Why I stopped blogging:
My last post here is dated February 25th. I wish I could say that was the last time I was genuinely interested enough to write and share something pertinent with you guys about brand management or marketing strategy or social business, but that isn’t true. If you scroll back through my posts for 2013 and the second half of 2012, you will probably notice that I was already kind of losing interest in blogging for the sake of blogging. Truth is, sometimes, even someone as outspoken as me just doesn’t have anything really all that pertinent to write about on a blog like this one, and though the discipline to carry on writing “content” day after day anyway is admirable in many ways, I found the exercise pretty much mired in futility.
A friend of mine in the industry told me about a year ago that I needed to publish something on this blog at least 3-5 times per week. He was pretty adamant about it, and I suppose he should know. He has 10x the readership and the twitter followers. He has published 10x more books than I have (I only have the one), he gets paid a shit-ton more than I do to spend half as much time on stage. He’s big time. Career-wise, he is in every way my better. I should listen to him. The thing is, I don’t think that post quantity or post frequency or even an editorial calendar’s consistency really matters. Traffic to this blog remains strong even if I don’t post a single thing for months. I have so many posts here that I could probably never publish anything again and my traffic would stay consistent for the next 3+ years. More importantly, I don’t really care about pulling traffic to my blog anymore. I used to. For ego, mostly. A 12,000 visitor day was like Christmas morning to me once. I felt important and validated. I look back on that now and ask myself what the fuck I was thinking.
Oh yeah… that’s another thing. I probably shouldn’t curse here. This is a business blog. Well, so much for that rule too. I live in the real world, and in that world, people say fuck. In fact, they get pretty creative about it. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but at least it’s honest, and there’s a lot to be said for people who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.
I have always prided myself on publishing quality content. As much as I hate the term “content,” I will use it here to describe what you are reading right now, if only to make a point: I stopped doing that months ago. I did. I was just going through the motions. Writing a blog post just because I am supposed to fill space robs a blog like this one of its value. Even though I never intended to shift from publishing quality blog posts to publishing “content,” it’s where I was headed. I woke up one morning and sat at my desk and realized that I was turning into just another social media asshole who publishes shit just to have something to publish. Just to get traffic to a stupid website. Just to see his name mentioned a couple hundred times in a Twitter stream and feel important and validated. That’s not who I want to be and it sure as shit isn’t why I got into blogging. I didn’t like where things were going, and since I didn’t know what else to do, I backed off and worked on other things.
Why some of my “peers” might want to back off for a few months as well:
Top 10 Ways to Create Successful Content
Why Net Promoter Score Is The New ROI
5 Strategies to Better Engage With A social Media Audience
8 Ways Klout Is Revolutionizing Business
11 Reasons Why Google Glass is the Most Important Technology in Human History
Stop. Just stop. Shut the fuck up. Really.
You want to feel important, go do something important, something that actually matters:
Help a company solve a real problem. (Selling them a product doesn’t exactly qualify.)
Help curb domestic violence in your state by even 1/10 of a percent.
Help create a digital bipartisan policy innovation exchange. (Holy shit! Using social media to depolarize discussions about real issues and even crowdsource real solutions to real problems? Shut. Up!)
Develop social business systems and protocols aimed at boosting customer retention (loyalty is a process, not just a marketing buzzword).
Do something. But for fuck’s sake, stop filling empty space with “content.” It’s gotten so bad, even I was getting sucked into it just to keep up with this shit:
The CMO is dead.
Digital is Dead.
Marketing is Dead.
Advertising is Dead.
Print is Dead.
Stop. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all just writing the same shit over and over again, and most of it is utter nonsense. There’s no value to it. Most of it isn’t even accurate, let alone helpful to anyone. Hell, it isn’t even entertaining. If any of you wrote even one of those blog posts as an email and sent it to your boss, you would probably be fired shortly thereafter for being an incompetent dumbass. So what makes a digital editor or a social media “expert” think it belongs on a blog (or worse, on major pubs’ blogs like Forbes.com or HBR.com or Money.com)?
Please, if you’re that kind of blogger/writer, back away from your computer and give some thought to what you’re about to write. Better yet, go find something relevant to write about. You’re making my brain hurt with this shit. Why are you even here? What are you doing? What value are you bringing to your industry? Stop. Go for a walk or a run or whatever, and think about what you should really be doing instead of throwing your very own personal turds at the same giant pile of turds everyone is already busy throwing their turds at. It’s big enough as it is. It’ll do just fine without your latest “contribution.”
An apology:
Even if my blog posts aren’t quite as awful as some, truth is that it’s been a while since I have contributed anything particularly intelligent or new or even special to our overall conversation. I woke up one morning and I realized I was just creating content, and it really turned me off from the whole thing. That break I just suggested, I took one. I’m not sure I’m really back yet, but I’m back today anyway, and I suppose that’s a start.
