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Help me help you
So we’re well into 2013 and the development of #ClickThruThurs is continuing. By now you should already be quite familiar with the initiative and the many reasons that it’s a good thing. What I’d like to take some time to do now is explore in a little more detail the ways in which your clicks count, and why such a simple action can lead to really positive things. Help me to help you understand how best to manipulate educate marketers to get what you want. Yep, I said it…
That’s right team, it’s time to delve slightly further into the fucked up world of marketing!
Click Thru Thurs – How to be a trendsetter
As we approach the last week of the year and the 2nd last #ClickThruThurs of the year, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to think about what it all means. In case you’ve been in a coma (in which case, welcome back!) or for some reason been hiding under a rock (in which case, welcome back!) you probably already know about Amber Pierce’s brilliant initiative that encourages fans of women’s cycling to actively demonstrate their support for the sport.
Basically as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of this idea because it’s simple, direct and provides a clear, measurable outcome to those sites that are clicked. In short, it’s the perfect idea. More importantly it’s working. In measuring the simplest stats from twitter we can see that the #ClickThruThurs hashtag has been used hundreds of times in its first two weeks with an extended reach (i.e. all the people who could have seen it in their timeline) hitting a cumulative total of over 750,000 people. That’s some serious movement for the start of a new trend, so if you’ve been one of the people to get in at the start, good for you. You now have my permission to refer to yourself as a trendsetter. Best of all though, the extended reach more than doubled from week 1 to week 2. Thanks for getting my expectations up for week 3 internet!
However, this is only the start of the picture, as the point of this whole exercise is not simply to see #ClickThruThurs grow (that’s just a happy side-benefit), but to actively generate traffic, audience and engagement metrics for teams, sponsors and media outlets. In other words, to make our support of the sport much more visible and active than it has ever been before. (Not to say that you haven’t already been active, but let’s click it up a notch – yes, I made a pun, deal with it).
So as we prepare to enjoy the happiness that only a pre-Christmas #ClickThruThurs can bring, remember that clicking is better than voting because while your vote only counts once, every click matters.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow and seeing what you’ve got for me to click on.
Podcast Episode 25 – Interview with an Amber
Holy shit you guys, it’s Amber Pierce! Sarah and I are thrilled to be able to bring you our first ever interview and even more thrilled to have been able to con Amber out of a bunch of time so we get to have a great chat with the inventor of #ClickThruThurs.
Seriously, Amber’s all around great and we had a great time talking to her. This is totally worth the listen. Among other things Amber gives us a very honest glimpse of life as a pro cyclist, and tells us some of the lessons she has learned. She has a lot of wisdom for all of us. Also she admits she would make out with Pat McQuaid (true!).
We had a huge amount of fun recording this podcast and I’m sure you’ll love it. Actually it was so much fun that it carried on after the recording. At one point in the podcast, Amber answers a question with precise scientific terminology that actually is plausible. I immediately called “bullshit” and accused Amber of just using big words that none of us understood to get away with it. My favourite moment of the day was arriving home this evening to find an email from Amber with a copy of her research paper on the topic that addresses the substance of her claim. I’ve made sure to include the link to her paper below 
Thanks again to Amber! (1:06:19MIN / 63.68MB)
You can stream the podcast by clicking here (or right-click, save-as to download).
Or grab it from iTunes over here.
This week’s links
If you think we asked all the wrong questions, and want to ask her some of your own, join Amber on her next live Q&A session, where she answers anything and everything you ask on video. The Q&A will be on Sunday 16th December (keep an eye on Amber’s twitter for the time) and you can join in at the Glacier Glove facebook page – you don’t need to sign in to fb to watch or join in! And if you can’t make that, you can always ask Amber your questions via her twitter – she’s very friendly, drop by and say hello!
