My Issues With Being Relatable
People want to connect with you, so why wouldn’t you want to put yourself out there if you want people to read it or watch it?
This was a key realization for me when it came to the type of content I was creating.
A few years ago when I had a blog I was contributing to regularly, I would write content, however, I would try my hardest not to say anything that would put my situation out there. I would be writing intending to provide value, but distancing myself from what I writing. I wasn’t using my own experience, I was using stories from other people or that I’d heard and not talking about myself.
I did the same thing with my YouTube channel when I was making videos. I wanted to make videos that people liked, but would just generally talk about the topic, rather than talking about the topic from my perspective and experience.
No surprise, I wasn’t getting the type of reaction I was wanting for my content. I wasn’t getting much reaction at all.
I know, that had I injected myself into my content more, it would have traveled a lot further. It would have been way more engaging. Way more shareable. Way more authentic.
Don’t Be Afraid To Use ‘I’
When I started to talk from my perspective, doing what I could to inject my own experiences in my writing and talking about what I experienced and was experiencing, naturally I found that I was getting way more reaction to my content.
People appreciated the fact that I was vulnerable and transparent. People loved that I was able to shine a light back onto myself and be introspective.
I was able to provide value that connected to people a lot more because the readers could see that I wasn’t coming from a perspective like I was better than them, or that I knew it all. The less I showed that I had everything together, the better I was able to relate to and grip the readers since I showed to them that I was human.
I wasn’t just a writing machine pumping material out with no connection to it. I was a multi-faceted person with struggles, afflictions, and emotions. I was giving a piece of myself to the world with whatever I put out.
I was able to start way more conversations from my content that way. I was able to attract like-minded people to me by doing this. I was enjoying what I was putting out way more.
That is what I’ve learned is the secret to effective writing. When you can tap into the human side of the reader through tapping into the human side of yourself, you can make them feel the type of emotions that you want them to feel.
Talking about your own experiences and your vulnerabilities allows you to connect to someone that may be going through that same situation (or someone that knows someone going through it) and help them to see that they can also get through it or achieve what you’ve achieved, whatever that may be.
Do You Want People To Read Your Work?
The more vulnerable you can be with your content, the more you can connect to your audience.
We all want people to check out our work, but when you look at the people at the top of the game, the similarities I see with almost all of them are that they have not been afraid to put themselves out there to be judged.
They’ve shared their stories and their vulnerabilities and inspired thousands in the process.
I am also taking this on board and am on a mission to be as vulnerable as possible because I genuinely believe we were put here to go through what we’ve gone through in life not just for us, but also so we can help someone else in the same position to not go through the same issues we did in our lives.
But it all depends on what you’re willing to put out there.
The question is, how much do you want to be successful with your content?
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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Photo credit: Fares Hamouche on Unsplash