Home Bases and Outposts – How I use Social Media in My Blogging

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90 Responses to “Home Bases and Outposts – How I use Social Media in My Blogging” - Add Yours

• The Daily Minder

  October 6th, 2008 9:20 pm

  Where would we be without the social media? Another fantastic post Darren. Keep up the good work and I’ll keep stumbling you!

  The Daily Minder

• Jill G.

  October 6th, 2008 9:33 pm

  GREAT post, Darren. My blog is very niche blog – an entertainment and news blog for the community I live in (South Walton County in the Florida panhandle).

  I am somewhat new to social networking/social media (I am on Facebook and Twitter right now) but I can’t believe the success I’ve had in building exactly what you are talking about in this post – a community within a community of sorts. The outposts and home base for me have definitely been a two way stream – people that find me on Facebook and Twitter come to my site and vice versa. People are connecting through connecting through me. It’s an absolutely amazing thing to witness. I suppose because I am such a niche, it works in a different way than a more global blog??

  Some have questioned why I spend so much time on Facebook and Twitter – my response to them every single time is “why aren’t you?”

• L-Jay

  October 6th, 2008 9:39 pm

  I’m starting to realise that social media only suits certain blog niches. It seems that ‘how-to/tech’ blogs have the best vantage point – fashion, marketing and pop culture blogs also have a way in. I’m trying to figure out how a ‘place blog’ fits in all this. Any clues?

• POTPOLITICS@DO FOLLOW

  October 6th, 2008 10:01 pm

  Cool post. I joined them all and mostly use them to let off steam and look for new friends and people to help just for the hell of it.
  I’m starting to like facebook because of the ease of it.They do need some live chat rooms like the old AOL days that would be cool.
  Another timely post as I’m trying to streamline my efforts and focus on one or two sites.I’d like to invite any and all hard working active bloggers to “our” new group on FB called BLOGGERS see you there
  http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?src=fftb#/group.php?gid=41776560518
  Thanks

• Adam Pieniazek

  October 6th, 2008 10:12 pm

  As one of facebook people, let me chime in with why I like to interact with your content there. A while back I unsubscribed from your feed Darren because it was simply too much information and there was simply no way I could follow through on all the tips coming from your blog! I also had 100 other sites in my feed reader and it simply put was hindering my productivity.

  With twitter, it seems there’s a lot of shouting back and forth and it’s difficult to follow a stream of comments. On facebook though all the comments get listed together and we can see who said what and reply. Plus, when I’m on facebook I’m usually there to waste a few minutes so catching a useful tip is a bonus!

• Louis Liem

  October 6th, 2008 10:21 pm

  Just in case you’re not seen so often in your blog, your social media presence can be a sign that you’re still “around” :)

• Jeff

  October 6th, 2008 10:31 pm

  Darren,

  I have often wondered what the hell I’m doing on some of the social media sites. This post helps me establish perspective and look at goals more closely.

  Jeff

• Carl V. Natale

  October 6th, 2008 10:47 pm

  I started a Twitter account to promote the MaineBusiness.com site. But I quickly started twittering links to business resources I didn’t have time to include in my blog. There is some ROI in that some followers have add to the site. But I think I am developing a parallel community on Twitter.

  This seems to be the outpost model you are explaining. My Twitter activity is building a brand name and engaging people. I’m not sure where it’s going but it’s a fun ride.

  Now if I can just figure out what to do with the Facebook outpost.

• Eric Hamm

  October 6th, 2008 10:48 pm

  Darren, all your posts have value and I enjoy reading every one. But some stand out as ‘extremely useful’ to me and this is definitely one of them. Eric.

• The Social Reformer

  October 6th, 2008 11:07 pm

  I think social networks are a good way to help market your articles and build relationships with others that are interested in the same kinds of things that you are

• SEO Genius

  October 6th, 2008 11:11 pm

  Social media marketing has a large amount of flexibility and with the increasing amount of niche social media sites soon I believe that every type of blog ones which may not fit in to the Digg market may fit in to their own niche social media market instead.

  Sites like “Sphinn” for Internet marketing sites is a great help for increasing traffic and introducing your site to social marketing.

  I believe social marketing is more important and essential within the early days of a blog and this is where you put most of your time however when your blog becomes more developed I think dedicated readers may do this for you.

  Just my 2 cents.

• MacNessa

  October 6th, 2008 11:13 pm

  I’m just waking up to the fact that social networking can be utilised in such a great way. Thanks for the tips!

