Audience Love: 3 Reasons Your Audience Isn’t That Into You
You know the saying: “He’s just not that into you.” Have you ever felt that way about your audience? You’re doing your darnedest to produce content, but it feels like crickets … chirp, chirp. Perhaps it’s because your audience just isn’t that into you. Here are three potential reasons why and how to change them:
You haven’t truly identified them — Maybe the obvious answer to the question of, “Who’s your “who”?” would be: customers. Okay, sure. But, what are the personas of that customer? Are they moms with kids? Professionals? Baby boomers? The more you know your “who,” and by extension where they “live” online the more likely you are to serve them well. Spend some time thinking deeply about who these people are. Come up with a “sketch” of those key audiences. You should be able to point them out if you see them walking down the street.
You’ve identified them, but haven’t deeply thought about what they want or need — Maybe you know who they are and where they “live” online, but how deeply have you thought about what makes them tick? What keeps them up at night? Here’s a secret, people don’t show up online to know about you or your product — probably. But they do show up to be entertained, learn something, or make their lives better in some way. Audiences will be more “into us” if we can figure out how to serve them to the best of our ability. I mean, we should be obsessed about this. It’s really not about us, but always about them.
Right message, wrong channel — You may be nailing content, but are you putting it in the right places? Each platform has its own “content brand” to some extent. We see this particularly on places like LinkedIn. Most professionals are coming to that platform to network, improve work skills, or something else from a business perspective. Your content will not land as well if it’s ultimately meant for consumers, for example. The idea may still work, but it might need to be retooled for a business audience. For example, you might take a content piece geared toward a consumer audience and retool it for your referral partners on LinkedIn. Understanding each platform and why people are there will allow you to make content compelling to that intended audience.
Audience love is ultimately about you loving your audience first. Brands, personal or organizational, who think deeply about serving their customers or key stakeholders well will excel. Often, it means being obsessed about them first.
