The Blog of Chris Stott

If you’re anything like me you would love to start the next Facebook, Instagr.am or O/S.

Beyond the functionality that these systems provide, they are platforms.

So what can you do?

In the digital world, whether you are a small business, individual or major corporation, I think that you should be seeking to create your own platform.

Here’s why.

Your Platform To Showcase Your Digital Creations

Let’s assume that you have your digital products, art or whatever produced and ready to go. It is there sat on your hard drive or in the cloud waiting for distribution around the world.

You need a platform.

A platform to communicate about your work with the world, to spread the message of the positive changes and impact you are trying to have on the world, and a place to interact with others.

What digital platform do you have? It’s likely that you have a blog or website and a number of social media profiles. This is where most people will start and with good reason. These are fantastic ways to get in touch with your audience.

You need to cultivate your platform.

You need to grow it in to something that you control and that will outlast anything else you do.

Social networks will come and go, as will your products and creations. Your platform should be part of who you are, your brand and it should evolve with your work.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that your platform should be a blog.

More specifically it should be a blog that you control (so one that you host yourself). Of course, what I actually mean is a website, but a blog is the easiest to manage and control and people are familiar with the format.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why a blog is a good communication medium:

• Web based – increasingly the best way to communicate anything, and specifically digital creations.
• Fast and easy to update
• Familiar interface for users and readers
• Time sensitive. Nothing really sticks in the digital world. People are keen on hearing about now, and want the latest stuff. The latest tips, tricks, tools and news. That is in part why blogs are so popular, as they present people this information in exactly that way.

Call it a blog or a website, but you need your own platform. If you were going to base everything on a social network then you risk it falling out of favour or limiting your audience. Making it accessible to anyone is a key part of getting your ideas out there, even if you are only targeting a very small group.

Your website is your soap box.

Your place to make a stand.

Bring as much of your opening and online communications as you can to under the umbrella of your website.

You can adapt quickly as you go, because it is something that you control.

So let’s take a look at the specific elements that you want to be focusing on.

Blogging: Think about the blogs that you visit. The ones that you spend the most time on, the ideas that resonate with you the best and the ones that you are most likely to share and act upon. This, ultimately, is what you want your platform to be like.

How is this achieved?

You need to talk directly to your group, your tribe.

Your words and expressions should be genuine and from the heart.

You should have an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

In part you will gleam this from what works for other people and in part you will gleam this from what you try and test yourself.

Understand that people, even those amazing readers of yours, are very time poor. They will, at best, skim most of what you communicate. So you need to communicate the right things and communicate them well. Grab them with catchy headlines; explain to them the ‘Why’ behind everything that you do and make sure you give clear and actionable guidance.

Generalisations are great, but people are looking for easy and specific things that they can implement in to their own situations today.

People are looking for solutions for problems that they have.

Want to know the best technical climbing boots on the market? Problem: finding the right boots. Solution: search the web for information.

Need to learn a language when other methods have failed? They need clear and direct language learning tools that help.

Need to understand how to market their small business with online tools they have never used?…

You get the picture.

Your digital creations should meet a need.

Even if that need is entertainment, escapism or a different way of looking at things, you need to meet a need with a solution.

Clear and actionable solutions, presented on your own platform that you control, are the name of the game for digital creations.

What solutions to what problems are your digital creations addressing?