• JR Griggs

  October 6th, 2008 11:15 pm

  Definitely a required tool for successful blogging these days. Each one is like it’s own feed that will reach people in different ways. I am also trying out Flock after I saw your tweet about it. Still undecided on it but liking what I see so far.

• alrady

  October 6th, 2008 11:24 pm

  Good article. I think social media can be overwhelming as if you want to make friends it takes time. The best social media I ever had was years spend on the q/a board of ebay. It built community and depth. The twitter expience is good and it is great for exposure but to get more involved takes time or to at least join one of the groups.

  I guess I use social media as much as it uses me… For me whenever there are people gathered I like to be there and make friends. Although with Twitter this year I joined strictly as a trial to networking contacts for trying to blog (which is moving more toward article writing only.)

• Susan Payton, The Marketing Eggspert

  October 6th, 2008 11:25 pm

  Darren–
  I think your best posts are the ones where you share with your readers your learning process! Ever since BlogWorld, I’ve been making an effort to check in regularly with Twitter and Facebook, and I still get so excited when someone links to me, or comments on my blog from one of these places.

  Now I just have to figure out how to boost awareness of my business through these channels.

• Hamdani Amin

  October 6th, 2008 11:38 pm

  I use social media a lot, in fact I just record the all time high traffic today, all through social media.

  With social media, you actually convert to right group and they will respond back. well not every one.

• Saurabh

  October 6th, 2008 11:49 pm

  Social media is a useful tool to tell people you are around, when you have not updated your blog.

  I use Twitter only to interact on my blog. But in sometime I’ll also use Facebook.

  This was an excellent blog post.

  Thank you Darrwen.

• Rob Williams

  October 6th, 2008 11:57 pm

  You’re dead on with this. I wrote a free ebook about getting started in sm and I use the ‘home base’ idea. I think a strategy has to be in place for it all to work out and fit. I love the graphic, but I wish I could think of a better way to show that these sites should be inside a strategy, not just links to random profiles. Staying with the map illustration, the home base and outposts should all be inside a town/city/community. They are linked for a reason, but each does it’s own thing for the bigger picture.

• Debt Free Hispanic

  October 7th, 2008 12:09 am

  Thanks Darren, I started using Twitter and now I have more people following me, plus with the WP-plugin my new posts get tweeted automatically. Good post by the way.

• Dr. Ben Adkins

  October 7th, 2008 12:13 am

  Great Post! Social Media is tough because there are so many different options that you can spend your entire day on. I use Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, Myspace, and of course Digg. I think the most important part of using Social Media is knowing how to segment your time on each. All can be very effective in promotion once you get the hang of it (still getting the hang of them all….lol)

  Thanks for the article!

• Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy

  October 7th, 2008 12:13 am

  Very insightful. I’ve always seen social media like the “tentacles” that pull in readers and friends from all corners of the net into your central “body”, or whatever you’re trying to promote.

• ITrush

  October 7th, 2008 12:18 am

  Very informative.. another great post, Thanks!

• Craig S. Kiessling

  October 7th, 2008 12:20 am

  Wow! I am new to these terminologies – but I love them. I think we all had an understanding and have been doing this to a degree, however seeing it visually, etc. makes it more illumined, I think.

• Infonote

  October 7th, 2008 12:24 am

  Darren, I agree that social media is important especially for popular sites like DPS. The effect will be even greater if it is focused on a niche.

  At the end of the day every small bit counts. In Maltese (Malta), there is an expression, every drop counts. A lot of small drops will eventually fill a bucket.

• Steven-Sanders

  October 7th, 2008 12:39 am

  I use all of this, but never looked at it in this fashion. Great way to map it all out!

  I know it would help me to keep track of all of outposts I’m using, so I don’t neglect any.

• grechen

  October 7th, 2008 12:52 am

  interesting post – my “outposts” also include forums in my niche; when i first started, i connected with others interested in my subject on message boards. this really helped me to propel my website(s) forward. now that i’m more established, i have to admit, i’ve let those interactions drop off a bit. my challenge is finding the time for social networking…does anyone have reasonable solution for this? do you engage social media a few times a day? i just get distracted if i try to do it randomly throughout the day…but when i try to stick to specific times, i feel like i’m “missing” out on things!!

• alrady

  October 7th, 2008 12:59 am

  and that reminded me of dog whisperere group and how I never even told them I started http://pampered-puppy.zlio.net/ a store for dog stuff. sheesh.

