

You definitely are able to talk about those things, who can tell you can't... right!

Thanks my man,
-E

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Steve Murphey — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:32:21 -0000

Really good point Eric...a lot of companies try to sound really smart by talking about all the technical details about their business. But as customers, we really couldn't care less about that stuff. I often forget how much I've learned over the years about Social Media, entrepreneurship and technology. While I'm not an expert I know enough to help others, which is always a nice feeling.

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Steve Murphey — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:22:27 -0000

Really good point Jamie, you can't even escape them online either. Seems like every other website I go to wants to ask me a bunch of questions. Personally, I think it's better if a business identifies their top customers or users and approaches them first. They'll probably have useful insights and want to share them. Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you liked my post!

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:54:56 -0000

Totally Vic, I hear where you're coming from on that.

The hardest part is thinking of that certain person you wanna be locked in a cafe with that's like-minded. You make amazing points and human ones at that, haha!

Thanks Vic and can't wait to convo it up soon, woot!
-E

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

Eric Silva — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:52:13 -0000

Hey Susan!

Yeah, exclusive is a great word for this. They assume people/customers already know what's going on, really not telling the whole story.

If I'm new to whatever the blogger is talking about, I won't wanna join the convo cause I feel so out of it and confused.

Awesome stuff and thx for your kind words. Thx!

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

vicmagary — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:50:32 -0000

Something I've been doing lately is trying to envision my "audience" as a single "person" when I write. Getting in the mind set of just sitting down and sharing a beer or a cup of coffee with that "person"has been a huge help in escaping what was admittedly becoming some pretty boring content over at my blog. As soon as I pinpointed who I wanted to reach and then started humanizing them, my content flowed and traffic picked up significantly.

Re: Do You Blog for Your Peers or Your Customers?

susanalexander — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:19:54 -0000

Hey Eric:

Nice video. Very good point. Often I read posts that seem to be written for someone or other, but it doesn't feel like me. When writers assume too much knowledge on the part of the reader, then to me, it looks either peer-written, or exclusive. By exclusive, I mean it's excluding new readers by not telling them (or linking them to) what they need to know to get up to speed.

On a blog, there can always be new readers - anyone can join in at anytime as a reader. That's just how it works. But who will want to join in if the posts are written for what looks like a peer group that's miles ahead on the learning curve?

Well done, Eric, as usual :-)
Susan

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Eric Silva — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:46:25 -0000

Hey Jamie,

Yeah, I get pretty annoyed sometimes with surveys too. The funny thing is that some companies wanna be more authentic (social experts tell them this), so they conduct a survey. Basically asking their customers "what can we do so you'll like us more?", haha so inauthentic.

If I don't wanna survey I'll check out the blogs in my market and read the
comments to find out what they’re talking about. Go social, search on
Twitter and Facebook looking for interesting real-time trends that stand
out.

Anyway that's just my thoughts, hope you have a fantastic weekend!
-E

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Jamie — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:42:27 -0000

Very nice article! I have to admit though that I am always annoyed by surveys. It seems that everyone I do business with wants "to ask me just a few questions." It's not bad when one or two companies do this - particularly for an epic product like Disneyworld - but now it seems to be tagged on to every online commercial exchange, no matter how small.

Ah well, maybe it's just me . . .

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Eric Silva — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:33:40 -0000

Yeah, I didn't even know Vic that it started as a ride until Steve's post. That's crazy how big it got. Holy Crap!

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Steve Murphey — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:31:00 -0000

Hey Vic...with everything Disney has added to the "Pirates" franchise it's easy to forget that it had humble origins (Especially Capt. Sparrow). But it just started out just as a ride that was built in the 50's and stayed that way until a few years ago.

Seems like so many businesses get caught up in being absolutely perfect "now" when they see how well other's are doing. Yet the businesses that have it together today started out just like everyone one and took years to get to where they are. Business is definitely a marathon!Thanks for stopping by.

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

vicmagary — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:53:25 -0000

You know I completely forgot that the whole "Pirates" franchise started out as an amusement park ride. Talk about improving the experience! And I couldn't agree more about surveying your customers - in both online and offline businesses I've been involved with this has been crucial for fine tuning products and services. Thanks Steve!

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Steve Murphey — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:02:39 -0000

Ha...love it! You're exactly right, what works today may not work tomorrow and what "excites" our customers today may become expected in the near future. Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you liked my post.

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Eric Silva — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:21:13 -0000

HaHa, I know dude. Keep rocking Firepole, loving it!

Re: 3 Steps to Creating the Disney Experience

Eric Silva — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:20:17 -0000

Hey Shana,

I just wanted to say I love that quote. So that's from a game, what game?
-E