Or, how to be the life and soul of the online party
We’ve all been in these conversations at work or a party. After you both say what you do there’s nothing else in common, you don’t connect. Then you both try to disengage politely and talk to that interesting looking person surrounded by listeners.
Unfortunately, when it comes to holding a conversation online, using your web content to connect with potential business leads, people are less polite. They’ll just carry on surfing, probably to a competitor’s site with lots of interesting stuff to see and read, and they won’t come back.
To encourage your audience to read your online content and keep coming back for more, here are some tips to help you connect with them and become their centre of attention. And hopefully you can do it without resorting to those desperate measures that trainee accountants seem to deploy at parties to be interesting – juggling balls or unicycling around the room.
Let your YOU shine through
It’s easier to connect with content written by humans rather than marketing copywriters. Be personable and let your character shine through your writing. Imagine having a conversation with your readers, use that vocabulary and add some emotion or humour, if appropriate, to help create a connection in your writing. Unless, that is, you’re a very unappealing person, in which case get someone else to write for you.
Service, not sales
Know what’s important to readers to help them achieve their goals. People value content they can learn something from, or gain insight, especially concerning a particular challenge. If your blog is selling and telling people why they must buy from you, they’ll quickly jump to another website to find the answers to whatever problem they’re researching.
Paint pictures with metaphors
Using metaphors and similes can create vivid imagery to capture a reader’s imagination and inspire them. They also create better understanding by putting something new into a more familiar context with a mental picture, like shining a light into a dark corner (yes, just like that).
Prove how connected you are
Demonstrate to your audience that you’re fully engaged with them by ensuring to thank contributors and respond to comments or questions received through audience channels. You can also use this information to inform future post topics – or even your business offering – by picking up on any hot topics.
Inspire with a call to action
After all that engagement and connection, don’t just leave your audience hanging there, not knowing what to do. Give them a call to action in the same way you’d swap business cards or phone numbers after meeting someone you like. At the end of your post you can provide links to further information that may help with the next steps, invite readers to comment or to get in touch and see if you can help. Use language that doesn’t demand or tell, but offers support.
For (a not very subtle) example:
Bill Blogs
Is your website failing to generate as many leads as you’d like? Are you still struggling to find the right tone? Do you simply not have the time to create the sort of web content you need? Then contact Bill Blogs at bill@billblogs.co.uk or ring 07981 269162 and we can explore possible solutions.