• Jim Gaudet

  October 7th, 2008 1:07 am

  Well, add Mixx to the list. Someone liked your article over at Mixx (where all the people who are sick of Digg go, like me) and that is how I found you. Currently Digg will get you a lot more traffic, like StumbleUpon, than Mixx will. But if you are interested in a community where the conversations are really interesting, unlike Digg, then Mixx is the best place.

  I will be waiting for the next part to this post,

  Thanks

  ~ Jim

• Franklin Bishop

  October 7th, 2008 1:10 am

  I do not agree that you cannot use social media to build all of your readership. I think if you continue to just write for social media users then they will soon become avid readers of yours. Basically you just have to experiment with social media to find out the best ways to get that traffic to your blog. Trust me, if people from the social media site keep getting pointed back to your blog and they will sooner or later subscribe and become a religious reader of yours.

• Leon Altman

  October 7th, 2008 1:18 am

  I like the outpost/home concept. Curious why you don’t use (or at least didn’t mention) squidoo and hubpages as outposts.

• CoolProducts

  October 7th, 2008 1:19 am

  Only half finished and one of the best posts I feel we’ve seen lately (not that the others weren’t good) I just happen to think this one has a great concept!

  It’d be interesting for me to develop my own diagram of outposts and then go through the list and see where I can improve.

  Thanks again Darren

• digitalizes

  October 7th, 2008 1:25 am

  Very interesting post Darren. I am quite new to your site but I do find you offer an excellent insight into blogging and making a living from online activity. This is something I am currently doing myself through a number of websites.

  Blogging is something I have toyed with in the past, but never spent too much time on. I am getting into it much more and finding that writing is a great way to get things off my chest! Hopefully I will also be able to offer advice and help others along the way.

• Kok Choon

  October 7th, 2008 1:57 am

  Somewhat like Jeff Johnson feeder sites, but you use web 2.0 as your feeder sites and draw traffic to your site.

  Web 2.0 is better because it allows you to interact with your readers / visitors, and you can build a strong community relationship with them, while normal feeder sites is to tap into search engine traffic only…

• izzat

  October 7th, 2008 2:05 am

  it easy to promote blog/website using social networking. but i still dont know how to use it for communication with other blog reader. what i do is, i make sure that my blog exist, and for first few days they are coming, happy though see traffic.. but then after that they start to go away.. reason.. because my friends in facebook or friendster not interested in what i write.. so i think do i need to find friends that have same interest.. so how on earth i gonna do that.. that what i thinking right now.. how possible can i do that.

• Amrit Hallan - Content Writer

  October 7th, 2008 2:05 am

  Social media as a stand-alone activity may be quite time-consuming. Darren, it works if you have already made a name for yourself — you yourself said you have hardly spent 20 minutes on FaceBook in the past three months and there is a community discussing your content. This is because you are already so famous and your content gets ample exposure.

  A person who doesn’t have such a strong presence, who has other jobs to attend to, would find it extremely difficult to devote quality time to so many social media websites.

  Personally I would suggest the path that you have actually taken: when you were getting stronger in blogging there were no social media and social networking websites. There were blogs, comment sections, and online forums, and as Leo (of Zen Habits) demonstrated, guest blogging. This way you could devote all your energies to blogging and take your blog to a level where it is now. I have observed people doing scores of things and in the process achieving nothing. So instead of focusing on so many social media websites, for a person who does not have a strong presence on the Internet, I would suggest, first use a definite platform (blogging — content generation and promotion), grow your brand, and as people begin to know you/your content, you start putting in time in other sorts of marketing platforms such as social media marketing. Otherwise, if you can afford, you should hire a social media marketing company or consultant for the job and completely focus on your work.

• Adam - Creadiv.com

  October 7th, 2008 2:14 am

  My major form of networking is still email and IM I like instant gratification. I don’t like to wait for people to log back on and then answer my question hours later.

  I think social networks can be amazing tools, but they take a lot of time to develop and therefore are on the backburner for me right now.

• Roy Scribner

  October 7th, 2008 2:23 am

  I really think a lot of the benefits of the various social media apps are over emphasized, with regards to generating website traffic (Blog or otherwise). Your diagram seems to indicate a sphere of influence centered around your home base, but do you really think this is so? It certainly extends to your existing readership that also dabbles in social media, but this does not appear to be the predominant user of social media; a decidedly non-web-junkie group (my observation only).

