Really, It's All About YOU!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog called, "It's All About Me, "
in response to an article in The New Yorker titled, "Enough About Me."
Now, I find out "It's All About YOU."

60 seconds after Richard Banfield (www.freshtilledsoil.com), opened his mouth, he shattered my illusions. He, spoke at the Regional Meeting of the Garden Writers Association on February 4th in Boston.
Topic:  Marketing Suggestions from a Professional Marketer."

PART I
Richard threw out the first salvo almost immediately,
WEBSITES ARE DEAD
What! I just spent mucho $$$$ and much time and energy designing my website and now it turns out it's irrelevant.  According to Banfield, websites are like brochures, they are static entities.  Like business cards, they announce your existence in cyberspace, but fail to build relationships.  To me, this sounded like shrink-speak.  It turns out that blogging, twittering and all social networking rely on creating the same relationships that make marriages succeed or fail.

Banfield's point:  The web gives you the opportunity to communicate with other people - either successfully or not.  It's up to YOU to create relevant engagement.  And as in "real" life, this engagement requires a significant interaction, if the two parties are to continue to connect.  I secretly wondered if my success on the web depended on my success in maintaining relationships in life. 

The question Banfield posed:  Is the content you are posting, resulting in a meaningful interaction?

Are you writing for yourself? Are you writing for an audience?

End of Part I.  To be continued in the next blog.