Est Read Time: 6 Minutes
Are you feeling disconnected from your audience?
Do you struggle to get your audience to engage and connect with you?
I know from personal experience that it can feel pretty disheartening to put tons of time and effort into your content just to have no one appreciate it.
As you struggle to grow and connect you start to wonder if it’s worth doing anymore…
It starts to feel more and more like a burden. You know you’re putting out good content but yet no one is really engaging with it.
You start to post less and less, and it isn’t long before you eventually stop posting altogether.
And because I know that feeling all too well, I wanted to share a few tips that I think will help spark that connection between you and your audience.
The three tips I have for you today are things that I have done for my business as well as the brands that I work with. Once I learn to focus on these three things I started to see more consistent growth as well as a better connection between me and my audience.
Alright, so let’s dive into my three tips to help you create content that connects with your audience better!
1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Now, this is number one for a reason, friend. This is how you connect with your audience.
You need to know who they are!
How in the heck can you serve an audience you don’t know?
But I’m talking about knowing them deeper than your average ‘audience overview’. I’m saying that you need to know them so well they feel like you know them better than they know themselves.
When you are putting out content you need to think about how it serves your audience.
In order to serve them you need to know what they are struggling with, what are their dreams and desires, where do they spend their time, who do they spend their time with, and what do they value?
It’s more than just choosing an age group and demographics, you need to know who they are as a person.
When you have that down pat and crystal clear, your audience will naturally find you and connect with you –much deeper than you’ve ever experienced before!
Just think about the brands you are loyal to. Why are you loyal to them? Do they offer you a product or service that goes beyond just ‘fulfilling’?
Do they have values that you believe in?
Think about the reasons you follow a brand and trust them and then try to do that with your own brand!
Sit down and take the time to figure out who your audience is, trust me when I say that it will be one of the most crucial things you can do for your marketing and your brand overall.
[If you need some help defining your audience you should check out our blog post: Marketing Basics: Defining Your Audience]
I promise you if you take the time to get clear as heck on your audience you’ll see a massive difference in your connection and growth.
2. ESTABLISH THE PURPOSE OF YOUR POST
Before I begin putting content together I ask myself, “What is the purpose of this post? How will it serve my audience?”
If there is no purpose to your post then don’t post it!
You’ll be wasting precious time and energy creating content that serves no one –including you.
When you create content you need to be intentional if you want to connect with your audience better and you do this by not trying to create content for ‘everyone’ and by creating content custom to your audience.
Content with a purpose will either solve your audience’s problems, improve their lives, or get them inspired. It will do one or two of these things: your content should either entertain, educate, or inform.
When you make the content you want to think about the impact, transformation, and results your audience will have.
In short, you need to make your content about your audience.
Once you are clear about who you serve, coming up with content ideas becomes so much easier! (That’s why knowing your audience is my number one tip!)
Also, establishing the purpose keeps you on topic and you will no longer feel like you’re throwing spaghetti at the wall wishing something would stick.
And keep in mind, social media has now been around for nearly two decades and users are starting to see through brands who are posting just to post. And users are tired as heck of being sold to and seeing spammy content.
That’s why you need to start creating content with a purpose for your audience.
3. ASK YOUR AUDIENCE QUESTIONS –OFTEN
Talk to your audience and learn from them directly! Ask them what they are struggling with and what their dreams and desires are. Pay close attention to what they are saying –like the exact wording.
You’re going to use those exact words in your own content because that is how new users will come across your content and think, “WOW! That is me! It’s like they know me!”
And plus, who doesn’t like to be asked what their opinion and thoughts are. The more you ask the more you’re going to know.
Trust me, asking your audience questions is going to be one of the best ways to connect with your audience. Plus, not only do you get to know who your audience is better when you ask lots of questions, but they also start to trust you more.
Think about it this way, when you meet someone new what makes them more approachable? When someone introduces themselves and starts going on and on about themselves and how they can benefit you, all the while they’ve hardly stopped to let you get a word in edgewise or when someone introduces themselves and then starts to ask about you and shows genuine interest in who you are?
I’ll bet you felt more comfortable and welcome by the person who started to ask about you.
And that’s what I’m talking about.
Stop treating your online conversations differently than your in-person conversations. You’re still talking to people.
Remember, you’re trying to create a community built around shared values, struggles, and desires. When you keep that in mind and continue to put your audience first, that’s when you’ll start to feel more connected.
And since I gave you three tips to do, I wanted to give you three things you should not do:
Three Quick Tips NOT to Do
1- Post and ghost: You don’t want to have a post go up and then never follow up, leaving comments unanswered. When your audience starts to notice that you never reply to any comments they start to feel disinterested and they start to comment less and less.
People like to feel special and you can do that for your audience by replying to their comments with a genuine reply. Always check in on your social media –especially within a few hours after a post goes live.
2- Not replying to DMs: Unless it’s spam, you should make sure that you are replying to every direct message (DM) that comes in. When your audience is able to message your directly it plays into making them feel special. No one likes to see that their message is left on read (or never read at all!) because it makes you feel ignored.
And when you’re trying to grow and foster a community and encourage engagement, ignoring your DMs will only hurt your mission.
3- Comment just to comment: It’s important that you engage with other users’ content but you don’t want to be commenting on their posts just to put comments out there.
You sound disingenuous and it’s a huge turn-off for potential new followers. As well, it’s a waste of your time.
Comment on content that resonates with you and your brand so that your engagement with others is as genuine and ‘on-brand’ as your content is
I hope that you have found this to be helpful and that it helps you connect with your audience better! Do you have any questions or comments?
Well, I’d love to hear from you! Just email me by CLICKING HERE.
Until next week, I wish you success, prosperity, and happiness!
-Jordan
Did you know that the Razzle Marketing Team is available to help you get clear on your audience? Just email us to schedule a free 30-minute call! CLICK HERE NOW
Like this blog post? We have a couple more we are sure you’ll love!
Marketing Basics: Defining Your Audience
Self Care is Part of the Content Creation Process
The Beginners Guide to Getting Started on Social Media: Where to Start