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Day 3 of the Remodeling Show, we were fortunate enough to spend part of the afternoon with Miriam Illions (pronounced “Millions” just minus the M) . . . of HomeTalk.com. Never mind that Miriam is likely one of the sweetest, bestest, goodest people I know from the interwebs, she happens also to be a passionate, well-spoken representative of the HomeTalk brand. That day, she was gracious enough to sit down with us for a candid (audio) interview.
How to Build an Internet Community
Miriam is Director of Community Development at the widely popular home-oriented social networking site. She is also the sole Admin of their Facebook page, which … on last glimpse, has already pulled something like 482,538 Likes. (I know! – Nearly ½ a M.Illion(s)! << Okay, not my best joke.)
Pretty impressive, I’d say, especially for a team that consists of a single New York-based business development manager, a few designers and, well, Miriam. Add to that a team of about 10 developers, who are currently working on such things as a soon-to-be-released iPhone app.
As Miriam points out, focus within this group is on optimizing the platform. And making it the best possible place for people. The goal – to have users not only come and visit, but to stay. They want visitors to become a part of the rich community. Her words, “To have them really make it part of their day to day lives.” This seems to be her primary mission and perhaps her biggest challenge.
And on that, I’ll leave you with a question that she asked, well, us – “What do you, in your life, use every single day . . . that is not a device?” It only took Barry & I about ten days … but BMoxie‘s official response = coffee.
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Audio Interview with Miriam from Hometalk
Listen in as M.Illions and I discuss where HomeTalk is and where it is going, what they are doing to better engage the Pro user + important tips that might help you get “featured” on her Facebook page. If you listen closely, you might even hear valuable info that could help you if are a Facebook Admin, anywhere.
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– Find them on Facebook >> https://www.facebook.com/Hometalk
. . . and don’t forget to hop on and look Miriam up. Cheers >> http://www.hometalk.com/miriamillions
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HomeTalk — Where people share and help with everything home and garden.
If you were wondering to maintain that type of follow-ship – Miriam posts 7 posts a day between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. She balances that with a combination of photos and other link posts. Miriam says, “I don’t think brands should just copy that; I think they need to know their audiences and feel out what works.”
Thanks for reading, have fun and be safe. ~jb
Great interview! I like Miriam’s comment at the very end … “That was fun!” Good info.
Thanks JZ … BMorgan is BMoxie’s media guy… he made that cut last minute last night… I thought it gave it a great ending. Glad to see your comment over here. super day.
That WAS fun! It was great to hear your voice again Miriam and to “meet” you, too, JB! I am in awe of Miriam’s ability to engage an audience so easily. She is THE BEST. Thanks for sharing this interview. :)
FABULOUS interview! Although I’m heavily involved in the HomeTalk community, I learned a ton from this. It was awesome to hear Miriam’s passion which was incredibly inspiring. Well done you two! :)
Donna
glad you stopped by Beth … I really haven’t had a ton of time to work HTalk into my routine, but I can certainly identify you as someone that makes Miriam’s job easier. In awe too, trust me … and I think she would agree when I say this – I think (among other things) – it’s her incredible ability to put the Community in place of herself. If that makes sense… As someone that is newish to interviewing too — she just made it soooo easy. cheers and great weekend. Looking forward to connecting more.
thank you Donna. as I said above… I think you could tell I am newish with dabbling in this. But she is just so well-spoken … she made it so easy. Plus when it comes to facebook she is a (humble) guru or at least on the leading edge … doing stuff that many could learn from. I am thankful that I had the time with her and that she shared her insights. Cheers, thanks again for listening and a super weekend. ~jb
You all are so amazing. Jennifer, JB, Beth, Donna, thank you for your lovely comments. Now I know what the Bloglight feels like! :)
you deserve it sometimes don’t you think? you’re like the spark plug that makes the whole thing go. cheers.
I so enjoyed this! I love understanding Hometalk better, and hearing your sweet voice!
so glad to have you. thanks for stopping by Jessica! (consider it a birthday present! ha!)
What a great interview with Miriam, and as Funky Junk Donn said, her passion for the HomeTalk community is remarkable, and contagious! HomeTalk is a very unique and engaged community, and it’s obvious that it would not be what it is today without Miriam. I have learned a great deal from her and feel fortunate to be a part of the HomeTalk community as well.
Closing thought from the audio interview.. I think Barry should start up a book on tape business. I almost thought you hired someone for the intro segment.. Ha!
Hi Paul,
The secret weapon in that biz must be a bad cold. Some fifty takes later, I realized there was no way I was not going to sound like I was in a NyQuil commercial and stopped trying.
I haven’t chimed in anywhere on what a pleasure it was to record this interview between Miriam and jb. Miriam is a thoughtful and natural speaker and I really liked the way her soft spoken style forced our fearless leader to take his own delivery down a notch. Not that there is anything wrong with jb’s normal tone but it is always nice to hear another side of someone’s vocal personality.
Miriam’s enthusiasm is simply infectious and I could have listened to the two of them talking all day!
-b
Barry! There you are. Thank you for everything you did behind the scenes! It was fun – as I clearly stated at the end – lol :) You kept that in. I enjoyed meeting you. Have a great weekend!
you know Barry was classically trained. He is a thespian… and has a fantastic speaking voice. Fortunately too he has some background it engineering audio… but I can foresee a day in the not too distant future when he is out in front of the mic too. thanks for listening Paul. But I was almost certain you wouldn’t miss. Miriam deserves our support of course too…. she rocks.
Hi Miriam,
It was my pleasure, it was fun and I thought I would allow you to speak for all of us! Keep the faith and be safe up there in New York.
– b