Posted: 8th April 2015
Now this is really important. Because it’s about what I stand for the most which is connection. True connection with your tribe. Marketing may say it’s all about the numbers, growing your list to over several thousand, having more than 600 Facebook likes and a million followers on twitter and Instagram, but are they real connections? Are they people who care about what you say and that you want to hear from?
Whilst there is always an argument for bigger numbers and statistics showing a tipping point, there is an equally valid one for having smaller numbers of people who actually talk to you. As I always say: If they are talking back to you, it’s working (Click To Tweet)
Building real connections with people is what builds your tribe in the first place. That can get harder to do as you grow but it is not impossible. So how do you go about building that connection?
As it says in the title of this article:
1. How do you want someone to feel when they first connect with you?
Is it informed or empowered or like they are not on their own. Be clear how you want people to feel. It is about building an emotional connection, even though I’m assuming you are on your social media to run a business! Because people do business with people. And people that they know, like and trust at that. For example I want people who connect with me on all my different platforms to feel informed but also to make them smile and find a connection with my way of doing things. Hence you are likely to see photos of my chickens and me doing yoga or hooping as much as information that is going to help you with your blog, social media strategy or Facebook page etc.
2. How are you going to reach out to them?
What are the issues they struggle with and what can you share that will help solve them? With the updates that you send out it will be how you are making an overall impression but think how you can reach out to individuals too. It’s these one to one conversations that leave a lasting impression.
3. Are you encouraging your followers to reach out to you?
Do you tell them that they can ask you questions or that you would really value their opinion on something? If you don’t say it clearly people may not realise that you welcome their comments or thoughts on a topic. Being a friendly approachable personality helps with this too, so let people know that you would like them to ask you things or talk to you about yarn or yoga or anything really.
Set the clear intention about how you want your tribe to feel when they find you online, when interact with you and once they are a customer. Then follow through!
People do business with other people, and people that they feel they know, like and trust – what can you do today that will help your clients feel like that about you?
I am off to twitter to send a couple of direct tweets encouraging a couple of my followers in their social media marketing. Short, simple messages that show them that I see what they are implementing and that I’m here for them if they have any questions. Add what you’re going to do in the comments 
