Connecting with your customers through social media, vlogs and blogs

If you would like to write content that your local customers will read, it is essential to put yourself in their shoes. Writing is all about empathy with a subject or cause. I am going to explain just how to get inside your customer’s shoes and to write content that they can relate to.

When it comes to local customers, find a cause in your area that you or the locals are passionate about. It could be a charity or fighting a good cause, but most importantly it must be something people can relate to. A great way to really understand your customers and an opportunity to network is by going to networking meetings. In most towns, you will find networking groups of business men and women gathering for breakfast, lunch or dinner. These are fantastic, and I have been to a few now which have been great fun. I know this may sound crazy, but if you talk to people, you can learn a lot! There is just no way to grow or survive in life if you isolate yourself because we all need people, like it or not.

• Join or attend a networking group
• Take part in a community charity fun run
• Attend an event at the library
• Ponder the pros and cons of the high street whilst in a café
• Become a secret shopper by going on your customer’s journey

At these places, you have the opportunity to spread news about your brand or company, understand your customer, the needs of the locals and join in the sufferings and joys of the community. (NB: always keep business cards on you)

One thing I must mention, if you are going to these events, take pictures and post them on your social media sites or write a blog article about your ponderings and experiences. Now that you are sharing similar experiences as your local customers, they will start to see the face behind the brand or company. You are just a skilled person who goes through similar moments in life as all your customers – everyone has something to offer the other, we are all different but we are all equal. When you remove the mental separation between you and your customers, when you stop seeing them as a threat or intimidating or even as a separate entity to yourself, you will be able to connect like never before.

So, lets breath…and relax!

Now that you can empathise with your customer, you are walking around in your local area and attending events like networking lunches, writing an article for your customer should become much easier. Another way to jump onto a trending subject and write a timely article is by checking out Google Trends.

When writing your content, don’t forget to add some links to your website or brand and remember to think about the key words you are focusing on. This means, “what are people going to type into google to find your article?” There is some software which can be quite helpful in discovering what people type into google every month. This insight can even give you some pointers as to what topics people are searching for. I have searched high and low for software that shows this information and I have found that SEO Profiler covers every SEO task I could ask for. If you are serious about content writing, you could even sign up for 1 month which is only £1 (I believe), do all your keyword research and come out with tonnes of article subjects to write then cancel before you get charged any more.

Another idea is to become ”the reporter” by finding someone you think has relevant knowledge and ask them if you can interview them. People love hearing about people. There is nothing more that catches the eye for an article than a picture of a person and a catchy headline. Immediately we want to know, “what happened to that person”, or “I’d like to learn from their experience”, or even, “wow! There is hope for me yet.” 92% of people don’t really want to hear about how good your product is from you, but if someone else recommends it, people are always more open.

Content doesn’t have to be just written though, It can also be video. This year is the year of video content and experts say that by 2018, 80% of the internet will be mainly video related content. The generation of today are brought up on cartoons, ipads and interactive games. People are finding it easier to take in information if it is presented to them in video format. They would rather watch a 1 minute vlog (video blog) than read an actual blog article…so I thank you for reading this far! But I hope this has helped to create a writing style that speaks to your customer and not at them.