Stages, a place set apart from the rest of us, whether it be raised or level to us, it is still separated from us. When we hear stage, we think of a theatrical performance, a concert, a speaker, something that someone will be high above us to entertain us or teach us a thing or two. We plan on attending by purchasing tickets in an area where well have the best seats, the best advantage point to walk away with an experience to remember.
Marketing and Being Marketed
Blogger are marketers whereas marketers are not always bloggers. As a blogger each post you write and share you are marketing. You are asking people to subscribe so that they are having the best seats when it comes to delivery. We are marketing to them in the hopes that they continue to come back and read as well as retweet, share on Facebook, share on LinkedIn, Business Exchange, or any of the various platforms so that they are marketing us as well. Here, we are marketing and then being marketed. We do not always look at this in this sense and when we are creating goals where we want to create 100 followers a week, we should be looking at that a bit deeper and thinking about being marketed to the target market via your community. Much different mindset. This even applies for those that are blogging for the fame and the pat on the back that you are so great in the comments. They need to be marketed in order to garner a larger crowd of eyes that do nothing more than comment and share.
Not sure how applies to you? Well think of it this way, if I share your article, I am marketing you in an endorsing/trusting manner. I want my community to know that this is something I am reading and then think others may enjoy. You marketed to me and now I am marketing you. Social media thrives upon this concept of marketing and being marketed. The most popular in our industry have built a community around this concept and continue to do so. The value in connections is of course the friendships but in that there is the part of where we know enough about our connections to be able to refer them and also put our name all over twitterverse that we are reading their articles.
The Process
This marketing and being marketed to sounds so great and easily managed. We know that not to be true. You have to establish your niche by determining the need, the want and usefulness in the marketplace, then write articles that people want to read, want to share, build a community that you have carefully nurtured and also tap into resources to grow the business. Suddenly this marketing and being marketed starts getting a bit of a reality check and we realize that it is harder than we thought. Sure, we may get a perk from an a-lister that is well established and has a loyal following but we are on borrowed eyes. Their audience is loyal to them and will check out what they have marketed but, most of the loyalists, they are not coming back to us. Well unless we take the time to get to know them, and establish where we both can have value in the relationship. The boost is very lovely to look at in the traffic stats but is a big reality check the next day when we are back our regular numbers.
Sharing the Stage
The process and path to gain the authority and credibility in the blogosphere is not an easy route. We are with every single post, every single tweet, like and interaction sharing the stage with many other bloggers. Today or even for a few hours we may be in the spotlight, but yet we know standing not too far from us is a mass of people who are getting a part of the spotlight. Every single person in our niche, whether an a-lister or a newbie, is sharing the stage. Our stage, unlike the stage for a performance, concert, speaker, is packed with a chock-full of talent that all is vying for the same attention. Some are able to stay in the spotlight longer than us but it is always short lived.
Discouraging? A bit but at the same time, the ones that take on the challenge head on, accept that they are always sharing the stage succeed. They build an audience knowing that the audience while loyal to them is also loyal to others. This is wanted as if people are only paying attention to you, they are not able to broaden their connections and be able to market you to those connections. Those that want that instant fame, the big shiny objects and want to have everyone pushed back away from them are trying to raise an anchor from a bottomless ocean. They are not playing well in the sandbox as their stage is a stage of 1.
Where We Stand on the Shared Stage
It can be difficult to envision so many people sharing the stage as then we start to think about where we are within the crowd. Front and center, front right, front left; are we in the middle? We never want to think of ourselves in the back as we leave that for others to put us there and then prove them wrong. Who are we standing next to, who is in front of us, who is behind us? Why does this even matter? At first thought, it seems not to matter however, thinking a bit more, it really does matter. Those that we envision around us are our community (or should be), those that we place in front of us are what pushes us each day to write, interact and engage. We want to step up and stand right next to them. Sometimes we think we deserve to be there but then when we delve into their writings, ebooks, community and see what they are doing, we see quite clearly that we have a lot of work to do.
Where do you stand? Are you on a stage of 1 or one that is shared? On the shared stage do you know who is standing next you and who is in front of you?
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