People Consume Information Differently

I learned this only recently:  people vary in how they like to consume their content.  For the longest time I managed the distribution of my blog content passively:  push it out on RSS and Twitter.  Then let the chips fall where they may.

But I have been ignorant to the fact that different people get information in different ways.  There are those who use Facebook but have never used Twitter.  There are those who use Twitter but don’t use Facebook.  Etc, etc, etc.

So over the past couple of months I made three small changes that have made a big difference the number of people coming my way:

1.  I started a Facebook page.  I started a 33 charts Facebook page to reach the population that wants to hear from me on their wall.  I use it strictly as an outbound tool.  I’m comfortable with the one-way megaphone approach for now since most of my engagement happens on Twitter and on the comment section of 33 charts.  And I expect the dialog to grow on Facebook as fans grow.  I should add that each Facebook post is custom written which hopefully tailors the information to a somewhat broader audience and respects those who have let me onto their wall.

2.  I added Facebook Like and Tweet handles. Chris Brogan suggests that we give our ideas ‘handles’.  So I did and the results seem impressive.  While it’s hard to measure how many Twitter mentions that come from this button specifically convert to views, I have seen this evolve as something of a thumbs-up button, a vote of confidence.  And based on the growing number of impressions that my Facebook posts receive relative to the number of fans, I suspect that the Like button is doing its job in spreading the word.

3.  I added Feedburner email delivery. I hate email and I do everything in my power to keep things out of my inbox.  I made the faulty assumption that everyone else thinks the same way.  But I’m shocked at the number of people who have elected to receive posts in their inbox.  The number of subscribers grows daily.  If your inbox is your input, mosey over to the right column and subscribe.

These are three fairly simple moves that have improved the distribution of my content.  I suspect it will work for you.  Having made the mistake of assuming that the rest of the world thinks like me, I’ve missed months of eyeballs and opportunity (eyes closed/palm to forehead).

If there’s any other channel I’m missing, please let me know.  And thank you for reading, pushing and subscribing.  I really appreciate it.

 

Tagged as: 33 charts, Blog, Facebook, Twitter