Let’s rewind back to before social media and the online world as we know it today. In order to connect with your potential audience, you would have to probably spend a day or two a week cold calling – that’s right … cold (as in expect an icy reception on the other end) calling is not exactly appealing for the person making the call or the person receiving the call. You would also have to put your hand in your wallet, dig very deep and pay for a magazine, newspaper or TV ad to try and get your message and brand out there.

What’s wrong with this picture?

You guessed it – it involves

1. Hard work.
2. Big money.
3. No real way to measure who actually SEES and READS and ENGAGES with your ad.
4. No meaningful connection.

With social media and online marketing:

1. You are able to target a specific audience.
2. Your costs will be way less than print advertising.
3. You will be able to measure the results.
4. You are given the opportunity to connect meaningfully and add value.

The last point is the one that gets me all excited. You see, having a website, a blog, and a social media presence gives you an amazing opportunity to connect meaningfully with your audience.

Why is this so important?

Anyone who is anyone will tell you that people buy from people they trust. How the heck are they going to trust you if you haven’t made a meaningful connection?

So, how do you get your audience interested, engaged and finding value and meaning in what you do online? How do you put content out there that grabs your reader by the balls begging for more? How do you generate content that really really means something to them?

You can start with these three steps:

1. Nail down who your ideal client is.

 And no, your ideal client is not as broad as the small business owner, or women, or everyone in Gauteng with a car. You need to get specific. You need to get real. The more specific your target is, the more specific the messaging is, the more likely you are to form a connection, the more chance of making a sale. Don’t worry about excluding people. Don’t think that by narrowing your market, you are limiting the number of people you can reach. Why? Because when your audience is broad, and your message is open to everyone, it appeals to no-one.

So, get a pen and paper out and start creating a client avatar of your ideal client. Where do they hangout? What are their values? What keeps them up at 2h00 in the morning? Are they male or female? Young or old? What do they do for fun?

2. Write down the problems they are facing.

When you know who you are talking to, you are able to start addressing their problems. What are they struggling with that you can help them with? What are they bumping their heads against? What are their ultimate fears? What are they trying to do, but can’t? Be specific.

 3. Craft your content around their challenges.

When I started on this road of content creation, I made the mistake of looking at what I know and then trying to create content around this. What I should have done is think about my potential client. Start with one problem, one solution, and one content piece. This is how you can form the connection, spark emotion and most importantly add real value. And by adding value, you are positioning yourself as a trusted expert in a non–salesy and authentic way.

Once you start communicating authentically and really adding value to your audience, you will feel the shift in your business, your potential clients will start “liking” you and “trusting” you, and you will be in a great position to sell your services to them.

So, go on, get out there, get planning, ask the difficult questions and kick ass online.

To your success,

Nicky