I don’t think I need to apologize for my physical absence since my last post on February 25. That was actually a good thing. What I do need to apologize for though, is my substantive absence since whenever the hell it was that I started posting “content” on this blog just to keep the wheels spinning. I let you guys down and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I got sidetracked. Burnout maybe? Caught in the momentum of a flawed trajectory… Maybe it was a bunch of little things. I’ll give it some thought and let you know if I ever figure it out.
What comes next for this blog:
Moving forward, The BrandBuilder Blog will have no set editorial calendar. Maybe I publish something every day for a week, and maybe I don’t publish anything at all for a month. It will all depend on whether I have something relevant to share or even the time to share it. If I have nothing intelligent or pertinent to say, I won’t waste your time pretending that I do. Believe it or not, I don’t have awesome advice to give every damn day of the week. Most days, I’m just like everyone else: busy, confused, and filled with far more questions than answers. I don’t need to pretend that I am an expert or a guru… and though I hope to become an expert at something someday, I sure as shit don’t ever want to be a guru. Robes aren’t a good look for me.
So anyway, stay tuned. I’ll be back with more. Thanks for your patience.
* * *
If you haven’t yet, pick up a copy of Social Media R.O.I.: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization. The book is 300 pages of facts and proven best practices to help you build, manage and properly measure your social media efforts against business objectives. (You can go to smroi.net and sample a free chapter.)
If English isn’t your first language, you can smROI is also available in Spanish, Japanese, German, Korean and Italian now, with more international editions on the way.
CEO-Read – Amazon.com – www.smroi.net – Barnes & Noble – Que
Honest, straightforward, and 100% truth. I’ve missed your blog posts Olivier; they are always insightful, entertaining, and full of wit. Keep up the great work.
Now I’m on to you buddy: write one blog post, let everyone comment and dissapear. You discovered the SEO value of comments and the personal branding power of hitting and mysteriously hiding next ;) Well, enough comments. Will avoid the filler. Enjoy the weekend Sir.
You know me too well. :D
Thanks, man. More posts on the way. :)
Good to have you back, my man, especially since you’re a recommended example in my book. ;-)
Looking forward having my mind working hard again. The RSS has been pretty empty as i’ve culled a lot of blogs that are just… meh, my three year old son has deeper thoughts. Here’s to the discussions.
Thanks, Danny. I I need to start reading blogs again myself. I stopped almost completely. My RSS was taken off life support a year ago. What I read now is what I come across on FB, Pulse and occasionally Twitter. Looking forward to your book.
“Most days, I’m just like everyone else: busy, confused, and filled with far more questions than answers.”
I think I really needed to read that today, especially from someone I whom I respect as deeply as you.
As far as the rest of this post — well, is “content” really content if it has zero value? I can put Monopoly money in my wallet to make it look fat and impressive but I can’t actually use it to buy lunch or a cup of coffee. As much as I try to push for regularity for my clients (not so much for my personal blog) I’m a huge advocate for balancing consistency with quality. Write for people, not for Google. It IS possible for SEO to intersect with earnest “content.”
Sending you a high five from Kansas City. And thanks for using the swear words that I’m too scared to use on most public venues. I live vicariously :D
I am with Kelly all the way. She said it all. Only difference is my High five comes from Toronto! (Brrrrr)
I hear Toronto is lovely, though! Thanks, Karima. High fives to you as well!
Toronto is the one with the shitty hockey team and the crack-smoking mayor, right? *jumping high-five*
See, you just wrote my entire blog post in 4 paragraphs. Damn you, Kelly Rivard!!!! *shakeyfist*
okay, I will refrain from commenting until that damn Mayor is in rehab. Can’t do nothing about the hockey team.
okay, I will refrain from commenting until that damn Mayor is in rehab. Can’t do nothing about the hockey team.
That’s funny. Because brevity ain’t one of my strong points.
What I know about hockey:
There’s ice skates. And a goal. And blue lines. And sometimes people try to kill each other and people get excited.
Well said. Another way to put it, people are so busy “selling” that they aren’t paying attention to the product. Too many are paying more attention to how things look and moving on to the next thing before they understand that appearance doesn’t equal reality. I appreciate your posts because you cut through the crap and provide something both interesting and substantive. And no, that doesn’t mean, “lowest common denominator”.
“Intellect” is not a dirty word.
Thanks, Laura. I really appreciate that.
There is no SEO value to this post. What the $%#% are you thinking?
Actually, I should start a list of the “Top 10 Bloggers Who Stopped Blogging Because They Were Sick of Throwing Turds.”
Bravo. You should stay away more often.
Shut up and send Jack over!
