From the moment you start blogging, you get this idea in your head. “If I could just get so and so to retweet this post, I’d have it made.” This idea comes in large part from the blogosphere itself. There are posts on how to get the attention of “A-Listers.” There are posts on how to blog better than the superkids. There are posts on how to get as big as the a-listers, too. So when I tell you that you actually don’t need to start out by courting the most influential people in the world of Social Media, you might think that I’ve really lost that last burger that made my brain a complete happy meal.
Au contraire.
There are 7 risks I can think of tied to trying to get the attention of the “A-Lister” crowd – however you may define that.
1. The benefits are not long lasting: There is definitely a huge thrill when a “big name” retweets your post, and looking at your blog’s traffic the next day can make you feel warm and fuzzy. However, there is a difference between people who click to your blog because a big name suggested they do it and a person who is truly engaging with your content. One may forget who you are 5 minutes after they visit. One will keep coming back of their own volition.
2. The A-Lister’s audience may not be your audience: One thing you start to notice after you’ve been in the online world for awhile is that each big name has his or her own specialty. Some of these may be relevant to your long-term goals, and others may not. Their specialty dictates in large part who their followers are. If the A-Lister is an expert in an area that has nothing to do with you really, then the retweet will not do you a whole lot of good in the long run.
3. The influx of traffic is more about the A-lister than it is about you: When you try to court A-listers to increase your traffic, what you are really doing is borrowing their influence for your work and online presence. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but make sure you stay clear in your head about what is going on. While some people may click to your blog and then genuinely feel interested in your blog, others may simply click over because they are influenced by the A-lister who tweeted your post. They may give your blog a passing glance, or they may simply retweet the a-lister to try to get on his or her radar.
4. What goes up must come down: If you monitor your traffic carefully, you know that few things warm the soul like a sudden and unexpected spike. You also know that few things are more discouraging than a bloggy free-fall. Even though it doesn’t make sense rationally, when you get retweeted by an A-lister and your traffic spikes, then falls back to normal a couple of days later, it seems like your situation has gotten worse rather than just seeming like a return to the status quo. Psychologically, that can be quite a bummer.
5. You experience the cocaine of the online world: Getting attention from an A-lister is kind of like how drug users explain the effects of cocaine. Before you try it, you can’t really imagine why you would need it. Then you try it and you soar like a kite. When you return back to your normal self, you feel like you can’t feel as good as you did unless you take the drug again. It’s sort of the same thing with searching for attention from A-listers. When you get that retweet of your post, it can feel like you’re on top of the world. But then when you write your next post and it only does moderately well, you think, “Oh, OK, to do well I need to get retweeted by an A-lister again.”
6. You start writing posts that are not interesting to you or your audience: Sometimes, in an effort to write an explosive post, bloggers will write something specifically that they think will get the attention of an a-lister. The problem with this is that you are not developing your online presence/brand/business to please that single person (hopefully). This activity is like the song of the sirens. It takes you off your course.
7. Your core audience will feel abandoned: If you spend a lot of your time trying to get the attention of big names, people who are legitimately interested in your content will feel like chopped liver. Because attention from big names is often fleeting, you need to consider those with whom you engage to be your core audience – because they are. If you mumble and complain even when five people in your community take the time to comment on your post, guess what will happen eventually to those five people?
There is nothing wrong with trying to get on the radar of an A-lister, but most of the time, truly engaging with them is simply impossible. They have too many people on their radar, too many demands on their time, and too many people saying, “Why are you spending so much time on that person and none on me?”
This is also not to say that it’s not great to get an occasional nod from someone you respect. It’s awesome. It can lend you credibility. It can introduce you to fantastic people.
However, the majority of your time needs to be spent building your own community rather than chasing after superstars. Creating a blog community that is engaging, that is build on the premise of engaging with your readers – that’s where the long-term benefits come from.
Make sense?
This is post #40 in the Engagement Series. If you are worried about missing the next post, please feel free to subscribe. If you want to see what we’ve talked about so far, you can just click on the category page, and all of the posts are there (hopefully, if I tagged them right).
Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Leonardini
To be fair, the traffic spikes I have gotten on my blogs (I’ve had four distinct ones thus far) have all settled down to a level slightly higher than I was at pre-spike. Yes, I lose 95% of my spikes, and that’s true even when I get linked by something with a highly compatible audience, but they’re absolutely some of the best readership-gaining tools I’ve seen.
You just have to combine them with readership-maintaining tools. Of which the greatest is and always shall be actually having content. My assumption has always been that if I keep writing good stuff on the blogs and do light advertising, eventually A-listers will see it, and if the content is good, eventually I’ll get an A-List plug. Which has happened a few times. But I tend to figure that A-listers are readers like anyone else, and that you don’t catch them differently. Likewise, when they give you massive amounts of free advertising, you don’t change what you do – you figure that whatever you were doing that caught them will keep catching new people.
But then, broadly speaking, my view tends to be that the biggest mistake bloggers make is spending more time on the marketing than the product. I got a 200 and a 400 reader-per-day blog by sitting down and writing the damn things. Now that I have readers I’m slowly, with my non-blogging time, working on monetizing and upgrading site design (though I’m currently counting the days until I can liberate myself from the damn Google ads. $63 in the AdSense account! Only $37 to go before I can take my money and switch to Project Wonderful!).
Still, I really should be reading these posts more often. 🙂
Heya Phil!
What a great comment! It sounds like you have your strategy well in place though. I agree, the most important thing, bar none, is to actually sit down and write your blog posts. It sounds like a given, but frankly, if people don’t find your content interesting, they’re not going to keep visiting your site, and all of that work you’re putting into other stuff won’t do you a whole lot of good.
Sad but true.
Thanks for your great and thoughtful comment. I really appreciate it 🙂
First off, I finally subscribed to your blog just now! Secondly, I think it is a real issue that the A-lister’s audience might not be your audience. I agree that the blog could settle at a slightly higher readership after such an “A List” tweet (agreeing with the person above me) but I don’t think I’ve EVER been A-List RT’d on a blog post, so no personal experience there.
I like the crash you describe as a free-fall. We all know the highs and lows feeling, like a drug, when looking at our analytics.
Thanks so much, Melody. That’s great news and I really appreciate it! 🙂
I agree, blog readership could build a bit, but it’s not going to stay at the levels it is shortly after a usdden spike in your traffic, and that can still seem disappointing. Sort of feeds into the aspect of the retweeting being a bit like a high or a rush. You end up wanting more and more 🙂
Hi Margie
“…you might think that I’ve really lost that last burger that made my brain a complete happy meal”
Great line and you are so right.
The A listers have already made it.
They won’t reply to every comment and then head over and check out your site… it would simply take too long.
Sound advice on building your own community, not chasing the superstars.
BTW – notice you are using Genesis Prose theme.
I’ve just started to get into Genesis myself.
Hey Margie,
Great post and quite timely 🙂 I was just having a chat with someone about the ‘frustration’ of getting noticed on social media. When one allows ‘ego’ to get involved, things can certainly go awry! #2 really resounds; if I’m blogging for a local dance studio, who cares if Chris Brogan retweets me (I might get all giggly & giddy but no one in the ‘dance studio’ community is going to care).
And I love #6: By jumping around waving to try to get a rockstar’s attention, you risk alienating your significant audience. I suspect this can easily happen if ego gets in strategy’s way.
Thanks for your great thoughts, Margie! 🙂
Hey Margie,
Great points. Seems to me that most folks discovered by A-listers were basically doing what they felt compelled to do and then were discovered in the process. Sure there are always those looking to game the system, heck look at Black hat SEO for example. I also think about those who seem to be more focused on the grade than the content. Grades and content are both important i think it’s making sure they are in the right order. Nothing wrong with understanding the requirements, and certainly nothing wrong with a good grade either. For me it comes down to perspective.
Best.
Joe
I am not a big fan of the term ‘A lister’ because I don’t see it as having a universal meaning for people. I suppose that if we are going to talk about reach that there are those who sit at the top of the pile in which case I agree with what you are saying.
It is more important to me to cultivate relationships with bloggers and readers who operate in my space. I’ll take 10 mid level ‘players’ over one big fish as I think that it offers more for me.