10/3/07: If You Love Your Content, Set it Free!

When the Internet became a mainstream medium for providing and consuming information the focus was driving visitors to a site. The methods to get noticed included posting urls on business cards and other printed materials, email marketing, banner ads on relevant sites and search engine optimization.

However, once a person visits a static website and learns about the organization, there is no reason to return to the site. This is where email marketing became more prevalent as a way to stay on top of mind.

The Internet has changed drastically since the beginning. More and more most of the sites on the web are interactive communities. Since the content is constantly being updated and people are interacting with the information, they have more reason to visit the site often. However, even the “new web” comes with challenges. The biggest challenge is competing for attention.

People are everywhere online these days: MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Forums, and Message Boards, and so forth. Although email is still the most common way to get in front of your audience, more and more messages are being caught in spam folders or not being opened because there is just too many other messages in the inbox competing for attention.

So how can an organization or individual overcome such challenges? Expand your network. Go where your audience is.

The new web is not about bringing people to your site, it is about reaching people where they are. There are a variety of ways to accomplish such a task. The best way is to start participating in other communities. My analogy to this is networking. Many of us attend networking events to meet new people or strengthen our relationships others. When you walk into a networking event often times you find someone to speak to, shake hands, participate in small talk as well as explore potential synergies to meet business and other goals. The same activities are happening online. Consider a comment within a forum or a link to a blog as a virtual hand shake. Participate in the conversation and if you have your own community, you can then direct those who would be most interested in what you are doing to your community.

Another way to set your content free is widgets. An interactive “ad” that people can place on their site. Consider widgets as business cards that you hand out to your biggest fans. Find the people who believe in what you are doing and are happy to refer others to you and provide them with a widget to place on their site.

Finally give people something to talk about. Find people who are already discussing topics relevant to what you do and provide them with some information that they would find useful.

As in networking offline, people will remember you if they see you at a variety of different events. You will begin to make an impression when other people begin talking about you.

So, if you love what you are doing, and the content you are producing online, to be noticed, you must set it free.

Sherry Heyl

Sherry Heyl is the CEO and Idealist for What a Concept, the first social media agency in the Southeast. Her responsibilities include business development and collaborating with clients to develop online communities of raving fans by integrating streaming video, blogs, podcasts, RSS, and virtual worlds into communication plans for B2B, B2C, Non-profit and Higher Education organizations. Sherry has been recognized as a thought leader in social and collaborative technologies and trends through invitations to speak for many varied associations, conferences, and private events.

She was a key organizer of SoCon07, the first Social Media un-conference in Metro Atlanta and is currently planning SoCon08. Sherry sits on the board of the Atlanta Electronic Commerce Forum as the Programs Director, the board AiMA leading Association Partnerships and the National Advisory Board for KSU Communication Department. Sherry was a 2007 Nominee for the Women in Technology Woman of the Year Award. Sherry is a graduate of Florida State University with undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Creative Writing.

www.empoweringconcepts.net
sherryheyl@gmail.com