Vancouver International Digital Festival

Vidfest Liveblogging: Content.com - The care and feeding of audiences

01:34pm - Hone your editorial process: everything you’ve ever written on the internet will be there forever. There is no more anonymity. You will be found.

Consider following an editorial checklist:

• Is what you’re writing about 100% accurate? Are you telling the truth?

• Could you make your point another way?

01:30pm - Another important lesson: be transparent. Explain yourself to your audience. Be as human as possible. One of the reasons people will come back to your site because of the voice of your site. To this end, avoid jargon. eBay experienced problems with their own writing styles on the site, when trying to communicate different messages with their users. Initial attempts to be “witty” proved ineffective in certain circumstances, especially around larger purchases and during financial transactions.

01:27pm - Our focus is on giving back to our audiences. We often get 99% positive responses to things, but that 1% negativity can affect you in strange ways. Think about the way your respond to critical feedback. The way you respond will determine how your community responds in the future.

01:24pm - Golden rule of blogging: you get what you give. It’s like karma. You can’t control what your users do. But you do have complete control over what you put out there.

01:20pm - What’s your comfort level? Determine what you want to talk about and accepting your comfort level helps you make better decisions. Are you engaging with people, for example, in allowing comments on your blog? Are you and should you be?

Other forms of engagement: supplying your email address, writing directly to users on your site. Breaking the fourth wall with audience is something that people are doing a lot more now. There is much more of a concept of peer community related to blogging.

It’s also worth considering meeting your community. Meet-ups are a good way of finding our more about your audience and engaging with them.

01:16pm - Need to establish boundaries with audience; attract readers you want, protect your ego and brand, and keep small problems from ballooning. But how do you do this?

First: know yourself. Are you a top-down or bottom-up organization? How much do you control your content - are you the Wall Street Journal or Threadless? Defining yourself concretely helps you establish what tone to use, hwhat kind of boundaries you want to establish.

01:15pm - Discussing case study: PostSecret — a highly successful blog where readers submit anonymous secrets by postcard.

01:10pm - Initial discussion of successes and perils of putting your life online through blogging.

01:05pm - Introduction of Heather Armstrong, Dooce.com and Maggie Mason, Mightygirl.com & Mightygoods.com; Author of No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog.