Keeping a good relationship with your readers is certainly not an easy task because you have to deliver them much more than just mass emails or recycled ideas. You have to shine the light on them and include information that blows their minds with its value.
1. Listen to your readers. This might be the most obvious one that everyone says all the time, but even those who lecture other bloggers on the importance of it fail to do it themselves. Listen to your readers and give them what they want. Respond to comments, emails, and as many questions as possible. Also, follow them on social media and perhaps acknowledge them in some way to let them know that they are indeed #1 in your book.
2. Job leads are a win-win for everyone. The power of a job board has an amazing effect on viewer loyalty simply because taking a look at the new updated posts and reading the new content becomes so convenient and life-changing. Also, a reader that follows up on a job offer and gets the job adores you because you led them to it.
3. Commenters can do more. It does not take long to spot your most loyal followers if you pay attention to your comment section. Big chunks of text that show unwavering support for you are not exactly an everyday thing, and the names of the person or people doing the commenting will likely be easy to remember. In addition to responding to these loyal followers, you can bring them in as guest bloggers. They will undoubtedly love the entire process and never want it to end, and you will likely end up feeling the same way because massive articles with an entirely fresh perspective will appear in no time at all.
4. Crafting contests for the crazy fans. As previously mentioned, fans are always dying to get involved in what you do. Why not continue to give them more and more ways they can show their support and get involved? After all the goal is to build a relationship and the best way to do that is to make them as happy as possible. Create any type of contest you want. For example, describe life before the product in 20 words or find the best picture of your product possible. You can even branch out and create contests that have nothing to do with your product.
5. Skype new followers. A guaranteed way to create a life-long customer is to skype them right after they made a comment on your blog, purchased a product or finished reading one your new articles. Once again, they will think “wow! That is so cool,” which will make them feel special.
6. The power of the shoutouts. Much like the Skype tactic, using people’s names and bringing them up makes them feel very special, which strengthens the bond between you two. For example, in one of your blogs, you might say “Joe Smith asked me the following question the other day, and it inspired me to do some research.”
7. Being live has its advantages. Many people shy away from live webinars and podcasts because they are scared of messing up, but that is almost what the followers want to see. They want to see you be very relatable and they also would like to get on-the-spot answers from you about certain topics.
8. Sending them mail. A reader will likely never receive a personalized postcard or anything in the mail from the people they are subscribed to because nobody thinks outside of the box enough to do that. If you go ahead and do it, you almost immediately become their favorite person in the world because you significantly strengthen the relationship you have with them and show that you care for them as a new actively engaged person who puts them first.
9. Let them do the work for you. Writing a massive article like 100 tips to do _____ takes a ridiculous amount of time, but the result is that more and more people see it and cherish you because the information in it impacts them. You can title the post” “100 tips to do ____” and only include 20 of them. Your readers will love it because they have another way to show their support and become engaged in what you do. More importantly, you no longer have to come up with the other 80 ideas to finish the post.
10. The power of the forum. Some of the biggest followings come from the creator of the business or service who pushes the idea of everyone being a family and working together accordingly. The best tactic to create this type of feeling between you and your readers is to put up one or more forums.
11. Ask a question. You can toss out a question and get tens of thousands of different answers that blow your mind because they make the question that you initially thought was rhetorical completely the opposite. You can then take all the answers you receive and compile them in a video or post.
12. Barter with the readers. You never know who you are interacting with or the people who are reading what you put out unless you ask. So do not shy away from asking your readers to list their professions. You might even find a person that has a skill set you need and be able to construct a deal with that person that is very financially advantageous.