  I think I’m following a similar strategy of trying to feel my way around social media. So far, it has been great for networking and increased interaction – but mostly on “their” terms, which is understandable.

  Cheers,
  Roy

• communicatrix

  October 7th, 2008 2:26 am

  One thing we need to remember is that it takes time and p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e when using social media to expand your network.

  Maybe we’ve gotten spoiled by the instant connectivity of all our devices, but actually connecting with people takes time. It takes much *less* time if you’ve already built up a significant readership or network somewhere else (Chris Brogan’s “home base” idea).You and Chris both have significant readerships, and Chris beats everyone I know for actually getting out there in real life and making significant (in all senses of the word) connections.

  The people saying “it only works in these niches” are more likely saying “it works more logically in these niches”. Trust me. I write a blog about…nothing! Well, it’s not nothing (I hope), but it’s a blog about change and personal growth using creative non-fiction (what non-fancy types used to call “essays”) as the method. Not exactly a hot niche, right?

  Despite that, I’ve got a pretty good base of people on Twitter. I wasn’t exactly aiming for it–I was using more of the “testing/experimenting/play” intentions. But I committed to it fully, and damned if it didn’t work in spite of me.

  To people just getting started, I’d go heavy on “experiment” and “listen.” Social media sites are different, and they move quickly. It’s like stepping into some crazy, rushing river, or being dropped in the middle of NYC with nothing but your native wit and a crappy map.

  You can do it; you just need to move slowly.

• Alan Edgett

  October 7th, 2008 2:39 am

  Darren/ All,
  Any thoughts on the best “mix” for investing time & effort into Home vs. Outposts? (particularly from a large brand perspective)? One of the things I struggle with, is recommending whether we spend more time creating content on our home site or more time interacting with others on “outposts” as it is difficult to justify resources (at least at my Big Co) to do both effectively.
  Alan

• Blograzy

  October 7th, 2008 2:43 am

  Social Media has one problem for small blogger getting small traffic – To get traffic from these site, the blogger requires a lot of followers that will be worth spending time so that the blogger receives traffic from these sites.

  Basically, it is the small bloggers that requires tips for traffic, so i think social bookmarking sites like digg, delicious, yahoo buzz, etc is a much better friend to small bloggers and sites like facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc are for bigger bloggers.

  http://www.blograzy.com

• Baulddude

  October 7th, 2008 2:59 am

  I have often asked myself why I invest so much time on my outpost profiles but you have just answered that for me. Great post, really helped me understand what I am trying to do… I think.

• Dee yan

  October 7th, 2008 3:00 am

  Sometimes using social networking is work , sometimes is not.
  The basic is to create communication with the reader, and it’ll gain a lot of traffics. Thanks Darren

• Colin Klinkert

  October 7th, 2008 4:23 am

  Just made a similar post on my blog :)

• Chris

  October 7th, 2008 4:24 am

  This is where I’m at too–trying to decide my own strategy for social media. Thanks for an informative post!

• MichaelKPoh

  October 7th, 2008 4:40 am

  Darren,

  Good post. I like your honesty in admitting you are ’social-media challenged’ as I am. And coming from someone with considerable success in the blogosphere I find it very refreshing and encouraging.

  It tells me that there is hope for me. My blog went live a few days ago, prior to that I had set up sites or accounts at Twitter, Digg, stumbleupon, linkedin, writerscafe.org, Facebook – which I have had for several months – and http://www.poeticspace.com the first ‘outpost’ where I dared to post poetry.

  As you can see I have a very diverse and impressive ‘footprint’. However I do not know how to leverage these resources to create ‘word-of-blog’ buzz for myself.

  But that is where your honesty serves me well; it tells me hey I am not in a bad position and need to work at this some more.

  Great post.

• Jeff

  October 7th, 2008 4:59 am

  Darren,

  The submission side of social media takes a lot more work than the browsing side, and my young blog is learning that. Submitting a post to Digg outside peak hours has yielded little response, though I’ve found some success with StumbleUpon and Reddit.

  I love the model of a home base and outposts. I would consider any forums on which I regularly post another one of my outposts, and one of my most successful ones, given that the relationships are typically closer there.