Well said, Dave. PS: please add me to that list. I need validation.
Good idea!
Excellent read! I’m new-ish to blogging, so I’ll try to keep this in mind when blogging “content”. I know I should probably have a theme to my blog, but really it’s just a place where I share a recipe, a photo, a few thoughts. If people want to read, they read.
Thank you for this and welcome back! :)
:)
Hmmmm I like the goal of bringing down domestic violence. Goes in line with many of our conversations of getting into the real issues around us and not just posting stuff online…
A boy needs a hobby. :D
Man, you totally put into words what’s been in my head for months.
I’ve recently unsubscribed from dozens of newsletters and and un-liked many fb pages of people/gurus/companies all spewing the same shit. I couldn’t handle it any more and it was making me crazy, stressing me out because of all the stuff they kept saying I should be doing. Top 5 this, top 10 that, why this, why that … ai carumba!
Actually, because of all that crap, fear of posting the wrong thing has kept me from doing much of anything.
So thank you for being so freakin’ honest and saying what I couldn’t say myself, but had been feeling for a long time.
Cheers!
Yeah, it’s impossible to keep up with the avalanche of crap, Peter. Just take a step back, write what you want, and do your own thing. Filter out the noise. I think that by going back to doing what we were doing (and doing well) before these dipshits hijacked most of the social bandwidth, we can give people something better to read and think about. Know what I mean? The general burnout and backlash is getting ripe now. A year ago, that wasn’t the case. Now, I think audiences are hungry for something a little more substantial again.
I enjoyed that very much. I’m so over the blogs about blogging and content about content crap I’ve been reading lately.
You and a lot of people. :)
Olivier,
This post. Enough said.
Thank you for taking a step back. I do hope, however, that you follow your first book up… because there is a TON of crap being published right now.
Thanks, Joseph. I just wrote a novel and need to get started on the sequel, so writing a business book is totally not what I am jonesing to do right now, but I have to do it anyway. You’ll be happy to know that I am gathering my notes already to do just that. Hopefully, I can write it quickly and get back to writing fiction. ;)
The least you could have done is link, asshole ;) And add content marketing is dead too ;) Good to have you back.
I will, bro. I have something bigger in mind. Hang tight.
Fuck yeah. Glad you’re back even more on your own terms than ever before.
I’ve been in a similar position for sometime now. Not much on my personal blog other than car repairs since the holidays. The “magazine,” however is more magazine than I ever thought it could be. And my 100 subscribers seem exceedingly pleased with it. I’m growing more inspired by the day.
True success is a function of helping others – help others – achieve success. A difference is the only thing worth making. Work-life-parallel > work-life-balance.
Fuck the naysayers. ;)
When things get mass, they start to pull you in. It’s just science. I just needed to break free from the orbit of shit that I was being pulled into. Rock on, Brian.
What makes this post particularly strong is your admission that the validation you were getting from the online world was important at one point. Social Media is a great siren song, I think. So many people enter the adult world and encounter that sensation of “Hey, where did the gold stars go?” Social Media brings that back. Compliments flow easily because people don’t have to make eye contact (plus they often are after something, let’s be honest). The sense of power one can garner from the online world can be quite seductive. It takes a strong person to look at that and say, “Eh, nah.” Even stronger to acknowledge that thought process exists. Good for you, buddeh.
Those that say validation doesn’t matter are either liars, either folks denying their authentic self, either gurus and I mean the real gurus, the enlightened spirits, not the social kind. And, guess what, these enlightened spirits need validation too, there is no Buddha out there :) The question is what validates you indeed. In the case of our brother here, apparently it’s not the “online world” anymore, good for him, he’s happy :) I need a validation, I need a voice, I need an opinion. I just can’t say it as well as our friend and avoid the F-word :D For me – because I know Olivier read my stupid blog, basically covering the same thing – the value is in the way Olivier does it: he claims the liberty to say it as it is and looks at it the Olivier way: glass half-full. I have a bit more a flass half-empty tendency now and than. That’s a Myers Briggs thing ;) Same fight as many of us, different personality. And I like and respect the ability Olivier has to put it his way. And the freedom. I even it. So what? Validation matters always. Amen.
In fact, I think Olivier wrote this to be validated Mads, WDYT? He just doesn’t know yet that all the traffic he gets is because we constantly link to his blog and that we are nice to him because we pitty him. I propose to massively unlink to show him the impact of SEO. Or do you think his content (oops, blog posts) mean anything at all and people like him? Nah. I bet he even bought his Twitter followers and writes the posts he mentions under one of his personas ;)
I was wondering about that. :D
Validation does matter but I tend to think that in this space, it changed over time. It mattered more when the social media world was composed of a small group of really smart people who knew they could trust one another. Then the flow of information got diluted as more people joined the mix, not all of whom could be vetted and indeed turned out to be so much fluff (or worse, predatory opportunists).
