Do YOU Recognize Maximum Exposure Opportunities? Take Action Right Away!

All actions we take are not equal in their ability to increase our visibility. Some offer much greater return on our time investment. I share here some tips on how to recognize them – and when we do – how to increase the effect they provide for our blog, business, or Web site.

I am sure you’ve come across a major opportunity. Did you recognize it? Did you jump on it immediately? Did you do your best to ensure maximum effect? Understanding this concept is critical to increasing the velocity of your business or blog growth.

RECOGNIZING MAJOR PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

Even in major blogs not all posts are the same. Some, by their very nature, are going to be more viral than others. They will generate more “Buzz”, more Tweets, more participation – both within that blog and by being written about in other blogs.

When you see one of these get involved immediately and show your best efforts to bring yourself the benefits of more readers, more subscribers, greater exposure – and possibly get your post featured in major blogs or recommended across Social Networking platforms.

Here are some indicators to recognize:

• Being heavily promoted, especially by a major blogger or power Social Media user. Contests and especially those with sponsors are an excellent example of a post that will have far higher traffic driving power. How many contests have you passed up that could have grown your business or blog?
• Ongoing projects calling for other bloggers to participate – these are guaranteed to get written up in other blogs and shared by many and most likely – many POWER users – of major Social Networking sites.
• Posts that include information others will be sharing indefinitely
• Subjects that are likely to be virally promoted by those who participate

When all these factors come together don’t delay – get involved. A perfect example of the kind of post EVERY BLOGGER and Twitter user should have immediately jumped on was a call by Darren Rowse to Construct Your Own Top 10 Twitter Must Follow List As It Relates To Your Own Niche.

You don’t have to be able to predict the future to know how big this post would get. It has all these factors:

1. Darren Rowse is THE bloggers’ blogger – extremely famous with a huge readership
2. TwiTips is specifically about Twitter – and Twitter is hugely popular. Posts about Twitter are going to be Tweeted more heavily and retweeted more often.
3. Figuring out who to follow is the first thing anyone new to Twitter will seek out so this post has staying power – it is a reference work that will be shared and searched for indefinitely
4. Including the niche angle was pure brilliance – for many THAT is the best part – finding a list of Twitter users in their own niche
5. Sharing your own list is an indicator of how well you know your niche

How well did this post do? Announced on November 30, 2009 there are now 193 comments in that post – most of them lists. Comments are still coming in – and they will. If you do a search for +Twitter +”Top Ten” +follow that post is first.

Each of those comments can include a link to that participant’s site. Are you included? How effectively did you maximize that opportunity?

• Did you help spread the word about Darren’s call for lists?
• Did you share it on Twitter or on other Social Networking sites?
• Did you recommend others participate?
• Did you blog your own post and link to the TwiTips post?
• Did you leave a comment in Darren’s post and link it specifically to your own post?

How many saw this post and did NOT realize the enormous opportunity it presented? How many got busy and never bothered to enter their own list? Darren handed you an easy way to send yourself traffic from his highly popular blog. Did you act on it?

While participating is important, how well you participate makes a difference too. The more creative and intelligent your comment the more visitors you can attract. The better the list you offer, the more it will be shared. While entering is the minimum, doing it well multiplies the effect.

What else could you have done? I’ll share what I did at that time and you can now see how effective each strategy turned out to be.

1. I wrote my own list at TwiTips Top Ten Niche Twitter User Lists
2. I have continually updated that post with links to every blogger who posted their own list
3. Each time I update the post I add a comment regarding the additions at FriendFeed
4. I used the link to that post – not the home page of this blog – in the comments at TwiTip
5. I posted a challenge of my own in that comment too: a FriendFeed Top Ten Challenge
6. Each time I update the FriendFeed post I add a comment regarding the additions at FriendFeed
7. I created a post to send whenever someone asks who to follow at Twitter or mentions they’re new. I send them an @Twitter message with my Introduction to Twitter and FriendFeed post which links to the other posts mentioned above.

How many of the above actions did you take? What other ideas do you have for maximizing your reach when you see posts that offer great potential? Don’t use them yet? Learn to use Twitter and FriendFeed and Who to Follow.

While it is best to participate immediately there is still value in adding your own lists today. Here are the links:

• Add Your Own TwiTip Top Ten Twitter List
• Add Your Own FriendFeed Challenge List

Be on the lookout for lists and contests and participate right away, especially if they are being heavily promoted by those very active in Social Networking like GrowMap. We’re promoting a blogging contest right now. Those who enter will have their posts shared at FriendFeed, Twitter, and written about in other blogs – which means more visibility and more incoming links for you.