  Great post, good advice.

  http://www.2lincolns.com

• The Blog Academy [dot com]

  October 7th, 2008 5:06 am

  90% of my traffic comes from Digg and Stumble. Don’t know what i’d do without social media

• Erin Maher

  October 7th, 2008 5:16 am

  I’ve been following this blog for a couple of months now, but this is my first time commenting.I find myself a passive reader for the most part, but find certain types of posts engaging. I think that these posts create a sort of outpost in the comments section,where readers can evaluate the various comments and then choose to click on the blog of the person who left and insightful comment,to see what other insights they may have to offer.

  As for social media, this is something I’m trying to figure out myself. My twitter account seems to be a bit of a shot in the dark,with random people following me who aren’t even in my niche. I’m wondering how much time it takes,or the best ways of actually finding people on twitter with similar interests.

• Allison O'Neill

  October 7th, 2008 5:36 am

  I am new to social media and blogging, have just started a blog and am about to join linkedin. I’m not sure how to play this ‘game’ but just know you have to start playing anyway. My blog currently is ’storytelling’ – sharing a bit about me and why i have a blog, soon it will be posts that add value to my readers – bosses who want to be amazing ones. My blog will help me ‘change the world’ in my own little way, in my niche of improving workplaces.

• Steven Wilson

  October 7th, 2008 9:44 am

  Without social media it would take one a long time to reach the multitude of contacts that one can reach with it.I really like they way you used the homebase,and outpost graph to show how it all works.

• Tim

  October 7th, 2008 10:44 am

  hi darren
  i wrote a post and published just a few minutes after this one that attempted to explain the same thing
  http://www.spyjournal.biz/node/927
  maybe theres some ideas there you can leverage off
  cheers
  tim

• Darren Rowse

  October 7th, 2008 10:51 am

  thanks all for your comments. I am on the road today and on my iPhone which makes it hard to respnd to you all but enjoying your feedback and experiences. Thanks!

• Gary McElwain

  October 7th, 2008 11:17 am

  I like the concept you use with the home base and the outpost. It brings to mind that to be successful at this social media you must be strategic and always working your plan.

  Thanks for the new slant on things today. Because tomorrow always is something new on the internet.

  Gary McElwain

• Mike

  October 7th, 2008 11:44 am

  Darren,

  I wrote you a short time ago requesting a post on this very topic. Thanks for obliging!!!

  I like what you’ve done so far… but it feels somewhat incomplete. I think if your followup included some tips on which SM venues serve which purposes and how one ‘builds a community’ as you’ve put it would be very engaging and helpful. I’ve often struggled with how to start from scratch in so many different arenas.

• Ari Herzog

  October 7th, 2008 11:56 am

  The fact you laugh when people call you a social media expert, Darren, is more ironic when you reply to comments, like the one you did two comments above mine.

  Social media is about the dialogue between two or more entities. In the space of five words, “Thanks all for your comments,” you engaged with everyone who previously commented – and that is social media at its essence.

• Ben Moreno

  October 7th, 2008 12:51 pm

  Excellent point Darren. I too have recently building my profiles a lot on social media sites.

  Twitter and Digg have been pretty interesting lately.

  What do you think about “dofollow” bookmarking sites?

• Scott Denney

  October 7th, 2008 12:57 pm

  Thank you for the great post. I have also been struggling with the value/usage of social networks in regards to my own site. You have cut through the clutter and given some clarity to what has been in the past, a fuzzy path. I instantly started giving my networks a second look. Keep up the great work!

  Scott

• VeRonda

  October 7th, 2008 2:11 pm

  This post is a monster! There is so much to digest here. OMG! Okay, I’m back… Thanks and I don’t think you have to worry about whether you have the strategy thing down… LOL!

• Anna

  October 8th, 2008 2:04 am

  I found it interesting to see that I’m not the only person who rarely visits the Facebook Profile – but with 20 minutes in three months, I think you’re ahead of me. This post reminds me of how disorganized and far behind I am in regards to some social media accounts. I haven’t even fully understood their interfaces yet.

  But another thing I have realized is that, in some cases, this is not necessarily wrong.

  I think there are three basic stages for any online endeavor. Its not necessarily linear as you are always doing a bit of all three of them.

  But I think we progress through concentrating on one, then the other, and then the other (if all goes well). I am realizing this more as I read your post and write this comment so I will write it down here.

  They would be:

  1. Learning

  This could be rephrased as “figuring out what you are doing” and includes everything from learning how to build a website to learning more about your niche itself.