I think what we are talking about is the difference between external validation, and self-validation. As kids I think we’re not taught enough about the value of validating your ideas for yourself, the research and work and relationship-building (and the crashes and burns, the ego battles and other nasty learning experiences) that go into it.
I “quit” blogging when my audience got to figuring out their social media issues for themselves, and also when opportunists invaded the space. After a few ugly, personal experiences, I decided I didn’t want to be associated with them. Not long after that I got a “real” job so that I could validate my own thinking (also: health insurance became increasingly attractive. ;) ) In the last year I’ve learned how very much I didn’t know, but also how much I did, and how to put my instincts to practical use.
As for blogging, I’m now writing for my audience’s actual skills and knowledge as part of a regular column for a different site, and using my personal blog to promote others in the community. I do still get a charge when I receive a nice comment or a “like,” but now I feel like I earn it. I hope if I ever slide into mediocrity, I’ll either see/sense it or I’ll have a community I can trust enough to let me know it.
The scary thing is that it isn’t necessarily obvious that it’s important. You just kind of do things without necessarily knowing why.
Don’t beat yourself up too much, Olivier. If you had done nothing more (or less) than the masterful debunking of the HBR Social Media ROI “formula” a few months back, you’d still have paid your dues…
Not to mention your essential ONE book.
:D Hopefully, more books will follow. My model right now is business book, novel, business book, novel, etc. Let’s see if that works out.
Love this! Quality over quantity and all that jazz.
“Whoever fights monsters, should see to it that in the process he himself does not become a monster!”
It’s far too easy to become the thing you hate.
Good for you! I’ve always enjoyed (and learned a lot from) your blog over the years, and wouldn’t have placed you in the category of “space filler”. You are DEAD ON in terms of the enormous glut of shit that exists these days, mostly due to exactly what you mentioned – driving the site’s traffic and person’s ego. If you’re serious about this, you might consider a total site makeover… doing away with the badges and other accoutrements that stroke the ego. Go all the way and make this about connecting and contributing. Nonetheless, love the post – honest and humbling. Keep up the good work man!
It’s the plan, Dave. You’re absolutely right about that.
Haven’t read anything so honest from anyone lately (well actualli should say hardly ever…). Refreshing, I wish more people would do that. Thanks for your courage
I love your refreshing honesty to “out” a subject all of us have been secretly thinking about. Especially the topics listing…most of us have turned off our “follow” features for social media blogs already.
I look forward to your future relevant posts…I even love the rants. But can you clean up the language so that I can show it to my bosses? (If topics can be gratuitous, so can specific words, don’t you think?)
WORD!
[…] few people who pride themselves on working in social media whose posts I actually enjoy reading, wrote a post on his blog. Now you might think that’s not very news worthy, but it was his first post since February […]
Welcome to the other side. Took you long enough.
[…] few people who pride themselves on working in social media whose posts I actually enjoy reading, wrote a post on his blog. Now you might think that’s not very news worthy, but it was his first post since February 25th. […]
Well said. If more authors wrote fewer but better researched pieces, the (digital) world would be a better place (and Twitter and the like less of a shit-stream). This bun-fight for attention and validation is tiresome now, and the phrase “thought leader” surely one of the most empty and dispiriting in the modern marketer’s vocabulary. People who allow their thoughts to be led can usually be found giving their life-savings to cults, wearing tin-foil hats, and waiting for the return of the mothership. Which should be here within the year, by the way. Then we can all hail the Lizard-Lords.
Reblogged this on My Blog and commented:
Are just creating filler content on your blog or are you really giving something really worthwhile to your audience?
Creating consistent content can be really tough.
Your stuff sure full of shit! but real shit that works. thank men for bring out these matters they help all the time.
Thank you… I think.
I missed this, having read your Google Glass post a while back and thought “THANK CHRIST he’s finally snapped out of it and is administering a good old-fashioned shoeing to some numpty again”. (In the meantime, I’ve bought a dead tree copy of your book (in addition to my Kindle version) to share around the office) Much better that you do one good post every six months than that bilge and toss you’ve been turning out recently. :)
Thank you. I’m writing, just not hitting “publish” as much. Working on several books all at once. More on that soon. ;)
Hi Olivier,
Since I’m going through A LOT of back posts in my RSS reader, I must say that all the “Marketing Is Dead” and “Why Klout is Critical” posts are very useful — the headlines make it easy to hit delete.
I’ve always said traffic (like followers & friends) is overrated. Write crap, and you can get craptastic traffic. Write quality, and you get quality readers. I’ll take one insightful, snarky post a month any time.
Agreed.