Black Eyed Peas & Creating a Reaction

In the recent Social Proof Call, Jim Edwards told a story about the newspaper editor that he wrote for. It seemed that the newspaper had some readers that couldn’t stand Jim and what he had to say in his articles and these readers were sending in hate mail. Jim asked the editor if he wanted to fire Jim. The editor said it doesn’t matter if they hate you or love you, as long as they are reading the newspaper.

If I remember correctly, a study was released not to long ago that showed that the people who hate Howard Stern actually listen to him longer than the people that like him. Hatred and disgust can be powerful things, I’d say.

Now we have the Black Eyed Peas and their newish song, “My Humps.” This is the cheesiest song, set to an 80s hip-hop beat and has the most moronic lyrics you’ll probably ever hear in your life. But the thing is, it’s a catchy tune and people are just eating it up (it’s number 11 this week on AT40). But when you search around various music forums, you’ll find this song frequently listed as the “Worst Song Ever” and it even makes a forum member here want to vomit.

Apparently everyone hates it, but it’s climbing the charts. And I’m sure these people who “hate it” are secretly dancing around in their underwear singing, “What you gonna do with all the junk, all that junk, inside that trunk…”

(Side note…if you’re from the United States, you can watch the video and listen to the song by clicking here)

So, what’s my point? Well, many people start businesses because they want to be people pleasers. They want everybody to be happy and to buy from them. Well, it ain’t gonna happen. Even though I have a course called Internet Marketing Sweetie and it teaches people how to make more money by being giving in business --- that doesn’t mean I please everyone or that everyone likes me (trust me, from the email I get there are a large number that have a strong distaste for your resident Sweetie). It also doesn’t mean I don’t have a backbone and have strong opinion on topics – and those opinions often offend people. I just say it the way I see it…and that’s that.

The point is, I’ve created a reaction. Some people love me. Some people hate me. People are driven by emotion…and hate and love are strong emotions. That’s what brings repeat visitors to your website, builds a loyal reader base and gets people buying your products.