It has occurred to me that the internet community at large is full of people of all walks of life. Connecting with such a community is often done in a mass marketing manner - you see all kinds of "free" things on the internet because the mass market responds to that kind of advertising. The same goes for "cheap", "sexy", "income opportunities", etceteras.
For the little guy webmaster out there to compete with the big boys it becomes quite difficult to connect with the internet community in the same manner. Adwords and other advertising methods can get prohibitively expensive while at the same time "social networking" venues that originally were envisioned to empower the little guy are getting more and more difficult to gain exposure from because they are getting gamed by big corporations, spammers, and some small communities.
So the little guy - you and I, must attack the problem of gaining exposure and connecting with our audience in innovative ways. By innovative, I don't necessarily mean inventive. This article discusses one of the more obvious methods of gaining exposure, link baiting and audience connection.
The mass market certainly responds to certain keywords and phrases, but they also respond to other things too. Scandals - especially those involving celebrities, arguments about personal values, and religious topics are known to set communities into frenzies - which is sometimes good, sometimes bad.
But why mass market when you can connect on a one-to-one basis with your community? A personal connection with an individual is exponentially more powerful than a one time visit. A personal connection can be leveraged any number of ways - inspiring communication and discussion, grass roots marketing, and directed monetization to name three. A personal connection places a trusted link between your visitor and you - one that implies at least subconsciously trust and value in the relationship on the part of your visitor.
Most attempts at personal connections by large entities are seen at face value and rejected by the mass audience. This is where the small webmaster has an edge, and it is unlikely that the edge could ever be leveraged more effectively by anyone but a small webmaster. It is the nature of the beast.
One method of creating a personal connection is self degradation. I'm not talking about talking down about yourself or performing a single act of morbid public stupidity. I'm talking more along the lines of the kinds of things that would gain respect in any one-to-one relationship. Things like admitting mistakes, accepting responsibility, and swallowing your pride to make things right. It's almost a joke to me now how people in general will deflect responsibility for even the smallest of grievances. I made a personal observation almost a year ago regarding the general reluctance of most people to accept responsibility for their own actions and I have witnessed that reluctance almost daily ever since - in personal environments, business environments, from little kids to adults and even among the elderly. I also made a parallel observation that those who act with broad shoulders - who accept responsibility for their own actions and also the actions of others - are forgiven and greatly respected for the plain and simple act of being the kind of person that we are all raised to be.
It would be a bad idea to go out and cause a problem, then own up to it and expect community respect to come pouring in. The idea is to draw on your personal experiences and discuss those experiencees with your audience. It could be something as simple as owning up to an action that took place in your own life - "I got a speeding ticket today and I'm an idiot" - or something much more personal like owning up to an addiction and making a decision to move past it. The manner in which you decide to publicize your own "degradation" will play a great role in it's effectiveness. You could make a blog entry, start a message board discussion, feature an article or something else - but I would always maintain the following elements:
- Be personal
- Be honest
- Allow for commentary and discussion - and also participate in the discussion
- Be extensive in your absolution and do not by any stretch of the imagination deflect responsibility
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