  It includes the research that goes into creating a site or online presence of some kind, (starting with keyword research, choosing a domain name, etc) as well as study and research on Blogging, Internet Marketing, and all those millions of things that one can study and learn about (in millions of eBooks, blog posts, courses, etc.)

  It includes the study of the technicalities – html, php, different types of software, and the like.

  We are always doing this, but I think in the beginning stages of a marketer’s life (or of the life of a particular niche) there is a lot more time spent on this, than there is later on.

  If you are creating an info product or the like, this step also includes the actual research on what you are writing or speaking about (or where to outsource it).

  2. Building

  Building your site, messing around with your themes, adding all of your main content, organizing the concepts that your site.or blog or whatnot is built around.

  It would not only apply to a website, but also to the creating of any product, such as an eBook, a course, a newsletter, etc. This encompasses design, technicalities of construction, et al.

  3. Promoting.

  Article marketing, social media, commenting, directory submissions, advertising, driving traffic. You would continue to build on or improve your site or product or whatnot during this phase. But I believe we can spent a lot more time on this once (and do it more easily) once steps 1 and 2 are relatively under control.

  Who wants to spend all day every day building backlinks to an incomplete site or a one-post blog? But once you have created a valuable entity which is complete in itself (though growing) you can enter into the phase of promotion.

  Of course, this sequence isn’t perfect and some parts overlap. And we also cycle through them. We reach a point where all three steps have been done and, and in some cases steps 2 and 3 are continuing on their own. Then we go back to step one to see how we can take it to the next level.

  But if I look at my niche right now, for example, it is mainly in the step 2 phase, and this might have something to do with why I have not yet fully contemplated the Facebook Interface. Once I get into step 3 on that, I will be able to sort these things out more carefully and really utilize all promotional tools.

  Well, I feel better now. Thank you for this post – I think you helped me sort something out in my head!

• Daniel Richard

  October 8th, 2008 3:47 am

  Given only about less than 4 hours to work on anything online, I’d get to use them mainly on cleaning up clutter on my blog, and the rest on Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. Oh and not forgetting the good ol’ email. :)

  The outposts image reminded me of how I played real time strategy games where I’d be the one expanding out fast enough to get my buddies to grow with a higher focus on certain units to gain victories.

  Okay that last paragraph was so totally out of place (maybe).

  Great post!

• Jennifer

  October 8th, 2008 4:12 am

  Thanks Darren,
  This post made me feel better about all the time i’ve been spending trying to develop a presence in social media. Sometimes i feel like i’ve just been “playing” for a few hours.

  I think you’re right about the eventual payoff of social media, but it sure is hard to see the big picture sometimes. I was originally taught things like adwords where the payoff (or lack thereof) is instant. With a little patience, it has been rewarding to me to see the eventual payoff of social media.

  There’s no better way to develop great relationships that can benefit everyone personally and financially for years to come.

  Jennifer

• alexander-social media guy

  October 8th, 2008 7:13 am

  Thanks for the clarity of this post. Sometimes I am left to wonder what my activities on sites like twitter, propeller, and Facebook yield in terms of ROI for me.

  You used the same and biggest social sites that I also use. One of the big things I’ve found is to choose one or two sites under the outpost category where you’re going to have a massive and ubiquitous presence.

  Form deeper and lasting connections with the members of those sites as opposed to scattering your self way too thin attempting to keep up with 10, 20 or 30 sites and just scraping the surface on those.

  I am a very visual person’s so your graphs were of great benefit to me.

• Kimmie Smith

  October 10th, 2008 12:36 am

  I like the Home Base/Outposts line of thinking and it makes sense and will actually help me in terms of restructuring and fine tuning things that I want to do. Thank you for sharing!

• swar

  October 10th, 2008 12:46 am

  i agree the most important thing to building profiles a lot on social media sites is worth.

  nice graphical explanation than words….

• MLRebecca

  October 10th, 2008 6:25 am

  I’ve never really thought of social media efforts as outposts before. In response to your comment about not knowing if you have a social media strategy, I would say that your very presence in these outposts is a strategy. Your presence on these sites helps builds a community, which in turn results in more traffic for you. Great post!

• Green

  October 10th, 2008 1:48 pm

  It’s amazing you are willing to share so many of your thoughts and greatly appreciated. The explanation and graphics were helpful and helps to clarify what you were trying to explain. This is probably the best article I’ve ever read explaining the basics.

