Social Media and the Power of Giving
Written by: Don Miller
Posted on January 7, 2008
Filed Under Starting your Online Business
Did you shy away from the title of this post at first? No worries I am sure most people did. It is born in all of us. We are far better at taking and receiving than giving aren’t we? Now before you hit the back button, because you are thinking you are not that way, give it a few more minutes. It really is related to blogging. How many sites have you visited that busy receiving without regard to giving. Winston Churchill once said , We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Seems there are bunch of them who read the first part of Churchill’s statement and choose to ignore the rest. If you are not willing to give in the social media world, and everyone has that decision to make, don’t plan on receiving much.
Give Traffic to Get Traffic
Blogging Zoom , Stumble , Sphinn, and all the rest depend on users to initiate the buzz and one of the by-products is traffic. We all need traffic. Ultimately your content has to be worthy to sustain that traffic. If you are not registered with these services, and if your not I cant imagine why, take a look at your own profile. How many relationships have you cultivated within the respective systems? I have read many a post or e-mail that indicates Blogging Zoom doesn’t work for them. A further look into their profiles suggests they might just be sitting back waiting for visitors to find them. That will not work. You must pursue others. That means reading and hitting the Zoom button when you see something you like, adding them as a friend and checking back later to see what else they have posted. I have posted since November 5, 2007 when I joined BZ I have submitted 42 posts, this one will make 43 . All have gone hot, and I have received traffic from BZ every day since. I Zoom other bloggers posts I like, everyday. The ones that have Zoomed my posts get my attention first.
Stumble is really not much different in terms of establishing relationships with people. My first experiences with Stumble were rather benign in terms of generating traffic. I began Stumbling others articles that I felt brought valued content. I do not stumble articles just to say I did. Then something happened. People who I had stumbled began to look at my site and before I knew it, my articles were being stumbled. My Stumble network has grown at a steady pace. My hope is that it continues. That is the power of giving.
I have only recently signed on to Sphinn. I was introduced to it by a relationship developed on Stumble. He Sphunn one of my articles and it brought traffic. I have since added Sphinn to a couple of posts and generated more traffic . I continue to work on Sphinn relationships. He gave to me first, I have since returned the courtesy. We both get traffic, and it is another example of the power of giving first.
Traffic, just like your business, should be a series of networks. Those networks will evolve into unique communities. Those communities will evolve into regular site visitors. It starts with you giving first. Yaro Starak likes to talk about the 80/20 rule for blogging. If a piece of your 20 isn’t about developing your social network presence, you are missing the boat. Give first, you will get later. There is power in giving.
Your Blog Can Give
So tell me what is your site giving? Are you giving quality information, unique content? The giving doesn’t stop with social media. Let’s look at some examples. Blogger Unleashed has established itself as an authority. Vic Franqui is forthright in his delivery of information. He posts contain value. Making Sales Making Money seeks to expose the truth about home based business opportunities. Blogger Unleashed posts about the truth of internet marketing and making money online. His key to success can be traced back to a simple formula. He implements what I call the 3 C’s. Content, Controversy, and Consistency . You can do the same.
Content
Is your content original , unique and delivered in your own voice? That is what attracts people to your site. Take a look at Courtney Tuttle’s site and ask yourself this question. Where else can you go on the internet and get that kind of information on all topics related to marketing in one stop? The answer? I haven’t found it. I am a frequent visitor. I advertise on one blog. It is Court’s site. I believe in him and his information. His posts are original, relates to his visitors and mixes in some mild controversy with interaction with his readers. I am not alone. By the way, no one gives a backlink as generously as Court does.
There is nothing quite like a bit of controversy to draw a crowd. Mix in a little drama and your have a big crowd. Translated to the internet, big crowd = big traffic. Taking a controversial point of view is almost certain to gain interest. Almost any article that mentions making money in sales or on your site draws curiosity like rubberneckers are attracted to an accident. If you can make a site visitor smile or laugh out loud you have a return visitor. The first time I looked at Blogger Unleashed , I laughed out loud. He took a controversial point of view, and blended it with quality original content , as he does in almost every post. I bookmarked his site and subscribed immediately. I was a subscriber when his total was under 100. It is now over 700 and that was only a few weeks ago. Yes controversy works, mix in a bit of drama and the social networks will love you
As of this post my 3 biggest traffic articles are;
Bonds and Blogs on Steroids ?
