Media Emerging

No, seriously. Are you awful at this stuff?

It’s okay to come out and say it here. It’s just you, me, and whoever reads this blog (Hi mom!).

• Do you struggle to write?
• Do you have a hard time coming up with topics?
• Do you start posts but leave ‘em in Draft Purgatory?
• Does it feel impossible to come up with original stuff to write?
• Do you hate the sound of your written voice?

Blogging’s hard. You’re not alone. In fact, if you vent a little in the comments, I bet others will do the same and we’ll discover that most of us struggle.

Know what, though? It’s okay. You might kick ass at  commenting. You enrich the conversation…take it in new directions. Or maybe you’re the master of finding and sharing good content. This ecosystem crumbles without people filling each of these roles.

Do me a favor, will ya? Leave a comment. Tell me what you struggle with as a blogger. Tell me what you’re good at. I’m creating a summer blogging series, and hearing from people like you will make it more “real.”

Have you ever heard someone say “Oh, I use Twitter, but blogging isn’t for me?” Or what about someone who doesn’t comment on blogs? Or a blogger who doesn’t link to other blogs?

They’re not what athletes call a “five-tool player.” And they’re suffering because of it.

Mack Collier wrote a great post about learning to be social in social media. He describes his progression from blog reader to blogger to blog commenter to…well, today Mack’s one of the top marketing and social media bloggers nationwide.

What made Mack a top blogger? He went from being a one-trick pony to being a five-tool player. It took hard work, but he learned.

How to Become a Five-Tool Player

To succeed as a blogger, you can’t occupy just rung of Forrester’s social technographics ladder. You need to span several rungs. You need to join, create, share, comment, and participate.

I was glad to see Forrester added a category for “Conversationalists” to its ladder. Being conversational — whether it’s via Twitter, Facebook, a combination or some other tool — is an important part of social media. And if this is the only thing you do with social media, that’s totally fine. Just keep in mind that it takes more than chit-chat to run a successful blog.

Here are some tips for becoming a five-tool player:

1. Review Your Blog Subscribing Habits. Notice I didn’t say subscribe to more blogs. Some people need to follow to fewer blogs so they can be more focused and attentive. If you’re not subscribed to (m)any blogs, you might want to find a few more to follow. The goal is to be a thoughtful and meaningful contributor as a reader and commenter.
2. Link to Other Blogs in Your Blog. This is one I screw up all the time. Your blog posts may be brilliant, but if you don’t link out to others, you’re walling yourself off. As the characters of LOST always say, “Live together, die alone.” [One tip: Outbound links should be threads of a conversation, not linking for linking's sake. Relevance is king.]
3. Share Posts That Inspire You to Comment. Your Twitter followers probably appreciate when you share links to good content. If a post is so compelling you’re inspired to comment, your followers will savor a chance to read and weigh in, too. If it’s worthy of a comment, it’s worthy of a tweet. You don’t have to say “I just commented here” — you can, but sometimes a simple link’ll do.
4. Invite Others to the Conversation — One at a Time. Here’s another one I struggle with. Tweeting a link and asking followers to weigh in is good…sometimes. But I love it when somebody shares a fascinating post and tags me, specifically, to ask me to join the convo. It says “I know you, I pay attention to you, and I know what issues you care about.”
5. Email Your Favorite Bloggers. Email is a powerful way to say thank you. Why? It’s intimate — one-on-one. And it’s private, too. Sometimes a “thank you” in the public comments feels a little…I dunno…theatrical. Send your favorite bloggers an email to say “I appreciate you, even when I don’t have your audience’s attention.”
6. Give Your Commenters the Publicity They Deserve. Did one of your readers leave an AWESOME comment? Tweet about it! Tell your followers to check out that person’s comments, and mention them by name in the Tweet. They’ll love the pimpin’, and your followers may make a new connection.