It’s In The Pudding
Blogging is a weird thing. And it’s become an even weirder thing the more ‘popular’ it’s gotten. We all have a platform to ‘preach’ whatever it is we believe, sell whatever it is we are selling, condemn whatever we are condemning and promote whatever it is we are promoting. We kick and scratch our way to readership and then spend our time telling those readers how great we are for getting them to read what we write. Seems weird doesn’t it?
Then there are the exceptions. The blogs that don’t follow the unwritten rule of self-promotion. The one’s that don’t seem to really ‘promote’ themselves at all, yet still have a massive readership. Now, I know that there are plenty of massive blogs out there, but I’d like to focus on three familiar ones that really got me thinking about this today.
First up is Mr. Michael Hyatt. Now I don’t know Michael, in fact, I’m not even sure if he would appreciate me calling him Michael, instead of Mr. Hyatt or something, but he seems like a pretty cool guy based on his blogging. Today he wrote about “What keeps you going when you want to quit”. Something we all deal with I’m sure. But it wasn’t this post specifically that got me thinking more about Michael’s blog, but it was a starting point. What it got me thinking about was his content in general. You know, I don’t know if I have once seen Michael Hyatt shamelessly promote himself, or preach his greatness to the masses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him talk about how popular his blog is, how many Twitter followers he has, or anything like that. It almost seems like he allows his content to speak for itself and readers show up.
Boomama is another blogger that I have never seen type how great she is, or how many readers she has, or how popular she is on the world wide web. It’s almost like she doesn’t need to convince anyone or something. Seems like she spends her time actually blogging rather than convincing her readers that they made the right decision by reading her blog. An appropriate phrase would go something like this… ‘The proof is in the puddin’. Again, good content without the shameless “look at me” tactics.
Lastly is a blogger that we all know. Mr. Seth Godin. Now, I know that everyone knows that Seth Godin is a popular blogger and he’s at the top of the social media food chain and all that, but here’s the thing. Not once, have I seen Seth Godin mention his readership, his pageviews, his Twitter followers, his “milestones” or anything like that. He’s not walking around saying “Go ahead, Google the word “blog” and see what’s one of the first personal blogs to comes up.” It’s always about the content. And I think people respect that. I respect that.
It’s tough though. It’s tough to not get caught up in the numbers game. It’s hard to see someone with thousands of readers and not compare yourself with them. And on the flip side of that, it’s easy to find the flaws in others tactics of getting those numbers, keeping you right in the middle of the numbers game rather than focussing on content. Seems as though the proof really is in the pudding and these three very successful bloggers
Stock In Ritalin?
Now, over the years I’ve taken a lot of flack for hating Sponge Bob. Chris even has been giving me grief about my Tweet concerning Sponge Bob, but here’s the thing. Chris doesn’t have kids that bounce off the walls and scream their heads off after watching it. The only person getting hyper after watching that show is Chris and his wife has to deal with that. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s something to be said for a cartoon that has lasted as long at Sponge Bob has and the marketing team behind the franchise is doing a great job selling product and keeping it going and all, but here’s the deal. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the creators or “owners” of Sponge Bob had considerable amounts of stock in the children’s A.D.D. medication Ritalin.
Now hear me out on this. My kids watch some of the most weird annoying cartoons out there too. In fact at this very moment my four year old is sick watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Could there be a weirder show? But at least there’s some musical influence and Jack Black is on it occasionally. But Sponge Bob? Seriously? That is pure annoyance. Pure, unfiltered, hyper, drive you mad, annoyance. Am I wrong?
Yesterday Blue went to the dentist and got a new toothbrush. Last night before bed as he was brushing his teeth he told me that the dentist had a Sponge Bob toothbrush but he didn’t pick that one because he knew I didn’t like him. Good boy.
So, let’s hear it. What cartoon do you absolutely despise?
**Disclaimer – This is a joke and I don’t really think that Sponge Bob’s creators and owners own stock in Ritalin and I also I recognize the seriousness of A.D.D and don’t think it’s a joke necessarily. Does that get me away from any legal ramifications of this post?**
The New NatalieGrant.com
So the day has finally come. We have officially launched the new NatalieGrant.com. Aren’t you excited? Natalie has been an amazing artist to work with and I’m excited for the next level of working with her. She’s talking about a new record, lots of touring, and a bunch of other things and I’m excited to be a part of it.