Steroids is the controversy, the drama was created by making a tougne in cheek accusation that the big blogs were on the steroids.
Content + Traffic + Pre-Sell = Monetize
Take a look at the word monetize. It naturally draws the eye. This post is looked at through the Stumble link daily weeks after it was posted.
The Truth About Home Based Business Opportunities
The article simply points out what I believe to be one of the biggest scams on the internet and offers an alternative. Mild controversy, mixed with an alternative way to make money.
Consistency
What have you done for me lately? Catchy question, but so relevant to blogging. If you have written that article that just took on a life of it’s own, congratulations. I was speaking with an online friend the other day and he shared with me this post had received 91,000 looks in the last month. How does that happen? His post went viral and his traffic went nuts. I promise you he gave first, as I have come to know him as a blogger who gives. He will not promote articles he isn’t moved by, but he gives first.
Now his challenge is to do it again, and that is your challenge. You have to be consistent. Resting on your laurels will help your site die as low death. You have developed friends in your social network. They may well be your best promoters in the end. Your friends are clever people, they are most likely to try to promote a post linking to them, but you have to be consistent in your giving. If you post that article today , tonight or tomorrow, start preparing your next one, because being consistent is a necessary component for your success.
The Action Plan
Perhaps you don’t agree with this post, perhaps you do , either way I want to challenge you to prove it to yourself. Dedicate some of your time this week to developing your social networking neighborhoods. Give first. Spend some time on writing that article that gives first. Purpose your week to giving in everything you do with your home based business. Leave a comment to let us all know where to find your article. Resist the temptation of not doing so, and experience the power of giving. Who knows perhaps you can develop some of those social networks friends right here !
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Tags:bloggers, blogging, blogging zoom, content, making money, Marketing Skills, monetization, scams, seo, social media, social networks, traffic, yaro starak
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23 Responses to “Social Media and the Power of Giving”
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Social Media and the Power of Giving…
Have you experienced the power of giving or are you better at receiving? Social media can boost your traffic like nothing else, but giving first is the key, want more traffic , then give some traffic, it is really very simple. Blogging Zoom Stumble and…
Don,
Great post and thank you for the link to my viral post. Stumble has served me remarkably well and I’ll take your message to heart about giving first in the Blogging Zoom community. To be honest, I’ve gotten spoiled with how much traffic stumble has brought me with not much effort. Blogging Zoom will require me to be more engaged with the community, which is actually not a bad thing at all.
So, you’ve suggested a good goal for me for this year - give more to the social network community.
Thanks.
Sol, ramping up to traffic I have found is a process that never ends, no doubt Stumble can bring massive amounts of traffic , but I am convinced we need to explore multiple sources of traffic through developing unique communities, watch for a newsletter announcement soon on a community this blog will start very soon
Well, you’re absolutely correct and you’ve done a great job of making your point. I too have been involved in BloggingZoom since the early days (not so long ago) and have followed the same basic pattern you have to great success (and my blog is NOT about money making or blogging). I’ve also used StumbleUpon in much the same way and in conjunction with BZ to achieve a lot of success and gain a lot of new readers and subscribers.
Hi Don,
You’ve done a great job here with this post. I’ve tried to tell people on my own blog that you have to “give to get”, and you’ve really helped further that point.
I get fed up reading so many posts of people griping and whining about not getting traffic and comments etc, even though they belong to various networking sites. Problem for many is they are not actively participating, but sitting back waiting for someone to discover them.
It’s amazing the power of giving, as you’ve clearly stated here. I just submitted a post to BZ about a blog carnival that’s a 5-in-1 (submit up to 5 posts) and it’s not even the post I did on my own blog about it. Since doing so, I’ve been communicating back and forth with the host of the carnival, and beginning to develop some level of friendship.
Giving and submitting other people’s work, and bringing attention to their informative posts, is a win-win situation. Other times I’ve submitted posts that I haven’t written about myself, simply because it’s darn good stuff, and I want other people to know about it.
Very good job on this post.
It’s good advice and not only applicable to blogging. If you make giving a way of life, you will have more than you need. I have always said “givers give because they are givers, not because they have money… but because of the law of sowing and reaping, people who give (sow) often have more than those who do not”.