• Bill Masson (WWAH)

  October 10th, 2008 3:19 pm

  I agree with Amrit Hallin, it’s great if you are allready established and have a loyal following. But for new bloggers like myself it takes a lot of time to get involved with social platforms. I barely have the time to interact in FaceBook or twitter or any other SN-Site. That being said you cant ignore them, I have links and SN feeds on my site and allways try to put one or two comments on Delicius & SU.

  Thanks for the post, Hunk Dory!

• leahmarie

  October 10th, 2008 6:27 pm

  Thanks darren for this wonderful post. Now anyone will know the power of social media in blogging and promoting a site. Thanks. I’ll be expecting more great stuff from you. Keep up the good work

  - Leah Marie -

• Parag

  October 10th, 2008 9:49 pm

  Hi Darren,

  Very nice post. I especially like the image of homebase and outposts.

  Recently I was thinking of something very similar. While planning to post some content I was thinking if I should post it all on my website or on other community websites. I concluded (without any scientific evidence :-), that if I posted relevant content on other community sites, it will help me connect to people who frequent those sites. I may not have been able to to create a connection with these people had I stuck to posting on my blog only.

  However I am debating if I should have one meta blog where I cross post everything I post anywhere else on the net. The purpose is not as much to own the content, but to ensure that everything is backed up in the meta blog even the other community sites go down. The meta blog can also serve as a huge archive of all my postings.

• JohnChow's Cow

  October 10th, 2008 10:58 pm

  Social medias do help blogs to find their own visitors and their post spread throughout the net, they provide free charge help for bloggers like we are to get exposure

• Mr. P

  October 11th, 2008 2:57 am

  This is the first time I have ever read your blog. I’m building a site and getting ready to build another site (community) and this blog post has really helped, thanks.

• Mr Javo

  October 11th, 2008 8:02 am

  Social Medias are an important aspect for any blog. Through they, your online presence start growing more and more each time someone shares a post of yours with its friends…

  May be a good strategy is to be friendly and helpful in that kind of websites, as Chris says…

• Joni

  October 11th, 2008 11:00 am

  I have separate accounts for my personal life and my business life. I find it unprofessional to be blogging about personal things when I have my business hat on. When I’m just “me,” though, I let my hair down. I don’t do this so someone won’t find the “bad girl,” but just to have some sense of professionalism for the biz and to also allow you to get to know the real me. Make sense? I have dual accounts for Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. The only place where I have just one identity is LinkedIn.

  It turns out Twitter was invaluable to me during Hurricane Ike (I live in Houston, which took a pretty direct hit). The news media were twittering the night away and in the days following, were instrumental in pointing out what areas had power, which were still flooding, where we could get ice, gas, etc. I have new respect for it since that time.

  My business partner and I use Facebook as a viral marketing tool to some extent.

• Blue Duck Copy

  October 11th, 2008 1:11 pm

  I’ve been shying away from social media, mostly because I can’t shake the thought that I am wasting time that could be invested in writing, researching, reading other relevant blogs, and commenting to share ideas.

  Perhaps I need to rethink that belief. Thanks.

• Joni

  October 11th, 2008 1:18 pm

  @Blue Duck Copy … I used to think that too, but I’ve made some really interesting connections on FB and Twitter that ended up leading to jobs or at least some nice referrals. So .. yeah, you CAN waste time on there, depending on what you’re doing, but you can also look at it as just another way to press the flesh so to speak. :)

• Young Che

  October 11th, 2008 2:28 pm

  Everyday I learn so much about social media and the rabbit hole its created. I’m baffled by how much there is to experiment with and never run out of more goals to “accomplish” or things “to do” in order to be truly “effective” in this realm. Then I talk with a “real person” who hasn’t bothered to give any of this a second thought. We must really be from the future.

• surendera

  October 11th, 2008 3:02 pm

  Social media is the best way to get traffic.Right?

• اناشيد

  October 13th, 2008 7:04 am

  Social media is the best way to get traffic.Right?

• Lee

  October 14th, 2008 10:34 am

  It’s hard to keep track of the outposts. Like staying interested in twitter and plurk and all of the other places.

  I find myself interested in spurts, and then having my interest wane.

• Dimitri

  October 14th, 2008 10:47 am

  This such a great post! I’ve used Web 2.0 tactics for some time, but it was connecting everything into one base that brought the most success. Thank you very much…

• Carole Cohen

  October 14th, 2008 2:54 pm

  The graphics you used are fab and ‘This Post is Half Over’ had me spitting my wine lol. The outpost/home base makes a lot of sense.

