Behavior of a Blog Reader

Ok guys, this is a straight-up request for feedback.  If you have a moment, either comment here, or respond on twitter @SEMiotic5, or shoot me an e-mail (since most of you know me).

I have been finding that if I post a new update in the afternoon and tweet a link, I get very little traffic compared to when I do the exact same thing around 10 am.  My rationalization for this is that people are most likely to be active on Twitter/blogs between 10-11, once they have had some coffee and checked their e-mail, but before the pressure of the end-of-day deadlines start getting to them.

Is this accurate?  I have a very small sample for this, so I can't be sure if you just don't happen to like the content that I have been posting in the afternoons, compared to the pieces that have gone up in the morning.  This could easily be random based on the amount of data that I have, but the beauty of having direct connections with your audience is that I don't have to wait for the sample to grow.

Also, if I am way off base feel free to let me know.  If the content is bad (or too long), I can't promise that it will improve, but it can't hurt for me to know about the problem.

Here is my grumpy kitten:

Using Twitter for Branding Isn't Hard

Like most Twitter users (89.4%, according to a new study by eMarketer and Lab42), I follow a number of corporate brands.  The only brand to immediately follow me back?  Huggies.  That’s how you build brand loyalty.  Opening up a two-way communication with your consumers is crucial, and Huggies is the only brand I follow that did so.

They produce more content, and solicit more responses from their followers, than all of the other brands, and they recognize the value in engagement.  People like feeling as though they matter, they (we) collect Twitter followers like baseball cards, and each new one is a tip of a cap.  Humans are social animals, and the desire to feel liked is strong.  I am not particularly social at all, but seeing that Huggies went out of their way to follow me gave me the same endorphin kick as anyone else.

The result is a blog post like this, and it is the perfect example of earned media.  Suddenly, by doing something as simple as following a twitter account that was already following them, they get free advertising.  This isn’t much of an authority site, but maybe 5 or 10 people will see this.  I will mention it on twitter and the other people who follow me will see it, and I will throw a link up back to the brand website (diapers, and a full baby resource!)

Studies have shown that one of the strongest incentives for consumers to purchase is the opinion of online friends.  All the commercials and banner ads in the world won’t trump the words of people you know and trust.  Brands need to recognize this, and leverage every piece of media at their disposal to not only reach their audience, but turn that audience into a legion of goodwill ambassadors.