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You are a digital storyteller, so captivate your audience.
By Jenn Walker
Whether you realize it or not, if you manage a Facebook page, blog or website, whether it is to promote your own business, a nonprofit, or an upcoming event, you are a digital storyteller. Perhaps you are telling the story of how your business supplies the highest quality paints and tools in the state, or why your restaurant is ranked the best in your region.
What so many businesses and organizations forget is that simply creating a Facebook page or website is not enough.
On Friday I attended a conference in Phoenix on behalf of GMT, where web designer and entrepreneur Kameron Williams gave a compelling presentation, “Design for Humans,” demonstrating why. His message was simple —
If you establish an online presence for your business or organization, you assume the role of a digital storyteller. In order to maintain an online audience as a digital storyteller, you have to captivate them. Continuously.
Here is how:
Know your audience. Before you can engage your followers, you have to know who you’re talking to. Is your biggest following 40-year-old women in Globe, or 20-year-old men in Phoenix? For those managing Facebook pages, figuring this out is made ridiculously easy by Facebook’s “Page Insights.” This allows you to view how many fans you have, broken down by age, gender, location, etc.
Track analytics. This is information like how frequently your website is visited or your page is viewed. You can do this using Google Analytics. If you’re dealing with Facebook, it is even easier to do by again using “Page Insights” to track which of your posts are getting the most attention.
For instance, if you’re managing a Facebook page for a museum, and your posts on an old car exhibition are averaging 800 views, but your posts on the dinosaur exhibition are averaging less than 200, then you know where your audience’s interests lie. You might assume they will be equally interested in an upcoming airplane or machinery exhibit.
Don’t feed your audience rubbish. In other words, don’t post just to post, just to remind your audience you exist. If you have 500 followers, but 20 or less are viewing your posts, then seriously reconsider what you are posting! The worst thing you can do is lose your audience by repeatedly pushing content that no one cares about or wants to see. Not only will your credibility crumble, your audience may stop following you online, or write you off altogether.
Other things to consider. Are your followers using smart phones, computers or iPads to view your content? That may affect what content they see and how. Keep things simple for your audience: make your store hours and directions easy to find; make pictures of your merchandise easy to see; make your menu available if you are running a restaurant or cafe.
The bottom line? It is easier than ever to figure out what grabs your audience’s attention online. As a digital storyteller, it is up to you to captivate them.
Jenn Walker began writing for Globe Miami Times in 2012 and has been a contributor ever since. Her work has also appeared in Submerge Magazine, Sacramento Press, Sacramento News & Review and California Health Report. She currently teaches Honors English at High Desert Middle School and mentors Globe School District’s robotics team.
