Hello friends, I apologize for another long absence from this website.
It’s late at night (as I wrote the first draft), but I wanted to still give you this. Today I am writing on the idea, How to Be Yourself. I also want to explain why we should endeavor to be personal in the content and information we share.
Being Personal helps people relate to us
I’ve touched on this before when writing about Attraction marketing. I’ve discussed it mainly in terms of social media, but it can apply to a blog like this as well.
I’ll use myself as an example.
By giving you stories of how the various principles, skills, and concepts have helped me, it helps reinforce your trust in the truth of what I’m telling you. It shows you I’m genuine. I’m not just copying material that I found online, but sharing from my own thoughts.
When people can relate to us as people, it also helps them to believe in what they are reading. That’s the first reason why it is so important.
Being relatable makes our message more attractive
That’s right. When people know about our interests, our hobbies, our families, and pets, and even things that have happened in our past, or places we’ve lived, they are better able to understand us. This means that they know us better, and some of them at least, will be more interested in what else we have to share.
My family when I was about 7, minus my father who was taking the picture. The dog’s name was Duke. I’m one of the twins, don’t ask me which one.
The concept of Know, Like, and Trust
I see this phrase used a lot on social media. Especially on Facebook, where I am logging in every day to work on my business there.
By sharing videos and pictures of myself, as well as writing about things happening in my own life, it helps the people reading to know me.
After they know me, they can make up their mind if they Like me. If they Like me, they can find out if I am Trustworthy.
I hope so, I was a Boy Scout (and that is part of the Boy Scout Law, the very first point in fact – A Boy Scout is Trustworthy).
(I’m still looking for a Boy Scout picture of myself – I have one of my twin brother that was mislabeled. Here I am wearing my merit badge sash, which I still have.)
Know, Like, and Trust, if you are not familiar with this phrase. This is a formula for how to get more people following what you publish and how to get some of them to buy from you, become customers, or it might be free content where they have to join something to get it, perhaps subscribe to your email list.
Anyway, it is an important concept, and the key to success in Attraction Marketing.
How to be Personal
Now we get to the real meat and potatoes of this topic:
I recommend saying at least one personal thing in every post or video.
For example: If you are doing a YouTube video, you could talk about the weather where you live, or what you do for work.
In a blog post, you can share something you just learned, or talk about your family.
In a Facebook post, you can include a picture with your family, or a meal. You could share about a vacation, or your goals.
There are really so many options.
The hardest part about being Personal is making sure it is relevant to the topic you are discussing.
Example from my Facebook account:
For example, I just did a post on Facebook a few days ago. I wrote about a movie I was watching, and I shared a Lesson that is helpful for all of us.
The movie was the 1982 animated film, The Secret of NIMH. The lesson was overcoming fear, and the need for a really powerful Why, or knowing clearly a powerful motivation for achieving success.
I won’t repeat the post here, but I am linking to it.
There are other things I love about this movie that I didn’t include in the Facebook post. For example, some of my favorite actors are in it. And even when I don’t know the actors that well, their characters in this movie are quite likable.
I have an unusual memory – I retain a lot of trivial knowledge very well, and some of the more useful knowledge I find more difficult to learn and remember. I was that way all through school.
I could tell you the name of a lot of the actors in the film, from memory, and other movies I’ve seen them in, but that’s not the important part, and that’s why I didn’t mention it on Facebook.
I will, however, keep doing posts about movies, and each one will share a practical lesson. That way, it’s helping people, and I’m having fun at the same time. Besides, it gives me a reason to go back and watch those old movies.
What personal qualities can you share in a relevant way?
I don’t know what that would be, for YOU, but here are some suggestions:
Do you like music? Perhaps there are song lyrics that are related to the topic you’re discussing.
Do you have a habit, good or bad, that can help people when you talk about it?
Do you have a family member who you find inspiring? You can write about that.
Anyway, these are all ways of being yourself online.
There’s one more concept I don’t want to forget.
Don’t Apologize for Who You Are, Or Your Dreams and Ambitions
Please, if you don’t do anything else from this post. This will help you.
Share your goals, your dreams, your ambitions, your values. What’s important to you.
With the online world, there are millions of people searching for information every day.
All kinds of information – on health, wealth, and relationships especially. But just about any topic you are writing about, someone is probably looking for that information. So go with what you love, and what you’re good at.
Someone is bound to like what you’re saying. As long as it’s a positive message. That’s my one caveat.
Because you’ll find supporters, sadly, even if you are just complaining or feeling sorry for yourself. Not a lot, but some.
But the people you want to connect with, will be attracted to you.
This won’t happen if you just copy and paste an article you found, or regurgitate what the encyclopedia says on a topic.
It’s okay to research, but don’t copy, don’t steal, and especially,
DON’T BE DRY AND BORING!!!
And don’t listen to criticism or negative feedback, unless you know it’s someone who has your best interests at heart AND they’re not caught up in negative thinking or fear. If people don’t like what you’re saying, they are free to not read it. It’s on them, not you.
All right, I hope you enjoyed this. I’m going back to my TV show I’m watching, and then to bed. I’ll finish editing this in the morning.
Note: I didn’t find a lot to change or add in the morning. But I do like writing in the morning more.
I’m being personal in my sharing. Are you?
