Six Simple Suggestions for Building a Following as Loyal as the Beyhive
There is no better marketing than a following of loyal customers that can’t wait to tell the world how wonderful you are and defend any oppositions.
|
Listen to This Article
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
There is no better marketing than a following of loyal customers that can’t wait to tell the world how wonderful you are and defend you from anyone that says differently.
And nobody has a following more loyal than Beyonce. Her Beyhive is loyal to a fault and rabidly defend her from anything and anyone. Queen Bey doesn’t even need to acknowledge her detractors. The Beyhive will handle them for her.
I wanted to include a screenshot of some “Beyhive attacks” here, but they’re just too brutal.
You may not want your fans to be as vicious as Beyonce’s, but follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to following nearly as loyal.
Know Your Audience
The number one thing you have to remember is that this isn’t really about you — it’s about them. If you want your customers and fans to stick around, you have to give them what they want.
Learn their hopes, dreams, goals, and deepest desires. Then show them how to make them come true, or at least make them feel like it’s possible.
Do your research. Find your audience where they hang out. Follow them on social media, read their comments on other blogs and forums, and engage them in conversations. Commenters can be brutal, but I would strongly suggest allowing comments on your content so you get that immediate feedback.
Woo them like you want to date them.
If you can make your audience feel you really understand and care about them, they’ll be loyal for life.
You’ll know you’ve mastered this tip when you give them things they didn’t even know they wanted.
As a side note, knowing your audience should also be the basis of your keyword research. The better you understand the people you want to reach, the better you can anticipate what will bring them to you in the first place.
Indulge Your Experimental Side
Step outside of your comfort zone and try different ways to deliver your message and give your audience what they want — or need.
Here are just a few suggestions for types of content you should try:
- Heavily researched blog posts – Present information or viewpoints that cannot be found anywhere else. Make yourself a valuable resource in your niche.
- Videos – According to YouTube, mobile video consumption increases 100% every year. This is quickly becoming the preferred delivery vehicle for information. Ignore it at your peril.
- Infographics – People love being able to take in information at a glance with a well-designed graphic or text. Sites like Canva make it easy to create infographics, even if you have no graphics skills.
If, like me, you primarily write blog posts, experiment with video content or infographics. Pay attention to what your audience responds to, keep what works, and discard the rest.
Quality over Quantity
Companies will often go to cut-rate content producers just to have a lot of content quickly — often for keyword purposes. Unfortunately, they’re just sabotaging themselves.
If someone finds this subpar content but it doesn’t help them, they’ll never come back. You’ve lost a potential follower and Google notices that your content is not useful, so you don’t even get that SEO boost.
If inspiration strikes and you’re able to pump out a ton of great content within a week , that’s great. But that should not be your focus.
Focus on creating high-quality, useful content that your audience craves. They’ll keep coming back and tell everyone they know about it. Your audience will grow and your search rankings will soar.
Offer Content Upgrades
Content upgrades are pieces of exclusive content, like an ebook or exclusive graphic or video you release only to fans that subscribe to email alerts, fill out a survey, share your content with friends, like your Facebook page, or perform some other act that helps you out.
The benefits to this should be obvious. You learn more about your audience, increase your access to that audience, or get that free word of mouth, social proof, advertising.
Your audience gets even more of that quality content that brought them to you in the first place.
Everyone wins.
Run Contests
Running contests, usually on social media, accomplishes much the same results as offering content upgrades.
The difference is that you have fewer, but larger, rewards. Usually, the prize would be tied to your business or service. An artist might offer a custom portrait or exclusive artwork. A retail business might offer merchandise. If you’re an author, offer a signed copy of your book. Some people will team up to run joint contests.
For entries, you could ask everyone to comment with how they could benefit from your product or service, like or share your post on Facebook (I’m sure you’ve seen those “like and share” posts on your timeline) or even sign up for your email list.
Become a Content Promotion Machine
It doesn’t matter how good you and your content are if nobody knows about it. Before you build your rabid fanbase to promote you, you will have to promote yourself.
This goes beyond merely sharing on social media, though that’s a part of it.
Build an email list — through content upgrades, contests, and plain goodwill and networking — and share updates with that list regularly. Every time you produce new content, launch a new product or service, or just have some piece of news, share it with that list.
Go to those forums and blogs where you researched your audience and tell them about your content there. Just make sure it’s actually relevant to the conversation.
And, yes, share it all on social media. Just like you’re updating your email list, update your followers about what’s going on and what you’re doing to move your business forward.
Let’s be honest, we may never be superstars like Beyonce. But, if we work hard and smart and put these strategies to work, becoming the Beyonce of your industry is well within our reach
If you are interested in learning more about how this topic can help your business, please contact our agency on our contact page or call us at 1-888-964-4991. We publish a new article once or twice per month so make sure to follow us on social media and allow for push notifications if you want to stay in the loop with our agency and digital marketing.
Posted In: Business, Challenges, Clients, Information, Marketing, Social Media, User Experience