re: strategic communication my belief is that Impact = Quality x exposure
300 great words in a comment section at the edge of the blogosphere has less effect than mediocre 300 words on a high traffic streetcorner. location, location, location
writing for the web is different than academic writing. research shows book-like posts make people quit. to engage webgrazers is to feed their eye in pleasing ways.
you must have 2-3 keywords in the first 5 words of your title or they won’t read your first paragraph.
your first paragraph must convince them to read your 300 words; it’s the equivalent of the elevator speech, but u dont have 3 min, u have 5 sec, maybe less.
if you cannot persuade them in 300 words to read your serious work, you lose
i am practicing writing for the web by submitting 300 word articles to ezinearticles.com
not to sell product, but to practice webwriting
i have submitted 75 articles in the past 6 weeks and learned to get out of my own way when writing. i can now write for the web, and if they are interested, they will read my longer essays here
i learned to suppress the voice in my head that made me write articles that only i would want to read.
main point: those 75 articles have produced >7000 page views in 6 weeks, and 400 people have gone to my blog to read more.
must think “leverage” on the web to compete with youtube and short attention span theater
Robert Steele understands this: at Amazon: he is the number 1 rated book reviewer >1300 book reviews and has great reputation. therefore his book reviews are ALWAYS seen first on amazon, which means he gets to set the intellectual agenda of people who are looking for books on Intelligence, diplomacy, statecraft etc. he is using Amazon to leverage the promotion of his policy views. Read his revew of Thomas P. M. Barnett’s book The Pentagon’s New Map to see his strategy in action
The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-first Century
Quality x exposure = Impact
Impact = a win in strategic communication
new Army writing style should be copywriting for the web; it’s what sells its how you get and keep attention and share the message
cheers,
ken long
long-kenneth@conus.army.mil
(full attribution 😛 )