The importance of community support within the blogosphere to grow you blog ! - Campus Made in Blog 2014 Montréal
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The document discusses the importance of community support for bloggers to grow their blogs. It notes that bloggers can feel a false sense of competition but success comes from creating quality, consistent content and embracing the blogging community. The challenges of envy and comparing oneself to others are addressed, recommending bloggers find inspiration from and support their fellow community members. Specific ways to support the community are provided, including commenting on other blogs, sharing content on social media, linking to other sites, and networking both online and offline. The conclusion states that a happy, growing community leads to personal success for bloggers.
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The importance of community support within the blogosphere to grow you blog ! - Campus Made in Blog 2014 Montréal
- 1. The Importance of Community Support Within the Blogosphere to Grow Your Blog Jessica Desjardins Beautezine.com
- 2. - INTRODUCTION - • BSc. Health Science (University of Ottawa) • Founded Beautezine in January 2011 – 2 years full-time – Currently based in Toronto • Community Support – Why it’s important – What are the challenges – How to do it
- 3. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • Digital Competition vs. Real Life Competition • In the blogosphere… – False sense of competition – Things bloggers compete for: • Traffic • Product Samples • Sponsorships & Advertising
- 4. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • The Solution… – If you are passionate, dedicated and creating consistent, quality content then your readers will return for your unique perspective.
- 5. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • What happens when you compare yourself to other bloggers – Envy – Negativity – Low Self-Esteem • There is a fine line between being aware of your competition and being envious
- 6. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • When you envy someone, you focus your energy on glorifying them and criticizing yourself • Envy distracts you from finding your own successful path
- 7. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • What you should do instead… – Make other bloggers your daily source of inspiration, not your source of envy – Set a plan on how to achieve the goals they have attained instead of despising them for it – See yourself as a part of a bigger picture • Increases self-worth • Promotes positivity and creativity
- 8. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • Growth timeline – We all want instant gratification – Blog growth can be slow (and that’s normal!) – The Blogosphere is still relatively new and growing
- 9. 1. The Challenge of Community Support • What does “Community” mean anyways? – A social unit of any size that shares common values • If you have a blog, you are already part of the community. • Two choices: – Embrace it, support it and contribute to its growth – Reject it and try to do it alone
- 10. 2. Other Industries & Community Support • Small businesses – “The Surprising Secret Behind Small Business Success” – Forbes Magazine • Web Development – The Open Source movement • Look Around… the world is made up of communities!
- 11. 3. How To Support The Community • Commenting on other blogs – Make it easy with commenting platforms • Disqus – Comments are viewed as engagement and success – Leave your mark • CommentLuv theburgundybook.com
- 12. 3. How To Support The Community • E-mail fellow bloggers – Build relationships – Create a Signature • Share other blog posts on social media – Quick and easy – Say “Thank You” when someone shares your content – Make it easy for them to share • Share This, AddThis gli3ergeek.ca
- 13. 3. How To Support The Community • Linking to other blogs on your own site – In posts • Images, quotes, etc (with credit) • Use <a href=“http://www.link.com” target=“_blank”> – Related linking • PubExchange – Reading widget list (sidebar or single page) whowhatwear.com
- 14. 3. How To Support The Community • Offline Networking – Media events, coffee meetings, conferences – Develop friendships – Enjoy the industry
- 15. 4. Summary • Don’t create a false sense of competition – See successful bloggers as inspiration, not competition • Slow growth is normal- be patient! – Support the community you are a part of • You get what you give – Share theirs and make it easy for others to share yours
- 16. 4. Summary Happy Community = Growth as a Whole = Personal Success
- 18. Cette conférence a été donnée à Montréal lors du Campus Made in Blog 2014 organisé par Madeinblog.ca.
- 19. Quelques Chiffres : • 1ère plateforme d’influenceurs au Canada • 3 000 influenceurs inscrits • + de 100 campagnes activées • Canada, États-Unis, France Made in Blog est constitué d’une équipe d’experts de la blogosphère dédiée à la mise en place de campagnes adaptées à ce média de proximité : • Stratégies blogueurs • Tweets sponsorisés • Community Management • Applications Facebook • Conversation sponsorisée • Campagne bannières • Seeding vidéo
- 20. La compagnie participe également activement au dynamisme de la blogosphère depuis 2 ans en organisant de multiples activités mettant en avant les blogueurs : • Les Made in Blog Awards récompensant les meilleurs blogues au Canada • Des sondages et infographies sur l’état de la blogosphère au Canada • La 1ère conférence blogueurs au Québec avec le Campus Made in Blog • Les #mibchat
Editor's Notes
- My name is Jessica Desjardins and I am 25 years old. I studied Health Science at the University of Ottawa. I launched Beautezine in January 2011, although I had a few other beauty blogs beforehand (in total about 6 years of blogging experience). I originally planned to go to Medical School, but by the time I graduated, Beautezine had really began to grow and show a lot of potential, so I decided to pursue it further. Two years ago I quit my job to run Beautezine full time and I just recently moved to Toronto. Today we’re going to be talking about Community Support, Why it’s important, what are the challenges to it and how to do it in a way that benefits the whole community, including your own blog.
