Although I am a lover of anything “tech” I yearn for the “off” time. I think as entrepreneurs who live the motto “go big or go home”… who don't have a PLAN B only a PLAN A… it is easy to be addicted to “rush of a big win” in our biz. We are addicted to anything that tweets, posts, fans or peeps.
Most people around us don't and won't ever truly understand what we do for our day jobs.
So if these folks we interact with daily don't understand or care why we blog at 2 am, details of our Twitter tweeting methodologies why do we bother them with it? What if we took the time we spend speaking what is to them twitter twatter, and instead spent the same time learning about them both personally and professionally? What if we spent more time discovering how our twitter skills can help their business and their lives? Hmmm…. maybe just maybe we would inspire them, connect with them?!
It's similar to childhood. Some of my fondest memories are playing hopscotch, swing the statue or foursquare! Even though as kids of yesterday we had the Ataris and the kids of today the iPods, it's all the same. My 5 yr old's favorite thing to do after school is go to the park, not play with the Nintendo DSI we purchased a week ago. Kids like the peace, the simplicity of something simple. Funny thing is adults do too!
Why do we over complicate life? Why do we over complicate our biz?
This is much of why our content turns into a wiggly smiggly mess! We forget who we are writing it for! We get so wrapped up in the bits, bytes, tweets and peeps that we lose our focus. Bottom line, people just want to feel loved, appreciated, educated and inspired!
10 tips to keep your content simple:
10. Focus on your recipient; your end user, prospect, customer, partner or friend.
9. Get to the point. If you're trying to sell something JUST SELL IT! Do NOT waste half an email trying to convince the reader you're educating vs. selling when you've shared nothing of relevance.
8. Know thy customer! Take the time to understand what makes them tick. Test, measure and try again. You'll eventually find what works or might even get lucky the first couple of times if you do your research!
7. Know yourself. Know your strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators.
6. Be compelling. Take the time to provide data that helps your reader make better decisions. Back up what you claim you can do with metrics, testimonials and actions. Practice what you preach. Eat your own dog food as I like to call it.
5. Inspire your customer. Be relevant. Be real. Provide value.
4. Connect. Use relevant and compelling content to connect emotionally. Emotional connection drives loyalty, engagement and evangelism. Make someone feel good and they'll tell their friends about it. Don't make them feel bad or they'll tell even more!
3. Don't just focus on the $$. Focus on the relationships. Focus on the value you will bring your customer thru relevant content.
2. Be real and authentic. Be you!
1. Keep it SIMPLE friends!
