Have you ever met a critic that had produced anything, good or bad, in the industry he/she critiques?
Yeah – me neither.
I was just reading a Time Mag critique on the Davinci Code. Nothing political or religious – just a movie critique (how refreshing THAT was at least!)
Anyway – the guy just rips the movie from story line and book-to-movie adaptation problems. Mainly that the book was too dry and light on what we as movie lovers like to see in a movie.
In all I agreed with some of what the critic said, but for the most part my attitude was “What’s THIS guy know about it? Why did I just read his whole article if I didn’t care for his opinion on the subject?”
Then is dawned on me. When we write reviews and critiques, people read them whether they like your opinion or not.
In fact, as I thought about my reading habits on this subject I realized I don’t agree with most critics about much of anything.
I wouldn’t know that if I didn’t read all their stuff. Which made me think that reviews on websites are important for far deeper reasons than comparison shopping can explain.
People read things they don’t agree with politically, philosophically, morally, ethically, religiously and so on.
They (we) read them to keep up on what the “opposition” is writing about the things we enjoy, love, hate, or are indifferent about.
We are snoopy, as a species.
This is something to consider when you are creating content. We tend to always want to appeal to everyone and be everyone’s friend that comes across our stuff.
This is fine if you want to write pure drivel that takes a stand on nothing to avoid pissing someone off.
Which brings up that old saying, “if you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not in business.”
Your “fans” will only become fans if they can identify with them and support THEIR feelings on a subject. This will alienate some people but draw people who agree with you closer to you- making them more likely to identify with you and trust your judgment on product or service recommendations.
I learned long ago to take sides if I wanted to get anywhere in business.
Have an opinion!
Be forthright with it!
Don’t hide behind politically correct statements designed not to offend ANYONE or you won’t ATTRACT anyone to you.
Opinion and frankness are very important in writing content for many niches. Water down your message to protect the sensibilities of people who aren’t likely to buy from you ANYWAY, and you will lose the interest of the people who WERE likely to be your customers as well.
That’s my opinion anyway.