Can You Push RSS?

You are smiling right about now. You know the answer to that question. Social media was meant to be about our customers (and readers) selecting to receive the content we produce where and when they (we) choose to look at it. There was supposed to be none of that push thing that has so annoyed everyone in marketing 1.0. Or so we thought.

Marketing RSS by placing the icons prominently on your blog and site, or in your email signature are what we'd consider normal. Whenever I am on a site that has good content, the first icon I look for is a variation of the orange symbol with which we have all become so familiar. That is the way we choose to have content delivered to our RSS aggregator, and by doing so, we give the content master permission to populate our feed reader.

Things may be changing in the push direction. It turns out that some are getting away with pushing their content. Right now it is mainly done through email. It works like this: you go to an event, meet dozens of people and business cards are exchanged - although these days if you get my Conversation Agent card it means I already know you or of you. Then everyone gets back to their work and life. A few days later, in pops the first of an avalanche of blogs (how some call blog posts) camouflaged as newsletters in your email.

What do you do? There are several options available to you, most of them with consequences:

• you delete the email without a second thought, but then continue to receive and delete and sooner or later you become annoyed at the sender - and they may never know why
• you tag the email as spam, but then any other message from that sender is also tagged as such - other messages may be not only legitimate, but also welcome
• you unsubscribe to the email, but then you may "offend" the offender - imagine having to explain to someone why you unsubscribed to something you did not intend to subscribe to in the first place

You probably have plenty of examples of similar situations. It is so much better when you have people sign up voluntarily, when they choose to pull your content and give you permission to occupy a space in their reader and day. Why get pushy?

[RSS in plain English courtesy of Common Craft]

Comments

[robert john ed]

Valeria,

Agreed. I think the big problem for individuals and organizations alike is the assumption that people want to hear from you consistently just because they happened by your trade show booth or gave you their biz card. Sorry, that's not how it works.

I certainly want an email from you that says something to the tune of "Hey Robert, it was nice meeting you at the International Ice Cream Tasters event last night, just thought you might want to check out my ice cream blog, located here, or get my ice cream newsletter. If not that's cool too. Peace outside."

Many marketers seek to build their brands like Godin, Drucker or Tom Peters did. They are short cutting and attempting to build a huge audience for personal gain. In a digital space, it's easy to focus on how many people read your blog, but what really matters is making connections with a select few intelligent folks who really get it. We need to focus on why we are here: to be better marketers and provide value to consumers. So lets practice what we preach.

[Ricardo Bueno]

I make an effort to have people sign up (a.k.a. subscribe via email) but then again this effort is only directed at those individuals that I know personally and who know me so it's a little different. If they ever unsubscribe I'm never offended. And one person has...but they also sent me an email that explained why and that they had subscribed via RSS. Later they subscribed again via email.

With everyone else, new readers, new contacts, I don't push the issue. If they like what I have to say, they'll subscribe. And if they don't they don't. No big deal. At the end of the day I'm still reaching "someone" and I'm still connecting with "someone". It's those connections that matter to me and that keep moving me forward.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Robert John - I once met a person at a book launch who had been at a trade show earlier that day. We were introduced by mutual acquaintances and exchanged cards. Before I know it, I was entered in the trade show follow up routine and received emails, newsletter and two calls from Canada on my mobile phone. Many companies seek to build brands like Godin, Peters and Drucker did over decades and with permission, overnight and with spam. If it were that easy, everyone would be successful.

@Ricardo - one thing that we fail to address and understand with social media is that the emotional component of the relationship is never too far here. It is personal, if not for you, it is for your customer and subscriber. When done right, this kind of intimacy feels comfortable for both parties. Relationships and community take time to form and so little to tear down.

[Paul]

hi Valeria, nice post. I subscribe to your blog and wrote a post myself last month on RSS marketing. I'm hoping RSS marketing will overtake email marketing for the same reasons you talk about here. With RSS, surely the readers are in charge. No need to ask for permission to unsubscribe...

http://www.pauldervan.com/2008/04/rss-marketing.html