by Bethany Jett @BetJett
We must think about our content from our audience’s point of
view and focus on the results they want, not the products we offer (aka, our
books). In Headlines
that Make You Rich, David Garfinkel says “The O.M. Scott and Sons
Company was founded in 1907 as a mail-order seller of grass seed. Mr. Scott
once told his employees that their customers weren't buying grass seed from the
company; ‘They're buying greener lawns.’”
1. Identify the Pain Point
Our first order of business when posting on social media is
asking ourselves, “What does my customer/reader/audience want?”
We need to step inside their minds for a moment and figure out what the pain
point is. With the O.M. Scott and Sons Company, a pain point for their
customers was grass-less or brown yards. Put yourself into a consumer mentality
for a moment and consider your own pain points.
Your audience has more than one pain point, so come up with
a list of three-five things that your audience needs help with. Continuing with
our example, a brown lawn is a problem, but perhaps watering issues and pests
could be added to the list, too.
2. Engage with your Audience.
If you’re having trouble figuring out the pain points, feel
free to crowdsource by asking questions on social media. Get feedback, but
remember that often times people don’t know what they want, they only know what
the problem is. An often
attributed (but not verified) quote by Henry Ford is “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have
said faster horses.”
Take the feedback but don’t let it polarize
you and more importantly, don’t let it squash your instincts. Be brave enough
to test content with your audience. If your audience responds with engagement
and shares, then you’ve hit a winning combination.
As Simon Sinek, famous for his TedTalk: How
Great Leaders Inspire Action with over 37,000,000 views, says “What good is an idea if it
remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.”
Additionally, you can become an investigator
by performing strategic searches. Use http://search.twitter.com/ to see how people are talking about your topic on
Twitter. Search Instagram for relevant hashtags and then pay attention to the
captions that people are writing and how their audience has connected with
them.
When you have something valuable to add, say
it!
If someone is asking a question on Twitter and
you know the answer, respond with a link to a resource but don’t ask them to
buy anything. Give them content for free - whether it’s your content or you
share a link to someone else’s article. The point is that you’ve added value
and engaged with your targeted audience.
3. Create Valuable Content
Items #2 and #3 on this list are
interchangeable and often simultaneous. Your audience will tell you what they
want and the results will be obvious because people vote with their time and
their checkbooks.
It’s always fascinating to watch an
episode of Kitchen Nightmares, where Michelin star celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey
helps struggling restaurants get back on their feet. The owners are always
flabbergasted by the lack of customers and are often unwilling to admit when
their content (in their case, the food) isn’t working.
Some ways to create valuable content
are making a top ten list, offering solutions to the problem, sharing real life
examples and stories (think Chicken Soup for the Soul) that provide a takeaway,
and creating step-by-step instructions with graphics. The possibilities are
endless, actually. You can film yourself and post the video as a tutorial,
which you can upload to YouTube and then share to the appropriate social media
channels.
Pay attention to how your audience
responds and…surprise!…cycle back to #2 and engage! Respond to the
people who took the time to leave a comment.
Answer questions.
Give! Give! Give!
Word of mouth is one of the strongest
marketing strategies and if you have great content, a fabulous product, and
genuinely care about your customers, not only will they return, they’ll tell
their friends. This cycle will build raving fans and a supportive and
interactive audience that loves you.
TWEETABLES
Bethany, Thank you for the poignant tips. I forget to engage. Now that I have my niche, I will concentrate on providing good content. God bless you, girl.
ReplyDeleteBethany, your tips are so helpful. I need to take some time and think through your suggestions to determine how I can best utilize them. I especially appreciate how you describe pain points. This is so helpful!
ReplyDeletethis is great--thank you! I'm constantly trying to walk the line between "My social media is my private life" and "I really need to nurture this audience!"
ReplyDelete