Building and keeping a loyal audience is crucial to any business or brand. By having an active community of subscribers, you can guarantee better results each time you post new content on your blog or channel. Actively building an audience is a necessary step to ensure the exponential growth of your business or brand.
Nowadays, just having amazing content is not enough. Many content creators think that putting all their attention on creating and publishing content is all they have to do to gain massive amounts of followers. While this organic way of acquiring an audience is actually doable, it will definitely take much longer to produce the results that you want and your audience will grow at an extremely slow pace.
Some put their efforts in gaining as many new viewers as possible, using promotional means and spending tons of money to get their name out there… all the while neglecting their current followers, which in turn, become “un-followers”.. and no one wants that to happen, right? To get the most out of your content creation, you want to build an audience that will become invested, stick with you, and will help bring your brand to the top. So, how do you do that?
In this post, I’ll be revealing several methods that have worked for myself and many other on-camera creators and digital business owners. Whether you aim to build an active audience of one hundred or one hundred thousand, I know you’ll get the tools that you need to build a community that is perfect for your business or brand.
1. PRODUCE QUALITY CONTENT
It goes without saying that you need to be passionate about the content that you are creating. Commit to publishing the best possible content you can because your audience deserves the best. Get the data you need to find out what your audience is interested in and work from there.
Maybe you’re scratching your head thinking “But I don’t have an audience yet, how do I know what content to create?” Well, put yourself in the shoes of the audience you want to have.
Sometimes, before you find your audience, you first have to find yourself. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” and “What do I have that others can get value from?” When you find the answers to those questions, go back to your idea board and find the connections. Now create your content from those connections and your audience will find you.
Steve Jobs said, “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” Make content that will make your viewers feel heard and connected to you. In order to win their trust and loyalty, create content that will appeal to their emotions and motivate them to think and act. Content that hits a nerve, and affects a viewer emotionally has more chances to be shared on social media platforms.
When you create the right content, you are able to develop your own voice and make yourself known. Audiences find people because of high-quality content. So give them a reason to come back and stick around.
2. ENGAGE YOUR FOLLOWERS
Dive deep and get involved in the comments section. Participate in forums, contribute to conversations, dabble in debates, or simply chat with your followers.
As John C. Maxwell said, “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” With every interaction, make sure your goal is to bring out the best in all parties involved. When you engage your followers, they get to know you a little bit better each time, so let them get a glimpse of who you are. Interacting with your followers makes you more human to them.
Respond to users who reach out to your brand and reach out to new people. You can do this by commenting on other people’s channels, feeds, and posts. In this area, success is highly dependent on how social you are. You have to be active in representing your own brand for you to get an active audience that responds to you.
When you engage your followers, you can gain more information about their interests and be familiar with the common questions they have.
Apart from answering their queries, ask them questions too. Show genuine interest in your audience’s interests. This can help you fine-tune the content that you produce or even give you ideas of what to talk about in your next video. At the same time, this will inspire people to stick around and feel like they are valued and part of a community. They’ll then be more likely to click that subscribe/follow button, and check out what you’re going to do next.
3. BE CONSISTENT
What I’m specifically talking about is brand consistency. You have to be able to deliver quality content at a regular pace. Make sure your content always reflects your brand. If you struggle with this, you can find some pretty cool free and paid content calendars designed specifically for this. Or you can just keep it simple and start with a google sheet or excel spreadsheet to plan things out.
Predictable does not always mean boring. Be predictable in how you schedule your posts. Audiences will appreciate it more if you post once a week on a specific date rather than just randomly posting whenever you feel like it. Having a predictable posting schedule makes them look forward to your content and even make time for it.
Don’t push yourself to publish daily content if this will burn you out. More content does not automatically mean more followers. Start at a steady pace of once a week (or even once a month!) until you get the hang of it. Audiences are more likely to stay if they know that they will regularly get quality content from you.
4. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
This time, I’m not talking about your audience. What I mean is, build relationships with other Content Creators as well. In my blog entry about the Power of Groups, I talk about the importance of being part of a community.
Being part of a group of like-minded individuals, who are going through similar issues, and have parallel goals, will keep pushing you forward.
These are the very people who can help you achieve your goal of building an audience.
FINAL WORDS
If you want to build a loyal and active audience, you have to make sure that you are attracting the right people to your website or channel. Don’t worry about attracting people who don’t care about your brand. Those people are NOT your target audience. Don’t waste your time enticing them. Focus on those who are already interested in things that are relevant to your field.
The content that you produce will be the first thing that will catch the attention of potential followers. Make sure that you create content of consistent quality and that it appeals to the needs of your audience.
Gain your audience’s trust and they will reward you with their loyalty. Let them see that you have a brand that cares for them and they will care about your brand. A loyal audience is a valuable asset that your brand or business can most certainly rely on in the future.
It’s better to have 10 loyal niche followers than thousands who don’t really care.
Whatever methods you decide to use, your goal should be to keep your viewers, followers, and your potential audience engaged. Make quality content that keeps your audience’s best interest in mind and this will give you the results that you want. I’m looking forward to seeing the magic that you create. Feel free to tag me in your next post.
Now, go get ‘em tiger!
Aaron