- Competing for a job, award, title, promotion, etc. in real life = 1 position Competing for a blog = unlimited positions (has pros and cons) False sense of competition...Just because someone reads another blog, doesn’t mean they will stop reading yours. Things bloggers compete for: Traffic Product Samples Sponsorships & Advertising How to get all of these things is an entirely different talk.
- What it comes down to is that if you are passionate, dedicated and creating consistent, quality content, your readers will return for your unique perspective. Find your special “thing” that differentiates you, and you have no reason to be competitive.
- There is a fine line between being aware (which is important for recognizing trends, standards, themes, etc), and being envious (which is self-destructive)
- Don’t say “Why did they get to go on that press trip and not me? I gave that brand more publicity. I gave the products a good review. I’ve been blogging longer. I have more Twitter followers…” realize that brands have their own specific objectives, targets and goals. Instead, say “What can I do to have them notice me more. How can I improve to make them want to see their products on my site. How can I capture their attention and impress them. How can I work harder to get invited to that event next time”
- When you see yourself as part of a bigger picture, your sense of self worth and your actions affect your success Self-fulfilling prophesy: if you believe something enough, it will come true
- In the fast-paced digital world, everything seems to grow so quickly (we all want instant gratification) Blog growth can be slow (and that’s normal) You may see slow growth as personal failure You don’t want to share your readers for fear they will leave Blogging is still relatively new and developing While you think its slow, it’s going very fast (ex. While you’re in high school, it feels like forever. When you’re finished, you can’t believe how fast the time flew by in the big picture.) Don’t be discouraged. Be a part of a growing community.
- Embrace the community, support it and contribute to positive growth. You want to see the blogosphere become a respected industry, in which you are an integral part. “There is power in numbers” - Martin Luther King Jr. Reject the sense of community, be an outlier and struggle on your own. You can’t expect society to recognize the blogosphere as a respectable industry if you don’t support the community from within.
- Small Businesses Beyond hard work, creativity and money, global connectedness to a community on a local (and even global) scale leads to higher success rates in small businesses Web Development Thrives on community support The Open Source movement Creating and sharing for the better of the community instead of personal gain Notice how websites are looking better? Web Browsers are more functional? Web apps make life easier? Your overall digital experience has been created by those supporting the advancement of the internet.
- Commenting on other blogs... you get what you give! Everyone loves getting comments, so make it easy! Disqus allows commenters to sign in with their Twitter or Facebook accounts, or as a guest. Quick, easy, uses a profile picture for a more personal feel and links back to their profiles, websites or social media channels Comments are viewed as engagement and success Leave your mark Bloggers recognize frequent commenters CommentLuv is great tool that allows commenters to share links to their latest blog posts (more enticing)
- Create a direct relationship by introducing yourself and telling them their blog post on X was helpful and you shared it on social media Don’t ask for a follow-back… as tempting as it may be to ask them to check you out, it’s usually not very successful. Aim for a meaningful relationship first. Keep your social/blog linksin your signature like your blog name and social media accounts Make it easy for them to share Share This and AddThis are great plugins that make it easy for readers to share your content on various social platforms. Easy to install and if readers see the buttons, they are more likely to share
- Inline linking Images Always credit images with a link back to the original post (NOT to google images). Even better, ask for permission! Use target=“_blank” to have links open in a new tab instead of leaving you blog. Reduces exit rates! PubExchange is a new tool that resembles a related post widget (similar to LinkWithin) however the parties have to mutually agree to be partnered on it. After that is happened, the widget will ensure you get just as much traffic as you give. Lots of big websites use this feature like WhoWhatWear, PopSugar, Glamour)
- Events, coffee, conferences (you’re already doing it!) Develop friendships with common interests Enjoy the industry
- Stand out and learn to see successful bloggers as inspiration, not competition Support the community you are a part of to help it grow, just like so many other examples of businesses, organizations and societies. …If there’s one takeaway message here, it’s that…