But how do you make those connections? There are lots of ways to form connections using social media (and other Web tools), but which one will work best for you and your audience? How do you invite people to read your work? How do you start the conversation? How do you keep it going?
Invite
Do the work of actively inviting people into the conversation:
- Broadcast. Building awareness is the first step towards establishing a presence. It’s OK to use social media as a broadcast mechanism. You have to be smart about this, though. Trying to capture the attention of people who are not interested in you or your ideas is off-putting.
- Automate. Be efficient about it. Use an automation tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule a stream of tweets that link back to your content. Again, be smart about this. Write for people, not robots. When you invite someone, make sure you are providing a compelling reason to visit the link. It’s OK to share the link again, but iterate with caution. I find that this works best for Twitter. You lose some control of presentation with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus, however. For best results, handle those manually.
- Be direct. If you have earned the trust of your audience by providing valuable content and forming a real connection, then ask directly for his/her support. Resist the urge to ask too soon; it’s just like any personal relationship. But once it’s appropriate, ask for a “follow,” a “share,” a “Like,” or for someone to subscribe. Do you have a sign-up box on your site?
Attract
An invitation alone won’t do it. Your content has to be visible and valuable:
- Provide real value. Under the New Rules, it’s your responsibility to make the first move. You have to give of yourself, without an expectation of getting something in return. But if you’re not contributing real value to people, then you are just adding to the noise. There’s a lot of noise out there already. There’s a thirst for valuable content, but the world doesn’t need more noise.
- Delight your audience. There are only six emotions to choose from: Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. If you want people to have an emotional connection to your work, my belief is that “surprise” is your best bet. I call it DELIGHT, so that it’s always a positive effect. People want to share delight with others. Help them do that by creating worthy content.
- Network openly. In Content Strategy: Choosing Your Channel, I covered the different social networks that are available to you. Pick the one that’s right for you—the one where your audience resides. When starting to develop an audience, I find Twitter to be the best tool. It’s an open network, which means that you’re not just talking to friends, family, or colleagues.
- Add permanence. Here’s the issue with social channels; Twitter especially. They are momentary. Your content quickly disappears in an ephemeral stream. How do you deal with this? Tag smartly to help make your content more discoverable, more durable, and more asynchronous. Make it easy on your readers; give them a clear path through collections of content.
Converse
Look for places where there’s an exchange of ideas. Look for places where you can contribute to the conversation.
- Ask questions. Provide a reason to connect. People want to help. Let them. Open an idea for further examination. Ask people for their opinions. Forums or LinkedIn Groups can be great for this. Posit a real question, with the genuine intention of learning something from the exchange. Your ideas are likely to become better for it—while building a real relationship at the same time.
- Follow blogs. Gain to proximity to Thought Leaders. They are Thought Leaders because they are fearlessly putting good work out there. Be generous. Help them. You may be able to offer a perspective or angle that they hadn’t considered. Be respectful and contribute out of a willingness to help. Don’t take away from the conversation by calling attention to yourself. Contribute to it because you genuinely want to help develop the ideas. If there’s no opportunity to contribute, please don’t.
- Be where the action is. Conference tweeting is a way to participate when you can’t be there in person. Follow a conference that’s in your subject area; most all of them use a hashtag for this very purpose. You don’t have to be on site to benefit from—and contribute to—the conversation.
I know—this can feel like a lot of “extra” work. Forging these connections is really important to your content, though. After all, what’s the point of a content strategy if you are not forming connections? No one else can do it for you; it’s your responsibility. Take it seriously. You are an artist; you are the one who’s taking the risk. Expect feedback. Invite conversation. Be patient. Be persistent. And above all, don’t forget to have fun with it—there are some great people out there!
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How can a content strategy help you?
For more about Content Strategy for Businesses, please see the “For Entrepreneurs” section of this site.
To hire me for specific help with your content strategy, please see my “Helping Entrepreneurs” page, or contact me directly here.
For more about Content Strategy for Authors, please see the “For Authors” section of this site.
To hire me for specific help with your content strategy, please see my “Helping Authors” page.
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Image credit: “Conversation” by Valery Kenski, licensed under CC BY 2.0, modified slightly here.