So head over to the brand new NatalieGrant.com and take a look around. We’re still making sure everything is functioning right and like always, I rely on you guys to let me know if anything is screwy. But for now go take a look, and let me know what you think.
Pigeon Forge With The Renstroms
So last week we took our last ‘mini vacation’ of the Summer and drove out to Pigeon Forge to meet up with Daniel Renstrom and his family. Their family was having a yearly family reunion and we were invited to crash it for the weekend so we made the drive out to East Tennessee for a couple days. Daniel and Danielle have quickly become some of our favorite people in the world and we’re slowly working on getting them to move to Nashville, and their extended family that we met out there were equally as awesome. All thirty something of them.
The first night we got there around dinner time and had dinner with everyone, then we went and tried out a little mini-golf. Kristin had been trash talking all day about how good she was at mini-golf so we challenged her to prove it. Daniel and I ended up tying with the best scores, which happened to be a way better score than Kristin had, but in her defense there were kids running around like mad the whole night.
The next day we packed up early and went to Dollywood and the water park that is connected. Kristin took Blue on some of the bigger kid water slides and I stayed with the little ones the the more age appropriate stuff, then when we went over to the ‘theme park side’ I took Blue on his first roller coaster ever. Which is absolutely one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. We were there for the day, but then I had to make it back to Nashville for bus call.
All in all another great little getaway and I’m glad we took the time to do it. Thanks to Daniel and Danielle and the rest of the family for including us. We had a great time.
Oh, and by the way. Daniel has a new Christmas record that you all will buy this October when it comes out, so just a heads up on that. A-Mazing.
Dubuque, IA
So, the show is supposed to start here in Dubuque, IA in about twenty minutes and this is what we are looking at. We’re sitting on the bus watching these massive clouds crashing into each other above us and wondering if we hung out in Iowa all day behind a county fair for no reason. Either way it’s a pretty cool show outside right now.
Not much else going on here, but I promise to have some pictures tomorrow from our ‘Mini Vacation Number Two’ sooner or later. I just need to take a look at them and have the time to go through them all. Oh yeah, and there’s plenty more to mention on the SkörInc front when I get a chance. I’ve never been this busy and happy with things going on. More to come on that I suppose.
Have a great Friday night. I’m going to go see if the stage is still here.
‘Something To Say’ – $2.99 Today
So, today only Matthew West’s album “Something To Say” is on sale at Amazon.com for only $2.99. Now, here’s the thing. The song “The Motions” has been number one on Christian charts for thirteen weeks now, so logically even if you just want to buy that song for $2.99 it’s a steal. Not to mention that there are a ton of other great songs on the record.
We’ve only had the chance to work with Matthew for the last few months, but already we have seen his heart for what he does and how him and his team pour themselves into their ministry. So here’s the deal. Even if you own the record already, buy it for a friend. Buy them for Christmas presents, or buy them simply to support a great artist who writes great songs.
Okay. Favorite song on this record. Go.
Glory To God Forever
Not only is this an epic worship song, but this entire record is amazing. I’ve been excited about this record coming out for about six months now, and today is the first step toward it’s release. If you haven’t already, stop what you are doing and go download it from iTunes right now.
On top of releasing this song the boys in Fee have put together a little Twitter giveaway over on their blog, where you can enter to win an autographed pre-release copy of the record before it comes out in October. Not a bad deal.
So here we go. Step one: Go download the song “Glory To God Forever” from iTunes and leave a review on the iTunes page. Step two: Head over to Fee’s blog, and check out the Twitter Giveaway and follow them on Twitter for a chance to win the pre-release of Hope Rising.
Sounds like a pretty Positive Post Tuesday to me. Don’t you think?
Social Media Expert?
I completely stole this from this blog, so if there is any credit to be given for any of this it’s not to me, but it was too brilliant to not post. I’ve added the “bold” to the ones that made me smile the most.
Ways to tell your Social Media “Expert” Might Not Be An “Expert” After All
1. They call themselves an evangelist, guru or expert, and no one else does.
2. They use “expert” or “evangelist” or “guru” or our personal favorite, “influencer” as any of their user names.
3. They “discovered” social media in the last six to 16 months, and there’s nothing online from them in the social media space prior to that. (Remember – Google is your friend.)
4. All of a firm or agency’s, (Or Record Label’s) “social media strategists” come from traditional PR or Marketing agencies.
