You can’t fake authenticity on social media. If you try on a fake persona, people will eventually find out and your reputation will be ruined. Part of speaking your market’s language is not so you can trick them into buying something that doesn’t make their lives better. It’s so you can be more authentic and attractive to your audience.
To be authentic online:
- Be Yourself. No one else can be you! It’s one thing to learn audience language, but it’s another to try and be someone you’re not. If your audience want to be bestsellers and you’ve never been a bestseller, don’t pass yourself off as a six-figure author. That’s just wrong.
- Show Your Personality. Again, only you can be you. There’s no reason you have to be just like everyone else even though you’re learning your readers’ language. It’s okay to be different even while you’re part of your own audience. Not everyone in your audience is a duplicate of the next person.
- Don’t Be Too Scripted. You want to be seen as a normal person using normal language, so try not to be too scripted. Sure, get your message across, but don’t sound like everyone else. Understanding word usage, terms and tone of your audience is great, but put those aspects together in your own way.
- Show Empathy. Your audience will embrace you more easily if you can put yourself in their shoes without actually being in them. You don’t have to share their exact experiences to be empathetic, so there’s no reason to lie. Instead, show people you support them and are sorry—or happy—for their situation.
- Update Your Profiles. Make sure your profiles match your brand and express that you’re a member of the community you’re trying to join. This will help you earn trust, so others don’t avoid sharing information with you.
Put all of that together along with using the language your audience understands. Getting it wrong could lead to disaster. Some brands might use curse words in their marketing, but if your audience is conservative, you might want to stay away from that language.
By joining groups, you’ll learn what you can get away with and how you should speak with your audience in an authentic way that resonates positively with them.
Facebook Groups Are a Great Place to Learn and Practice Your Market’s Language
An awesome thing about the internet is that you can learn just about anything about nearly anyone. There are micro-communities for any niche. Sure, you can join because they seem interesting, but also join because you want to learn more about your audience, their language, and to practice communicating with them.
Facebook groups make that process even easier. Tons of people are on Facebook as part of their everyday lives. They carry access to Facebook with them everywhere via their cellphones. They check Facebook multiple times a day and some, multiple times an hour. That fact alone makes it a perfect place to learn your readers’ language, what they care about and what motivates them.
- Search for Groups. Use Facebook’s search bar to search for groups. Input a search term and then click groups to discover groups that focus on your search term. You’ll discover groups about topics that will include the audience you want to explore. Request to join those groups.
- Limit How Many You Join. Don’t join a ton of groups at first. They’ll be too hard to track, and your interaction will suffer. You only want to be in groups that consist of your target audience or your competition’s groups. You’ll learn more about your audience from both perspectives.
- Improve Your Personal Profile. Make sure your social profile is as complete as possible and visible so administrators can see that you’re a real person and approve your request to join. If your profile is hidden, people might not trust you.
- Follow the Rules. Follow the rules of each group or you risk being deleted from the group and blocked from rejoining. Definitely not a good way to learn about your audience or a way for others to get to know you.
- Make Notes. When following discussions in the groups, make notes about what topics generate the most engagement, what prompts controversy and what questions are asked the most. Each can be information you use for different types of content for blog posts, eBooks, and more.
- Engage with Members. Once in, you want to engage with members, contribute to thoughtful discussions and ask questions yourself. Don’t be a drive-by poster who doesn’t engage with others.
Use what you learn to create content for your audience on your site. Plus, you can use audience responses to make more products that are ideal for your audience. When you learn their language, you can take your marketing over the top right along with conversions. You’ll convert more, which means you’ll make more.
Encourage a Dialogue with Your Audience through Emails and Comments
You want to learn your readers’ language, but also how they like to do things. Determine this by finding a way to engage and open a dialogue with them more often. Many make the mistake of making it difficult to contact them, yet they expect trust to develop quickly. If you really want to connect with your audience, you need to let them connect with you in multiple ways.
- Via Email. Don’t use a “no-reply” email address on your email series. Instead, use a friendly return email address that gets checked by you personally or via a virtual assistant. However you develop your process, check that email regularly and always respond to questions and comments. Ask your audience to reply if they have a comment or question. Invite them to contact you. While few will reach out, it will develop the know, like, trust factor.
- On Social Media. Your audience will get to know you better when you interact on social media. Have you ever noticed someone who joined a group you are a part of, and they only post one thing without ever interacting again? This drive-by posting on social media is not helpful. Ask questions if you plan to participate and only answer questions if you’re willing to offer free advice without the pressure to make them hire you. People want true engagement and will trust you more if you participate in discussions.
- Blog Comments. When you post on your blog, ask your audience to comment. Then, when they do, you should comment back. A lot of people don’t recognize the potential of blog comments, but they’re a great place to launch a conversation about an issue.
- Sometimes people participate in niche forums that aren’t part of the “regular” social media sites. These are great places to get involved and learn more about your niche. Participate as a member and follow all the rules. Engage, comment, ask questions, and let your activity speak for itself.
A ton of benefits come from encouraging your readers, subscribers, and customers to engage and speak to you. The more you encourage them to comment, reply and share, the more you’ll learn about them. The more you know, the easier it’ll be to develop solutions they want and need. It may seem scary to open yourself up to comments and engagement, but it’s for the best and will help you get to know your audience and help in trust building.
Want to know even more about your target market? Want to figure out what makes them tick and–more importantly–buy? Make sure you grab your copy of Find Rabid Readers: How to Identify Your Target Market today!
