This document discusses strategies for building an online audience and engaging with readers, including using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to promote content. It also provides tips for establishing credibility with an audience through developing expertise on the topic, being authentic, asking questions of readers, and distinguishing facts from opinions. The document uses Sarah Wilson as a case study of someone who engages an audience to spread a health message through blogging and social media. It also offers advice for dealing with negative or hostile commenters known as "flamers."

1. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local

2. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local
Course Notes
Session Seven – Promoting your stories – Engaging with an
audience

3. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local
Introduction
In this session we explore aspects of building an online audience.
Using Social Media to build your audience
Regardless of whether you are publishing on a website, blog or social media platform
you can use other platforms to publicise your primary publishing method. Consider the
following:
Facebook – Would a Facebook page be a good way of promoting your site? Most
blogging software allows you to post a teasers from your new posts onto a Facebook
page:

4. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local
Twitter – Twitter is often used by bloggers to tweet about new
posts, and as a complimentary medium to provide additional information that doesn’t
justify a longer post.
As you can see above; Gavin from The Greening of Gavin, uses his Twitter account to;
publicise his blog as well as to spread the sustainability message his broader online
identity is set up to champion.
Pinterest – Do you have photos attached to you posts or tweets? If you want people to
share your material via Pinterest then you need them. Attaching a Pin it icon to each

5. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local
image is a great reminder for readers. People are more likely to act
on something in front of them. Pin it buttons operate like calls to action and they give
people an easy way to share your image – as do Facebook and Twitter symbols.
Engaging Your Audience
During the last session we explored methods for beginning to build an audience and
engage with them. This session builds of those ideas, as well as some that we explored
during the story telling sessions, to fully explore the concept of engaging with an
audience.
Authenticity is contagious
We have talked about authenticity a lot during this course. Authenticity is a concept
that encompasses both ethics and authors voice. Authenticity is about representing
yourself online in a way that you are comfortable with and fulfils your story telling vision.
It is about being; ‘real’, open & honest. It is about telling your story; in an obviously

6. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
Bayside Medicare Local
autobiographical sense (http://thebloggess.com/) or via the prism of
some other subject matter (http://www.101cookbooks.com/).
People are drawn to authenticity. It is contagious. It will help you connect with an
audience, and keep them coming back.

7. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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Establishing Credibility
The About Us page/profile
A well written About Us page or profile (with Twitter you only get a few words worth of
description), will help your audience understand your site/online presence. It will allow
you to establish your credentials, give your audience a context for your words and
provide a jump of point for your storytelling. Your profile advertises you, or your site, it
is a part of your branding so spend some time perfecting it.
Reading widely
It may seem obvious but credibility is generally linked to your expertise in your particular
subject matter. Ensuring you are well read and that your information is current will be a
key part of your enduring credibility. (Perhaps) less obviously, reading widely is not just
about understanding the subject matter within your area of expertise, it also includes
keeping up to date with the social media you are using to engage your audience.
Keeping abreast with developments in the blogging world or in the ‘twitter sphere’ etc, is
a part of remaining credible. If you are publishing material then there is an expectation
that you should have at least a basic understanding of the vehicle you are using to
publish it.
Seeking to understand
Consider the experts you see as ‘credible’ within their field. Are they the individuals
telling you how things are? Or are they the ones who are seeking to understand how
things work? Think about the approach of experts like: Gerard Whateley (Aussie Rules),
or David Attenborough (nature). They seek to understand. They are clearly well read
and inquisitive and they have worked on developing their expertise.
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2010/01/28/being-an-expert-takes-time-not-talent/.
The Power of Questions
Allowing your audience to demonstrate their knowledge will often help you build your
credibility or at the very least engage your audience in a discussion. Asking your
audience for feedback, asking what they think, indicates that you want to build your
knowledge, as well as opening communication channels. As mentioned above, often the
most credible are those that question the most.
Fact vs Opinion

8. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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Fact and opinion are different and yet it can be hard sometimes to
discern from someone’s writing which they are presenting. The ability to differentiate is
important though. For an exercise on the basics of Fact and Opinion see here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/fact-or-opinion Level 3 is probably appropriate for
most participants.
Sharing facts about a concept is different to repeating opinions. Presenting opinions,
whether they be yours or other peoples, as facts can impact on your credibility and has
the potential to disengage your audience. Sharing your opinion is great but the reader
should be aware that what they are reading/consuming is exactly that – your opinion.

9. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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Ethical considerations
Trying to appear impartial while actually representing a particular vested interest has the
potential to damage your credibility, impact on your authenticity and turn off your
audience. Declare your interests if you have them.
Staying on topic
Gerard Whateley is rarely seen commentating on anything other than sport, ditto David
Attenborough and the natural world. Expertise takes a significant amount of time and
effort and if you spread your self too thinly people may begin to see you as a ‘jack of all
trades, master of none’.
Contributing to discussion forums
Share your expertise. Contributing to discussion forums, commenting on other people’s
blogs, face book pages, retweeting the work of others and so on all helps raise your
profile. It allows access to a wider audience as well as enhancing your credibility within
your field.
Expert Organisations
Being a member of an expert organisation can add to your credibility. Consider joining
organisations that operate in the field you wish to communicate about.
The power of endorsements
Endorsements can enhance your credibility. They could be endorsements from
organisations of which you are a member, or from specific individuals with power or
influence in your field.
Tasks: Research relevant expert organisations for your health message
Remaining relevant
As mentioned above remaining relevant plays a big part in establishing credibility. It will
also help you attract readers. As identified in earlier sessions people are drawn to things
they find either interesting or important. New developments within your field will often
fulfill the ‘important’ test.

10. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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Evergreen content
Evergreen content is content that is evergreen – it is always interesting. Evergreen
content is the sort of content that people search on, the information that doesn’t vary
much over time. For example http://www.tie-a-tie.net/ is almost entirely evergreen
content. How to tie a Windsor knot doesn’t change and people will (presumably) always
want to know how it’s done. Even if your site is more topical in nature having some
evergreen content can be a good idea. For example a site which focuses on the latest in
nutrition and fitness could include recipes as evergreen content. (Even if people stop
being interested in Paleo diets for example they will probably still want cauliflower
recipes http://everydaypaleo.com/.)

11. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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Sarah Wilson – a case study
Sarah Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Wilson_(journalist)) has a strong social
media and blogging presence. Via this presence she has built a reputation as a health
campaigner – giving people the tools to ‘Quit sugar’ as well as raising awareness about
auto-immune disease.
Explore her blog: http://www.sarahwilson.com/, the ‘I quit sugar’ website:
http://iquitsugar.com/, her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-
Wilson/109005959162818, and Twitter account: https://twitter.com/_sarahwilson_.
Consider how they all play a different part in engaging her audience.
Questions to consider:
1. Is she authentic? Why?
2. Is she credible? If so, what contributes to her credibility?
3. Does she use all the platforms in the same way? If not how does it differ?
4. Does she engage an audience?
5. How successful do you think she is in spreading her health message?
Communicating with your audience
Many of you will be using social media specifically for its ability to open up a dialogue
with an audience. Reading other people’s posts, responding to their comments,
exploring their blogs, retweeting their messages may well occupy as much time as
actually writing and publishing your own material. Even if the majority of your
communication is to an audience, listening and responding to that audience will often
form and important part of your relationship with them.
The vast majority of this communication will probably be positive, encouraging,
interesting or enlightening. On occasion though you may get the occasional negative
comment or inappropriate feedback. Readers that leave these comments are called:
flamers.
Dealing with Flamers

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To quote WIKIPEDIA: “Flaming is a hostile and insulting interaction
between Internet users, often involving the use of profanity.” Many internet publishers
never experience flaming, particularly those writing on topics which are not inherently
controversial. If, however, you are writing on an issue which lends itself to strong
opinions the likelihood of flaming increases as your sites visibility increases.
If you find you have flamers, or even the occasional negative commenter visiting your
site here are some ways to deal with them:
Techniques
Don’t respond with anger
Some flamers flame to incite a reaction, responding with anger fulfils their needs rather
than yours. Consider carefully how you respond, you are still representing your online
brand/persona when you answer their comments.
Be tolerant of criticism – you may learn something
Consider the possibility that their point may be valid. As we have noted throughout this
course people have differing views and enjoy different things. The negative reaction
may actually represent a much wider proportion of your potential audience than you
think. Think about what has been said and learn from it.
Take responsibility – assess whether you provoked their reaction
Some topics and subjects are far more likely to provoke a reaction than others, and it
may not necessarily be the things you think. Assess what you have written and walk in
your audience’s shoes for a moment. How could what you have been written been
perceived by someone else?
Censor with care
You initial reaction when reading a negative comment may be to delete it. But before
you do carefully consider the implications. Do you want to become known as a site that
censors? Will writing a response to the comment actually assist you in communicating
your message? If you do chose to delete where do you draw the line?
Respond with pride, change the topic, and maintain your integrity

13. Healthy Voices is an initiative of
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If someone openly disagrees with you countering their point whilst
changing the topic can be an effective method for dealing with them.
Ignore them
By not engaging with someone wanting to pick a fight the likelihood is they will
eventually get bored and move on.