Here Thar Be Audience

Where is the Audience? 

Is your audience hiding? They may not be, but it is important that you know who you are writing for (Handley & Chapman, 2012). In this day and age literally, everyone is a publisher of content (Handley & Chapman, 2012). Stay relevant and get others to read your material by knowing what your audience is interested in. Use social media, not as a platform to write or post on, but as a tool to listen. What are your readers talking about? What are they posting about and commenting on? That is what your audience wants to know more about.  

Skills Sets for Great Communicators

Commit to be a life-long learner. Read everything. Newspapers, posts, books, magazines, memes- read it all. Read about topics that interest you. Read about topics that do not interest you, or that you know nothing about. Know what is happening in the world, and your local area. Learn about the newest trends and be willing to explore those trends. If there is a new social media app, be brave enough to try it out.  

Write a little bit every day. It does not need to be much, but committing to everyday keeps your hand in, and makes the process of writing easier when you have to do it as your brain muscles have been in training for that very thing. Create stories. It is more likely that your audience will appreciate a good story and will have better recall later. Like anything else, the more practice you get in, the better you become, increasing your credibility and expertise.

Analyzing the Analytics

Learn to love analytics. This information can show you how much your readers loved your article, and how many times it was shared with others. It may also allow you to change how you do things because no one read that article about robots. It is information that can tell you when the best time to post is. This means you could pre-write a story and set it up to go out at the optimal time when you readers are waiting for that great story.

Listening is important, but so is responding. If your audience has taken the time to comment on something you have written, take the time to respond. Admittedly that can be a great many platforms to have to check all at once. Never fear! There are apps for that! Some are free, some are not, but they can all be set up for you to gather the information you need into a “one stop shop” allowing you to manage multiple platforms from just one site.

These tricks will make navigating the waters of authorship, editor, and publisher smoother for your sailing.

 

Want to know more?