Blogging and being in the right place at the right time

June 26, 2009 · Chris Peters

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a slightly controversial blog post about an industry issue just after it was posted. It generated 108 comments, and I'm sure that thousands of people viewed it.

You may or may not know that I manage the community and run the website for the CFWheels open source project. It definitely helps me sharpen my software marketing skillz. Plus I just can’t let go of my roots. :)

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a slightly controversial blog post about an industry issue [now via Wayback Machine] just after it was posted. It generated 108 comments, and I’m sure that thousands of people viewed it. Many people read some of the comments, and mine was there first. My comment also included a link to my blog post in response, which I drafted up as quickly as possible.

What’s cool about running this project is that I can share some of the analytics and marketing results with you. I don’t think I’ll get into trouble with anyone for doing that.

Can you tell when my comment was made by looking at this graph of daily visits?

CFWheels.org visits

Lots of extra exposure, as you can see. And exposure is exactly what the project needs.

What about conversions, which are downloads of the actual framework code (the primary goal of the site)?

CFWheels.org conversions

As you can see, we’ve only had 1 zero-download day since then. Discussion in the community forum has been picking up as well. There were even a couple comments on that blog post with people praising the project.

So here’s a testament to doing social media the right way. It’s not about blasting your me-me-me’s on Twitter or Facebook. It’s about being timely and relevant when the opportunity presents itself.

And this was a measurable way of evaluating results as well, which a lot of marketers have a lot of trouble dealing with these days.

About Chris Peters

With over 20 years of experience, I help plan, execute, and optimize digital experiences.

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