5. Everything they learned about social media they learned by reading blog posts (i.e. no application). You can learn a ton about sex from reading Kinsey’s manuals, but I’d still rather be with someone who has some practical experience.
6. They haven’t done anything of significance using social media (i.e. demonstrating they know how to apply the tools). Again, see point on Kinsey.
7. They keep shouting about “widgets.” (Or worse, they’re still talking about push marketing.)
8. Their resume doesn’t include anything that has to do with social media (i.e. no results using social media). And no, having a Twitter account doesn’t cut it.
9. Their sound bites eerily resemble what you just heard from Chris Brogan and Brian Solis. And quite frankly, following them and a few others can usually answer 95% of your social media questions to begin with.
10. Their firm (or Record Label*) has added social media as an additional service (as opposed to integrating it into a comprehensive PR approach). If they say “And we’ll do Facebook and Twitter!” beware.
11. Any use of the term “MySpace” unless you’re only targeting 14-year-old males, or independent bands.
12. Their networks don’t reflect that they are connected. (You should probably research them before hiring them. If their blog hasn’t been updated since 2004 yet they tweet every time they take a slurp of Yogurt, something’s up.)
13. When you Google them, it’s difficult to find them. If they don’t show up on the first page of Google, how are they going to get you up there?
14. They never talk to you about free ways to monitor your online presence (like Google alerts and Twitter search). Perhaps they’re afraid you can do it yourself?
15. They don’t maintain an active blog (at least two posts every month).
16. Any case studies they present only involve very big companies with very big budgets
17. Their lead social media strategist is “this kid we picked up after his internship ended.”
18. When they talk strategy, there is no approach that encompasses a discussion about: communications, marketing, advertising, business development, internal communications and/or customer service.
19. They see “Social Media” as a replacement for customer service, when in fact, only good customer service propels positive social media.
20. They want to charge you to get you signed up on social media sites (yuck).
21. There’s a pay structure that includes a pay-per-post model. Run very far away, very fast.
22. The strategy they provide you primarily includes a Twitter profile and a Facebook fan page.
23. Measurement to them means building up lots of followers and fans.
24. After you work with them you’re just as confused as when you started.
25. They’ve never used Help a Reporter Out (added by Sarah, not Peter). To Sarah’s point, they’ve also not suggested any of the wonderful free services out there before they recommend paying.
So what do we think? Pretty accurate? Again, all credit to this post goes here. I’m not clever enough to come up with this stuff.
* I added “Or Record Label” because it seemed to apply.
Stats Suck Sunday – In Bullet Points
Welcome to Sunday. So, if you don’t know how this works it’s simple. Basically, no one reads blogs on Sunday and so we all know that our stats will suck. Because of that simple fact, the randomness of any given Sunday can be expressed in these types of blog posts. Bullet points. Of random thoughts. The birth of ‘Stats Suck Sunday’. Feel free to write your own bullet points on your blog and link to it in the comments, or if you don’t have a blog simply write your thoughts in the comments. Here we go.
- This is the one Sunday I have had ‘Off’ since February and the last until October. That seems like I’m gone a lot but it really hasn’t been that bad.
- Blue and I just finished watching a thing called Slamball and it’s pretty awesome. Full contact basketball but with trampolines. I told you it was awesome.
- I did a little survey earlier on Twitter asking what state everyone was in. It’s been pretty cool to see where all you people are from. Here’s a quick list. TX, TN, AZ, CA, MA, HI, OK, IN, KY, FL, LA, AL, CO, NY, NC, SC, Ireland, and “In the car waiting for you”, submitted by Kristin when she was… sitting in the car waiting for me.
- Afternoon coffee is better on cooler days like today.
- We’re gearing up for ‘Mini-Vacation’ number two this week. Should be another fun little getaway with friends.
- I’ve got a big meeting tomorrow. Should be exciting.
- There are three books next to my side of the bed and I have started them all. Haven’t finished any of them. Rob Bell’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians”, Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love” and Jason Boyett’s “Pocket Guide of The Bible”.
- I’ve been planning on working out all day and now it’s just about time to force myself to do it.
- Horton Hears A Who is weird.
- Joe, the music was mixed perfectly today. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after, but it sounded great.
- We’ve got some friends coming over tonight, so I need to get going.
Have a great Sunday everyone. Let me know what’s on your mind.
