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A Marketing Meme for the New Millennium
By Paul Richlovsky | March 7, 2008
A proverb my 8th-grade teacher taught my class was, “You can count the number of true friends in your lifetime on one hand.” This seems to be instructive, but in today’s marketing world, the hot new question seems to be, “Who are your true fans?”
Kevin Kelly, Senior Editor at Wired, has recently written an incisive post arguing that 1,000 true fans are the linchpin to any creator’s ability to make a living. What’s also interesting is the reaction this is getting among guru bloggers in the Internet marketing world, with no less than Aaron Wall, Seth Godin, and Brian Clark weighing in and passionately promoting the idea. I smell a new meme being born!
You can’t go wrong with the number “1,000.” Millennial milestones are celebrated and feared. Ancient Rome’s measurement standard–the mille passuum–was 1,000 paces. (Thanks for the quick link, Dominic Litten.) Thousand Island dressing is popular, even if it trails ranch. As spring training starts, we think of sluggers who might bat 1.000 for the first day or two of the season.
How does “1,000 True Fans” relate to SEO and Internet marketing?
With all the increased (and increasing) competition for attention, this thesis should wake up anybody doing business online to the Amazonian (no pun intended) jungle of competition out there. More importantly, the compelling argument of converting 1,000 tentative connections into 1,000 True Blue Believers is an impetus for interacting with your borderline “True Fan” audience so as to learn what makes them tick and what they want in the future. Then you can be the one to give it to them before anybody else.
At Fathom SEO, we always encourage clients to engage in their industries’ online communities by:
- Commenting in forums, discussion boards, and other places where groups congregate
- Commenting on blogs
- Starting a blog and posting regularly
- Participating in social bookmarking
- Developing podcasts or other downloadable audio
- Making videos and posting them to relevant viewing platforms
- Establishing a presence on Web 2.0 titans like FaceBook et al.
- Putting out timely, optimized Internet news releases
These are just the tip of the 1,000-lb. iceberg. Check our other blog posts, white papers, videos, and forum to learn more about how you can potentially win over 1,000 True Fans.
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March 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Paul, you can count me as one of your true fans!
March 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Paul, I concur with Mr. Krejny, I am in awe of your wordsmithing skills and consider myself in the Richlovsky fan club.
March 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Those are some pretty good points to consider, thanks for the tips!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Thanks for reading, guys.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:28 am
You only have 997 to go!
March 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Soon we’ll need a six degrees of Paul Richlovsky!
March 24th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Paul, I’m one of your true fans too! That means you only need 995 more now!