‘Cause You’ve Got…Seasonality!

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Does anybody really know what time it is…does anybody really care?

Hope you do because we’re since most of us in the U.S. lost an hour from Saturday Night into Sunday. Wish I could be telling you that we are gaining an hour! On a brighter note, spring is coming (it’s in full force already where I am) and the days have been getting longer.

And they get even “longer” once we “spring forward”…so what will you do with all that extra daylight? Will you spend it at the computer, or will you be outside?

Have you thought about the popularity of your blog or the number of hits you’ll get on your Facebook or Google+ page during the warmer months?

• Are your fans or readers away from the computer when it’s warm out? If you’re blogging about hiking, canoeing, riding a bike, etc. chances are you’re not going to be seeing much of them if they can sneak in an hour after work doing something they truly love.

• Do your fans or readers have kids? They may be off to an outdoor adventure on the weekend, or rushing off to baseball practice after school. 

• Are your fans or readers sun worshipers? If they’re emerging from the blues of winter, being outdoors makes them feel good and that’s where they’ll be often.

• The time to start planting is soon here. People can get started when there’s more daylight to allow that.

Of course, these examples offer up a bigger can of worms. Questions to think about:

• Demographics. Who are they in regards to their age, income, and gender, where they live, occupation, etc.? How does that affect their behavior during the various seasons?

• Psychographics. How active are they and what do they do with their leisure time? Yeah, “leisure time” is pretty much non-existent, right? Surf the internet, surf the waves, indoor sports, outdoor sports, crafts, reading, cooking, going to movies; you get the idea. If their activities rely on the weather to any extent, you may see engagement levels go up and down, depending. 

Paying attention to the patterns in regards to blog hits and comments or activity on your page can help your business in the long run. Knowing when people are around (or aren't) allows you to plan more efficient strategies.

If there’s a reduced audience because of seasonality, there are options.

• Consider scaling back your posts for a short time; if you post 10 times a day, post 6 or 7 times instead and save some of that valuable material for when your audience is fuller (as long as it isn’t timely material).This holds true especially for Facebook if the number of fans “talking about this” has gone down. 

• Experiment with those who you haven’t been able to engage. Find some new ideas to post and coax those people out of the wood work! 

• Ask more questions to your fans and see what they are looking for from you.

• Make seasonality part of your page. Welcome the seasons (including weather related and sports), springing forward/falling back and holidays and weave them into your page. 

Not all of these thoughts will apply to your product or service. But I think I just saw you nodding your head up and down, so something clicked!

In closing, enjoy this tune by Carole King. Click here.

Let Your Blog Flow!

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It’s one of those days. You wake up with a slight headache, and groan about the tasks that need to be done. First up, you read a depressing message from a friend. Oops. Wish you could take that back and start over, right?

However, what you’re dreading most is writing that blog post. Your brain is blank. You turn on music to stimulate it. For once, it’s not working. What to do?

This situation happened to a current client of mine who just started blogging. We wrote part of the first post together. She IS a good writer, so that’s not the issue. It was typing it and making it real that was the issue.

She wrote the second one completely on her own and we went through the steps on formatting it, adding labels, photos, etc. It was interesting and I couldn’t wait to see the third one. Then I got the email. She didn’t want to do it. I called and encouraged her. And she said that the topics she wanted to discuss had changed. I explained that the first two were actually important and spoke to that, since she had set the scene. I pointed out all the directions she could venture into, based on what she had already written. And she was energized by that!

What I’m saying here is let it flow!

My client has a lot to say and has already inspired a few people by her first two posts. Is that a reason to continue? Absolutely.

Take a step back and think about why you are blogging. That may include:

• A desire to inspire others
• Furthering your reputation by displaying your knowledge
• Creating greater awareness for your product or service
• Being one of the first for getting hot topics out there quickly
• Sharing personal thoughts / reflection
• Sharing a strong opinion
• You want to practice writing often to better your skills
• You want to have an audience to bounce ideas off of
• Journaling

And so on and so on. Everyone has a combination of reasons. I didn’t mentioning make money here because that’s a separate subject in itself.

So, what to do on those days when you’re stumped? Go out of the box and let that river run downstream! Back in January, it was slow going for me. I suddenly found myself basking in the sun in the afternoon with a book and a notepad and some music playing. So, I decided to write about it, even though it’s not about my main subject. That post can be found here.  We all need to take a quick breath sometimes! So be it.

Back to blogging: When you’re going off the usual subject matter, as long as it’s written in your usual prose it will likely strike a chord with your readers. After all, they need a break too, right? And it demonstrates your abilities to think beyond the usual. So, no more constraints…let it flow!

Going outside now with a book and a notepad. Here’s a #1 song from 1976 that talks about love flowing; that includes the love of expressing your thoughts and ideas, right? Click here for that tune.