How to Earn Your Audience and Build a Community

One of my favorite things about being in digital marketing right now is there is this huge opportunity. You might not yet see it, or know what I’m talking about. So let me explain.

Over the past 20 years, digital marketing has been adopted by basically 95% of companies that exist out there. Even worse, now we’re not so much engaging with physical stores and spaces like we used to. What’s online is powering the global economy and communities.

With steep competition in every product and service to exist, people are presented an abundance of choices. They are longing for a guide and a coach or a friendly person to show them the way.

When is the last time you wrote something without using Google?

We don’t all have to be the same kind of marketer.

Too often I find digital marketers following the same strategy, with the same topics, the same narratives and the same tactics. A person or team that spread themselves so thin as they jump on every new channel to exist and keep doing the same thing. We’re saying the same things, around the same keywords, planning the same content, just to get content out there our target customers might find. Everything out there on Google tells us this is the way to go. Here’s the thing. That’s what you need to do way later in your marketing journey, not first.

This same topic, different day does not lead people to trust you or choose you in any way. In digital marketing, sure, it can draw people in that you can retarget and stay connected with for when their need is there. Yes, you can take something big, break it down into smaller steps, and link all of these things together. I’m not saying don’t do that.

Your community unlocks the door to your growth.

If you really want to win, to grow, it’s time to take this chance. If you’re newer, or in the beginning, or even established and at a plateau, you will win with a community. You win with culture. Not on your service or product today, marketing engine, company size, price, pay or benefits. You win with people. You, your people, people you know, people they know and people like you and them.

Only people will earn an audience and trust of customers in this world of abundance.

Here are several human, refreshing and community building content ideas that come to mind no matter what your seniority is:

• Talk about a meeting you were a participant in, who was there, what it was about and exciting progress that was made. Make sure there is no sensitive information disclosed.
• Ask leaders and senior colleagues on your team or even customers a series of questions and share their answers and perspectives.
• Tell stories about your customers through spotlights and case studies. How you found one another, what was needing to be solved or filled in, and how you worked together to make it happen.
• Share small pieces of the company vision and tie it with stats or insights from a resource you know.
• Show up and cover the experience at events or workshops. In my case, as a StoryBrand Guide, with clients that use this messaging framework, any of their workshops, training or recommendations are insightful.
• Don’t be afraid to add some occasional emotion, discovery, a hard time, humor or even be witty. Emotional content has a much higher success rate than anything else. Not everything has to be so serious, and not everything has to be too entertaining, either. Someone out there won’t get it no matter which way you lean.
• Tag people, shoutout to people, link to people. People that you know or want to know. Not so much what you found on Google to write your article. What goes around, comes around. Engage to drive engagement.
• Share what you’re training on or reading and how it’s going. Speaking of you, why not do a social media takeover and post a series of short clips all day, week or month? If you’re really brave, go live! No matter the platform you’re vested in, live is a top performing channel. Someone needs to go first to inspire others.
• Highlight and add reviews from your customers into your content mix, publicly thank them and tag them if they are on social media.
• Start building a list of 30 big influencers and 30 smaller influencers in your industry on any social platform you enjoy. Follow them, filter to their posts, observe the topics, cheer them on, add perspective, use their work as inspiration, give each other feedback, collaboarate and cross-promote one another to grow your reach.

Only when you start doing this can you pull people in to collaborate. Remember to tell people your mission and ask people to join you. Thank who follows or drops you a comment one at a time. I don’t want to feel like I’m the only one thinking this way or doing this alone anymore. Take a leap of faith like me and you will be one step ahead later when you are ready to build up your marketing engine. Meaning your website, blog, social media, email, advertising, video, podcasts and where resources beyond yourself have the capacity to focus and build community. Lead with authenticity, be yourself, share experiences and then put the other puzzle pieces together.

Nobody said it’s going to be easy. But it’s simple.

If you support my vision or like these ideas, please let me know with a 👏🏻. I invite you to follow me as I break down a crowded landscape with unsustainable goals and make marketing your business simple again.