A reader made my day today.
Well, she’s more than a reader. She’s a blogger, and she just began blogging for a magazine website that I manage for a client. She reminded me of the impact our publications and websites can have on our audience—she even reminded me that I have an audience. Honestly, I don’t usually forget this fact, but it’s always good to get an additional, extra, bonus reminder.
It’s a reminder that my aim should not be simply to write, simply to edit (as if either of those are simple tasks), but to strive to always educate or entertain (or both), to help craft articles, publications and websites into informative, helpful and thought-provoking pieces. And to weave all of that together to attract and engage a community.
On her original, personal blog, our new blogger wrote about the debut of her magazine blog. She talked about being asked to blog for us, how her husband encouraged her to agree and how she thought she wouldn’t be good enough to be selected. She admitted she had received Facebook feedback and emails from people reading her blog telling her how inspiring she was, but she didn’t quite believe it. She writes that she was speechless and honored to be asked to blog for a national magazine.
Our “simple” request for her to blog touched her, and her heartfelt excitement touched me.
But we didn’t affect only one reader. We saw something in her writing and her message that we thought would be relatable to her fellow community members. And we were right: Her first blog entry yielded the most unique views of a blog entry or article on our website in one day. And, she is bringing over her own fans to check out our website.
I see this ability to bring a community together—and to see how these community members come together—as one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of this era of new media. Before the Internet, working at newspapers, we celebrated when we received one letter to the editor commenting—good or bad—on an article. Even when I would hear people talk about the newspaper around town, it was rare to receive feedback about whether any articles brought people together.
There was no online comment section or retweet button. There were no blogs. There was no email. No one talked about engaging our community (although we should have been).
Last summer, I had the opportunity to hear Missouri School of Journalism professor emeritus Don Ranly, PhD, speak at the annual meeting for Association Media & Publishing (formerly the Society of National Association Publications). Ranly asked us to imagine that the Internet was created before paper and print publications. Then, someone discovered paper and began developing newspapers and magazines. What type of characteristics from the Internet would we want to be sure to include in our new print publications? Audience members responded: We wanted them to be interactive, accessible, participatory and useful and to make good use of bulleted lists and short “how to” headlines. So, Ranly asked, why aren’t we doing all of that with our print publications now?
It was a good reminder. It may sound obvious—that we have an audience waiting to get involved—but it isn’t always as we work through our daily “to do” list. I remind myself: Engage that audience. Entertain them. Educate them—or, better yet, learn from them. And now and again, you’ll receive little “thank yous” from your community.
What type of “thank you” have you received that has reminded you there is an engaged audience beyond your computer screen?
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Unfortunately, it’s typically not a “thank” you I get. It’s another “_____” you, but I still suppose that counts as feedback.