Anthony I absolutely live by this principle.
Lin thank you, my hope is that this post will be the basis for some new found freinds
Jason, multiple networks works the same way as multiple income streams. I respect anyone who stays true to themselves
I’ll be honest - I’ve been following your blog for a while now on Stumble and BZ, but I haven’t really taken the time to comment your posts or anything.
However, this is the best post you have written in my time reading your site. Congratulations. I stumbled this, zoomed this, and commented. I think that if everyone would do a couple of those to every article they read, the online world would be much healthier.
Thank you for taking the time to post this and spread the word. I already have some networking relationships growing but I know how important it is to never stop letting them develop and grow…
Thanks, there is good post within your comment. Working at those relationships is crucial. They serve as the foundation for everything. I m glad you took the time to comment ,
Don as you know I am a bit under the weather and had to step back from my normal pace but I had to stop by and just say wow dude what a strong post. Bless you for mentioning BU and BZ and I sure hope that something we say might help you and the others to gaine what you seek.
To Your Success Dear Friend
Vic
Vic get recharged and refreshed and you will be back stronger than ever, I appreciate you taking the time to comment and as always i value your opinion.
Don
[…] up your contacts to help your blog grow in 2008. My favorite article was one I read today titled Social Media and the Power of Giving. This post pretty much summed up blogging - you must give before you can receive. Simple as that. […]
I’m new to blogging, this post makes a lot of sense to me. Working on relationships within social media sites has really been the key to getting traffic.
Thanks!
Don,
What a great post. I believe this to be the best post I have read on your site to date. You have so clearly and eloquently conveyed the quintessence of success not only in blogging, but for any endeavor one could chose to pursue, both online and off. The same principles apply, whether you are pursuing your own entrepreneurial endeavor or nurturing and developing relationships within a particular industry framework. You have to give, to get. I love the Churchill quote, and I think you effectively demonstrate it with the quality content you post regularly on your site.
Outstanding! Keep up the great work. And I wish you all the success you desire.
[…] Blogger In Need […]
What a complicated situation that RT was in… I am truly happy to see that so many people was able to help out and support RT. Amazingly, over $3000 dollars was raised in less than 24 hours. RT received an amazing gift from many kind and caring bloggers in the blogosphere.
Really good insight, I’m beginning to use BZ(That’s were I found you) and Sphinn
Great post, Don.
I’m a brand new blogger and was looking for some direction and emailed Don out of the blue to see if I could get some help.
Talk about Giving. Don not only went the extra mile, he is still running it with me. He returned every single email with interested replies and help. There was never a “I don’t have time for you” or “go to this link” attitude. Ever.
He even followed up with help by phone.
Phenomenal.
Don is a rare breed. He’s a hard worker and really has his purpose to help others do well crystal clear.
If you need help or advice, email Don. Check out his website and blog.
He’s the real deal.
Dave
[…] you. The author of the article is Wendy from e-Moms. I got to learn my own lesson. Folks I love social media and what it can do for anyones site, but it does have some […]
[…] that you enjoy using (and are getting good returns from) and only as many as you can handle. Making Sales Making Money has a solid post relating to this. Street cred don’t just happen in the […]
[…] that you enjoy using (and are getting good returns from) and only as many as you can handle. Making Sales Making Money has a solid post relating to this. Street cred don’t just happen in the […]
I like the message of this article. Give (attention) to others so they can receive a benefit. Give something of value simply because it may have benefited you or you believe it could benefit others. Do it to be helpful. And for no other reason.
Excellent way to live.
In my real (non home-based business) life, I’m a giver (big time!). However, to tell you the truth, I’m new to social networking on-line and I’m just learning HOW to be a giver within social networks.
One of the most important things I’ve learned recently about social networking is that when you give within that context, you better be giving with sincerely pure motives. In other words, to put it the way my mentor has put it, the internet is not a good place to advertise!!! You must drill that into your head.
But it’s a great place to SLOWLY start relationships and friendly bonds! Is it lightening fast? No. Is is worth it because you keep your dignity and don’t get into sales and closing techniques…YES!
I want NWM success but I want to be able to look people in the eyes while achieving it EVEN MORE!
Theresa I’m so glad you enjoyed it , perhaps we are on our way to our own online relationship !