[chrisbrogan.com]

Irony or Wrinkle Free
Dear ESPN- You’re Doing it Wrong
Why I Promote the HELL out of Thesis
Engagement Starts With Asking

Posted: 05 Aug 2009 02:30 AM PDT

In the “I can’t make this stuff up” department, super cool guy, Muhammad Saleem pointed out today that it appears that Urban Outfitters deleted the review thread for for this fine shirt. It turns out that people had a funny, sarcastic, somewhat ironic response to the shirt that ran counter to Urban Outfitters’ interests. (Hell, I don’t know why they deleted it, but that follows suit with what I show you next).

Amazon has the same shirt but left their reviews intact. 139 or so of them. And THAT’s what you have to go read now: Go ahead. I’ll wait.

The thing is: the reviews are hilarious! And you know what? I might just buy this shirt because wearing it would be an instant laugh from others who knew the story. (Okay, those who don’t know the story will think I have bad taste, but I do, so that’s okay.)

So what do you think? Did Urban Outfitters get their panties in a bunch for nothing? Even though the reviews are humorous and sarcastic, might that sell the shirt?

I say yes.

And if you want one, buy one. (Big fat honkin affiliate link.)

Dear ESPN- You’re Doing it Wrong

Posted: 04 Aug 2009 04:41 PM PDT

Thanks to a comment by @tdhurst, I saw this post on NPR by (who knows, because NPR’s blog doesn’t show authors) saying that ESPN has announced they don’t want their employees using Twitter for anything but ESPN-specific stuff.

That’s not how relationship-building goes in the social web. You can use your robot feeds to blurt out posts and showtimes and stuff, but if you want connectivity to people, engagement to your content, and a sense of participation on the social web, making people only talk about ESPN is a quick one-way ticket to “who cares?”

It’s two-way, ESPN. That means we talk with each other about non-work stuff, and that gets us interested in work stuff. Want some great samples?

@newmediajim – talks about his travels and life, and oh yeah, he makes NBC cool.
@scobleizer – works at Rackspace, but we don’t have to talk data centers all day.
@georgegsmithjr – works at Crocs, but I’ve never yet talked to him about a shoe, and yet, I support him.
@cbarger – talks about stuff other than General Motors
@ckieff – talks about stuff other than Ripple6
@jetblue – makes the occasional off-airline joke. (Morgan keeps it pretty JetBlue-y).

Look at your own vertical: @the_real_shaq is human and approachable. So are many of the other sports stars.

Please reconsider, ESPN. I hear your engagement levels crying out.

Photo credit luked

Why I Promote the HELL out of Thesis

Posted: 04 Aug 2009 09:02 AM PDT

I was asked by Tim whether I was paid to promote the Thesis Premium WordPress theme at the end of every one of my posts. I responded that my relationship with Thesis is officially mentioned on my About page, but I thought that I should answer / explain more here. Because it sure as hell isn’t to make a buck (though Thesis pays me some if you buy the theme from my site).

I promote Thesis because I really love the work of Chris Pearson. In 2006, I used to bug Brian Clark at Copyblogger for his designer. He said I couldn’t afford Pearson. (I really couldn’t back then, but always said I could).

Years later, Chris makes the best WordPress theme out there, and I love it. It’s what I use. It’s what I tell others to use. It’s exactly everything I want in a theme: great SEO, simple editing tools, and a palate that a real designer can turn into something amazing. (Mine was designed by Chris himself, but when I buy my next design on the same theme, it will be easy for them to work with it, too).

So that’s why. I firmly stand behind the product. I believe it’s the best in the game. I use it myself. I tell others to use it all the time. To me, any question about a WordPress theme ends in Thesis. (Okay, not ANY, but you get the point).

And THAT is how I wish advertising worked, by the way. I promote things I love. I promote things that matter to me, and if you want to buy it and enjoy it to, I get paid a few bucks by Chris for the referral. Chris pays me, not you. Chris pays me because I help him find new people that want his theme.

That’s the best of all worlds to me.

Agree? Disagree?

Want to buy Thesis? There’s a few links for that, I’m told. : )

Engagement Starts With Asking

Posted: 04 Aug 2009 07:10 AM PDT

I asked everyone who receives my email newsletter for their opinion yesterday. So far, almost 600 people have replied (there are another 147 downloading to my inbox this morning). I am so thrilled with the response, which is about 10% (think about that for a moment: I’m pleased that 10% replied – most open and response rates are even lower!). But how does that come about? If you’re email marketing, how do you go from pushing out content to building relationships?

In my case, I shoot for being as personal as I can. I write as if I’m writing only to you. I ask you questions where I’m genuinely interested in your answer. It’s the only way I know how to do it. I can’t imagine just lobbing news.

But there are other ways to get it done. Peter Shankman has HARO, (Help A Reporter Out), where he’s built a place for several people to ask for help. The people receiving the letter (like me) scan it to see if they can be helpful. It’s a really clever little system.

In all our efforts to reach out to people and do business, sometimes the magic formula is no harder than this:

Ask a question you really want to hear answers to, and then respond.

The trick is knowing that the people receiving your communications really care about the information you’re sharing. But then, that’s another whole conversation, isn’t it?

Where are you engaged? How do people get you connected to them?