Emotionally Engaging Your Online Readers

Content is King. Your words influence your readers and cause them to take some particular action. The action is determined on how you make them feel. If your content touches them emotionally, they will react with feelings.

There is nothing worse than content that is boring or that doesn’t make you think or feel. If it just sits there, it is a huge waste of time and you won’t be inclined to read anything else that the author has written. Why would you? Business content (traditionally) can be thought of as dry and boring. However, there is absolutely no reason that your business content has to be that way. If you don’t build relationships with your readers, they won’t come to trust you and to consider you an expert. You won’t be top of mind for them when they actually reach the point where they are ready to buy. On the other hand, if your content is exciting, compelling, and touches your readers in some emotional way, they won’t forget it and they certainly won’t forget you and what you can do to help them.

Connecting with your audience

No matter what, you must always connect with your audience. If you can’t do that, you will not be able to establish any kind of relationship with them. If you are not able to find a way to connect with them, no matter how well written your content is, it won’t get you anywhere. If you don’t change your approach, your words will be pointless. You must find a way to engage with your audience (hopefully from the beginning of your relationship). You want them to stick to you as though you are the only person in the universe who could possibly do what you do as well as you do it.

How to create fabulous content

Creating fabulous, compelling, influential content is not nearly as difficult as you might think it is.

Tell a story: People love stories. Everyone has one, including you. Your story, just like all stories, should have a beginning, a middle and an end. It is easy to express emotion through your story. Your story should convey your values and it should clearly express all that you hold dear. A story is an incredibly effective vehicle for successfully bringing your point home. Your stories should be at the heart of your communication strategy and they should be the reason that you are offering what you are offering. It is important to take a close look at your business and to figure out if your stories are at the heart of your message. If they aren’t at the heart of it, you need to change that and make sure that that is exactly where you put them. Not only do  you need to connect with your audience but you need to connect with them in some really profound way. People won’t relate to you and your business unless whatever you have experienced (which you will express through your content) makes them connect with that experience emotionally. The chances are very good that they will. It is your job to make sure that your content expresses that in the most effective way possible.

As you are trying to figure out if your story is at the heart of what your business represents, you should ask yourself some questions:

• What specific story truly defines you?
• How does your story really relate to what you are trying to accomplish with your business?
• How does your story touch your audience members emotionally?
• Are your audience members able to retell your story?
• Is  your story powerful enough for your audience members to be influenced enough to reach out emotionally to others on your behalf?

These are not necessarily easy questions to answer but if you can accomplish all of this, you will be successful. If you want something meaningful to result, you need to be able to really give something meaningful of yourself. Feeling for feeling.

Consider your content a gift to others

As you are writing your content, consider it a gift to others. When you give a gift, you don’t want anything in return. Your “gift” should not try to sell anything (at least not directly) to anyone and it should be very valuable to those who are reading it. It should be offered with no strings attached. Your content will not just be your story but will be a story that you share with them. It will touch them in some profound, emotional way. Sharing your story is an extremely human, emotional, personal thing to do.

Conclusion

Emotional engagement with your online readers is critical to the success of your business. It is extremely important for you to understand why you must touch them in the most effective way possible and to really understand how they feel and why they feel the way that they do. If you are able to accomplish that, the value of your content itself will increase dramatically. The more compelling your story, the more interaction it will trigger with other people. If you can get inside of your audience’s heads and hearts, your business will be more successful than you ever would have imagined.

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