Sometimes when I tweet something or share a link on Facebook I have to ask myself;
Who is listening to you?
Building an audience isn’t necessarily hard but it requires patience and time.
The effort you make to create great content will be less effective if very few people see it.
Everyone everywhere already has a phone in their hand, endlessly scrolling through timelines and links, clicking occasionally and digesting quickly.
What makes you stand out? In the massive online swarm, you probably won’t stand out. Creating and building an audience is the only genuine way to stand out.
If you opened a shop on the high street you would find ways to connect with people via advertising, word of mouth or some other form of marketing to promote your business. You would do this before opening to have people anticipating your arrival.
You wouldn’t just do everything in secret then magically open your doors for business and, expect a rush of customers would you? You would start to build and hopefully realise that you have to keep working on it, connecting with people. It’s ongoing. It never stops.
The same principle applies to online and offline. You have to put some preparation in place, do some work and engage. It never stops.
Talk to people, ask questions, answer questions, visit businesses around you, shop local, build locally, engage with the community you find yourself in. All of these encounters are part of building an audience. Online and offline.
And when you wonder who is listening to you… an answer should become more obvious.
It’s not hard but, it takes time.
