On Friday I had the amazing opportunity to provide mentoring for an up and coming film maker as part of Genesis Child Films intensive workshop series
Shout out to my girl, Candice Onyeama for the invite!
One of the great questions that I was asked was "everyone talks about visibility and showing up authentically but how do I do that?"
If you've ever wondered the same thing, sis, here's my response:
The purpose of content marketing (whether it's via social media, a blog post, article or podcast) is to build goodwill between you and your target audience
We build goodwill by being relatable and we become relatable by telling our stories.
The question then becomes:
1) Which stories do I tell?
Whenever, I approach a piece of content, the first question I ask myself is "what's my hook?" In other words, what is the story that I will lead with to make my topic more engaging and keep people keyed in (or hooked)? The stories that I choose always come out of:
My personal experience: e.g. an event from my life (past, present or future)
Something or someone that has inspired me: e.g. an event from someone else's life whether that be a friend, family member, client, celebrity or character from a film or book
Sharing these pieces of yourself with your audience is the very thing that will allow you to show up authentically which will, in turn, create that know, like and trust factor with them.
2) How do I link it to the product or service that I'm trying to promote?
Once you've written your hook, you can link it to the product or service that you are trying to promote with a segue (pronounced "seg-way"). A segue is the ability to "make a transition from one thing to another smoothly and without interruption". I used one earlier on when I transitioned from talking about my mentoring session to how to market authentically via the phrase: "If you've ever wondered the same thing, sis, here's my response...". You can do the same thing by:
Always keeping in mind that your story is leading to your chosen topic
Writing with your audience in mind
Addressing your audience within your segue using the word "you" thereby-
Making it clear to them how the topic will benefit them and why they should keep reading