  The only thing I would add from my experience is that I tried to put about 15-20 spokes er, outposts on that social media amoeba but in reality I can only successfully work about three and peripherally about two more. I’m still signed up to about 30 of them but i am lucky to even remember their names! And I also found that two years ago the outposts were different. The only constant for me is LinkedIn and a Real estate network; I have a feeling Twitter is a keeper and I get the feeling Triiibes may be too.

  It sure is exciting to watch it all progress.

• Sachin

  October 14th, 2008 3:30 pm

  very very useful post indeed

• David B Katague

  October 15th, 2008 3:31 am

  I learned a lot from this blog about home bases and outposts. As a new blogger, It sounds complicated to me. I hope I can apply all the ideas in this blog, The more experience I have as a blogger, the sooner I will be able to apply the social media to increase traffic in my blogs.

• Michael Cayley

  October 21st, 2008 2:11 am

  Hey Darren,

  Aside: We may have come across a few of the same folks in Toronto.

  This is a great post. The model really matters for all corporations and individuals, as increasingly, perception emanates from scaled up forms of social capital (i.e. social media) rather than broadcast and off line word of mouth.

  I hope that you will download my recent ChangeThis manifesto and ebook at: http://socialcapitalvalueadd.com/about-scva

  It seems to me to be a continuation of this blog entry. I would be grateful if you reviewed SCVA on your blog.

  Cheers,
  mc

• Pam Abbazia

  October 25th, 2008 2:27 am

  I love the way you put this: “Relationships, ideas, traffic, resources, partnerships, community and much more emerge from the outposts – much of it making my home base stronger.”

  At DBE, we’ve been encouraging clients to think of social media properties as “Digital Outposts” so they can protect, fortify and build their brands in the social media sphere. For further reading, here’s a blog post from Niki Fielding which uses Digital Outposts as a framework for understanding social media marketing: http://dbesem.blogspot.com/2007/10/digital-outpostsa-framework-for-web-20.html

• uwak

  November 13th, 2008 7:47 pm

  very useful learning…..thanks for great posting

• Yemoonyah

  January 8th, 2009 3:22 am

  I also heard Chris Brogan use the term “outposts” and it makes much sense to me as I use my social network sites the same way.
  And now with services like http://ping.fm and http://pixelpipe.com, the friendfeed facebook app etc, managing all these different outposts becomes much easier.

• Neal Wiser

  January 9th, 2009 1:04 am

  Great post. really helps to put the various tools and types of services we use into perspective. However, I’d like to paint a slightly broader picture of the Social Profile and add:

  - TouchPoints: such as various Instant Messanger and Email Accounts.
  - SIGs (Special Interest Groups): Such as the various groups one might belong to in LinkedIn, for example.

  Each ToucPoint and SIG helps to play a vital role in my online profile and are vital tools I use to keep in touch with different groups.

  Thanks,
  Neal

  Find me online at:
  - My new Blog: “HyperTense” at: http://www.nealwiser.com
  - Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nealwiser

• Joni Hubred-Golden

  January 18th, 2009 4:42 am

  Excellent post, loved the visual – this is exactly what I have been working on for the past few weeks, and your post helped me fine tune my approach. Very helpul, thanks!

  Joni

  (All of my connections are here:
  Forum Communications
  http://www.jonihubredgolden.com)

• frank

  May 11th, 2009 12:43 pm

  Having a solid outpost in Twitter has helped me a TON as I’ve launched a new blog with the company I work with. The relationships and network of people I’ve built on Twitter have been very supportive and helpful. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but i bet at least 30% of our current traffic is based on sharing via Twitter.

  linkedIn is a distand second and facebook a distant third.

  What I’ve found to be most effective in an outpost strategy is to:

  1) Figure out where the people are that you need to be reaching with your blog

  2) Create accounts in the places you identified based on #1 above

  3) Once you are set up with your account spend a LOT of time watching what is going on, listening to people that are already there and researching things to see what people have found to be effective/ineffective.

  4) Once you have spent a good amount of time listening start sharing, engaging, talking to people – all with the intent/focus on helping others and adding value to those who listen to you.

  If you can start out this way things seem to start to fall into place and the outpost becomes a place that will not only drive traffic to your blog it will also become a place where you gain a lot of insight/knowledge to make your blog content even better!

  http://twitter.com/franswaa

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