You may know Jay Dolan as the force behind the insightful satire at The Anti-Social Media, or as an engaging speaker at Ignite Raleigh and RecruitCamp. He tells it like it is.

But did you also know:

• how he uses satire and criticism for the power of good, not evil?
• what he’d do differently if he were starting over today as a blogger?
• that he’s a trained opera singer?

I interviewed Jay this week via email about his blogging experience and his balanced approach to criticism. For more insights, follow him on Twitter or read his entertaining articles at TheAntiSocialMedia.com.

Jay Dolan

Founder and Editor at The Anti-Social Media in Raleigh, NC
More info: @JayDolan, @TheAntiMedia, LinkedIn, TheAntiSocialMedia.com, and JayDolan.net

The Anti-Social Media, and Using Criticism for the Power of Good

For those who aren’t familiar with his prolific satire and media criticism at TheAntiSocialMedia.com blog, I asked Jay to describe the platform and how it came about:

“The Anti-Social Media is a humorous social media satire and criticism blog. I focus a lot on how to use social media better, as well as why social media strategies and plans often go awry.

“The idea came about when I started attending a lot of social media events such as Triangle Tweetup and Social Media Club. I realized for as many of my friends who totally loved social media, there were just as many that absolutely hated it.

“I realized there needed to be a place where the people who hated it could vent, as well as for the people who loved it to realize what was driving people nuts.”

I find myself agreeing with most of Jay’s posts. I asked him to elaborate on using criticism for the power of good, not evil. Jay replied:

“It’s hard to be a good critic. You don’t want to be mean, but at the same time, you can’t let people get away with laziness, complacency, and sloppiness.

“There is a difference between quality content and stuff that is simply garbage. Just because you have one tweet in someone’s list of thousands doesn’t mean you should write like nobody watches.

“I almost never call out someone when criticizing them on my blog. If I see something horrendous, I will privately message someone, but otherwise I try to let people get the picture on their own.

“When I can, I change names and avoid links. I know my readers are smart enough to get what I am saying and apply it to themselves without me having to force it down their throats.”

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Personal Branding & Nurturing a Cult Following

Judging by posts, comments, and retweets, Jay has successfully grown his Anti-Social Media brand quickly (in a field that’s completely unrelated to his music degree from UNC). I asked his advice about personal branding:

“Always be yourself. You may be a slightly better version of yourself, but people want to see the genuine you. I really am a pessimistic, sarcastic person, I just take it to an insane level for my online writing.

“Always take the time to thank the people who spread what you put out there. If a reader can take the time to read what you’ve written or recorded and then share it, you can take the time to say thank you.

“Never be afraid to drop your own thoughts. It’s a great way to connect with other people and start a dialogue. If your opinion is wrong, don’t argue the point. Take the opportunity to connect and learn.

“There is no ‘and‘ in personal brand. You can really only have your personal brand be one thing. Trust me, I’ve tried. Think of the one thing you really want to be known for in the world, and start working towards that.”

I noted that he’s created something of a cult following. I asked Jay how it happened, and how he handles it:

“I’m a voice of dissent and anger in a world of ‘likes’ and retweets. Within the past four years, so much of online identity has moved from screen names to our given name. People don’t want to be known as angry, crass, or rude, and people are afraid to openly speak their opinion.

“I’m one of a few popular social media bloggers who does not work in any marketing, PR, or social media capacity. That gives me the liberty to say a lot more of what I want to without any negativity coming back to me or the company I work for.

“As for the cult following, I try to connect with every reader that comes to my blog and writes to me, whether via e-mail, Twitter, or leaving a comment. Because of that, I’ve built a strong following with the readers who do come to my site. If that’s a cult, then I need to start passing out the Kool-Aid.”

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Tools, Tracking, and Popular Posts

I asked what tools he uses to manage and track content at The Anti-Social Media. Jay replied:

“I blog using Tumblr. It’s one of the easiest, most useful tools for blogging, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to set it up on a custom domain. It does lack a lot of the plug-in functionality of a larger platform like WordPress, and it’s truly awful for SEO purposes without a lot of tweaking, but it is good if you just need to get up and running.

“I mostly use Google Analytics and Feedburner to track which posts are popular, though I can usually get a good sense of what hits a nerve based on comments and retweets.”

I asked Jay about his most popular posts, and why he thinks they caught on:

“The most popular post by far I’ve written is “Stop Linking all Your Social Accounts.” I think that one touched a nerve because it is well-written, pretty funny, and had a good message behind it.

“Other popular posts include “How to be an Awesome Blogger” and recently “Why I don’t follow your brand on Twitter.”

“Those posts hit it off because I connect with a lot of bloggers and social media professionals online, and they find that type of information relevant and useful.”

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Blogging Advice & Lessons Learned

I asked Jay what he’s learned since launching The Anti-Social Media in November 2009:

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to never give up. I constantly get burned out from blogging, tweeting, and searching for new post topics. It’s hard work on top of having a completely different job and a social life. Your online persona won’t be solidified from just one good post. You have to keep at it.

“Also, write everything down. I constantly jot notes constantly in a small notebook or on my phone. That way, even when I can’t start writing a post immediately, I have the major point and ideas available for later.”

If he were starting over, I asked if there’s anything he would have done differently. Jay replied:

“If I were to start out now, I wish I didn’t out myself as the person behind The Anti-Social Media from the get go. While I don’t want to criticize particular people, there are some things I think I could get away with and be a bit meaner about. There are certain buttons I want to push that I can’t push without burning a lot of bridges.

“Also, I’d probably consider adding a ‘retweet this’ button. I hate how they look, but I see how useful they are.”

I asked Jay for his advice to someone who wants to start sharing his or her opinion online:

“Praise publicly, criticize privately, and if you have to criticize publicly think twice before naming names. Don’t be afraid to be negative because not everything is always going to work out happily ever after. Also, real people aren’t always happy, and if you only portray positivity online, you’re lying to your audience.”

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What’s Next, and Beyond the Blog

I asked Jay what we can expect from The Anti-Social Media in the future:

“I just completed a full site redesign. It keeps the logo from the original site, but beyond that, it’s a whole new look. I will be moving the entire blog to WordPress soon. I love Tumblr, but I’m growing a bit too big for the platform, especially as I get more readers. I also hope to get into more video, but we’ll see, since there are only so many hours in the day.”

I asked Jay if there’s anything most people don’t know about him:

“Regardless of my garish and sarcastic persona online, I can be considerably shy in person. I said this before, but most people don’t realize I don’t work in social media, marketing, or PR. Also, I am a trained opera singer, and can speak three languages.”

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Conclusion

Thanks for sharing your experience and insights, Jay! We can all look forward to reading your entertaining insights at TheAntiSocialMedia.com.

This is the 10th in my series of interviews with marketing experts and business leaders, in North Carolina and beyond. If you know someone I should speak with, let me know and I may be able to feature them in a future profile.

Photo courtesy of Jay Dolan

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4. Social Media Marketing tips from the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA)
5. Hiring people who take their work personally, and other lessons from marketer Cord Silverstein at Capstrat

Tagged as: branding, career advice, cult following, facebook, interview, marketing, personal branding, research triangle, social media, trends