Why Connection is More Important Than Content

I am going to guess that, at some point in your entrepreneurial journey, you’ve struggled to create content. You racked your brain trying to come up with an Instagram post for the day. You stressed out about which lead magnet would serve your audience best. Or, you didn’t show up live for your community because you were worried what people would think.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I’m also going to assume that, in those moments, you thought, ‘there has to be an easier way.’

And, you were right.

As a business owner, you face constant pressure to show up consistently. There’s an expectation that you’ll regularly post content that serves your audience, plays nicely with the social media algorithms and make it look easy while doing so.

The problem with this idea is that consistency does not equal connection.

You can have all the followers in the world, but if you don’t create connection, you will waste your time creating content.

So, why is connection so important? Think about this scenario. You are hiring a new assistant – someone you will spend a lot of time with. You have three very qualified candidates with diverse backgrounds and any one of these individuals would be an amazing hire.

One candidate in particular is a little more easy to talk to than the others. He has had similar life experiences as you and having a conversation with him is very comfortable. You bonded over your previous years in corporate and the fact that, he too, is a parent of 2 young children.

Your conversations with the other candidates were great. But, they were surface level and you felt like you couldn’t find anything in common outside of how they could support you in this new role.

Who are you more likely to hire as your assistant?

Connection is about finding commonalities between you and your audience through powerful stories that build empathy and emotion – and then serving your audience through those experiences.

When your content creates connection, it also creates engagement. Your audience will begin to know, like and trust you and reciprocate their emotions through likes, comments, conversation and, eventually, your paid offerings.

So, how do you create connection instead of just creating content?

Here is a simple reverse engineered strategy you can use every time you sit down to create content to make sure that it connects.

• First, decide what outcome you want your audience to have. Do you want them to download your lead magnet, engage with your post, provide feedback, buy your product, learn or be inspired from you?
• Then, identify why that outcome is important or valuable for your audience. Will it help them feel a specific way, improve something in their business or make more money?
• Next, think about a story, time or moment in your life that relates to this outcome.
• Finally, what is your belief about this topic. Why is sharing this content meaningful for you

Following these steps takes a little extra time, but it’s incredibly powerful and worth the effort.

When you start answering these types of questions instead of just creating content for the purpose of posting, you will create stronger connections that turn into clients for your business.

Did you find this helpful? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. For more tips and resources, I invite you to join my free online community, ‘Success Through Storytelling,’ where I help you feel more confident sharing your story with others and making a greater impact with your message.