Multiple ways to communicate with your audience

If you are reading this article right now, there are multiple ways you might be consuming it. You could read it in a book, either paper or digital. If it’s on Medium, you might be holding a phone or tablet, or reading it on a laptop or desktop computer.

The point is, whatever content you create should be presented in a way that people can consume it where they are.

Multiple methods

There are many different ways to communicate your message, and most successful communicators and businesses use a variety of methods. Let’s look at each one individually.

Video

The growth of YouTube has been meteoric. Some uploaded videos have been watched over a billion times, which is staggering.

Vimeo is another popular video-sharing platform, which might be more suitable for your audience, depending on the types of content you have to share.

Live Video

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram now offer a live video option which gives you direct access to the eyeballs and ears of your social media following anytime you have something to say.

Blogging and micro blogging

Public platforms such as Medium allow anyone to write and publish articles which can be shared and interacted with by anyone. WordPress and other blogging platforms allow you to publish your own articles on your own website and they also have a variety of embedded methods to allow for social sharing.

Digital publishing

With print on demand services and digital downloads, just about anyone can publish a book now. Amazon offers eBooks for sale, as well as its CreateSpace print-on-demand service and is the largest bookseller in the world. You can publish on any topic you can think of and distribute your book anywhere almost instantly. If you are a wordsmith, you can take advantage of this to spread your message far and wide.

Online magazines such as Buffer or Huffington Post also offer authors a publishing outlet.

Podcasts

The ability to deliver long form messages direct to your audience is gold in this age of distraction. A podcast is an audio file delivered via mobile or web and you can either start your own podcast, where you are the host, or you can appear on other people’s podcasts as a guest.

If your message is complex or requires a degree of unpacking, a podcast is the best way to spend time explaining and teaching your audience whilst they exercise or commute to work.

Online summits and courses

Teaching in a digital format is a popular way to share your knowledge via summits and courses. You might be invited to appear on a digital summit, which is similar to a video podcast, or you might package your knowledge into an online course, or series of online videos.

Services such as Kajabi, Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific and Teachable make sharing online courses incredibly easy and many people have built profitable teaching businesses by sharing their work in this way.

Image sharing

If your content is primarily visual, image sharing sites such as Pinterest and Instagram are a surprisingly popular way to communicate visually.

You can share other content (with attribution of course) or original content that you create. Instagram is a great way to build an engaged following on the platform itself, whereas Pinterest gives you a link back to the source website.

Social Media

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are probably the most popular ways to engage followers, post regular content and have discussions with them. Facebook Pages and Groups both serve a purpose when building community around a topic and you can utilise their comprehensive advertising tools o get further reach for your message.

Traditional communication methods

Pre internet and social media, marketers and influencers relied on books, magazines, radio, television and billboards to communicate ideas, as well as face-to-face, conferences, seminars and so forth.

These are all still relevant communication methods, but often cost more or take longer to reach similar numbers to your digital audience, but again, this depends on your message and resources.

What should I do about my communication style?

When it comes to communicating your Creative Superpower, it is a good idea to get clear on your core message first and start where you feel most comfortable.

At some point, you might experiment with all of these methods and depending on energy and resources, you might have strategies around content production for all of them. Certainly most successful online businesses have a wide-ranging communication strategy across many platforms, but remember that they build up to this level. It is rare to have the resources to launch with a full content strategy. Start where you feel most comfortable, and build from there.

How can you communicate your message?

Spend some time trying out three of the communication methods listed above. Work out which ones you enjoy most and which have most traction with your target audience. Start with your current resources and where you feel most comfortable.

Pop onto your Facebook and try a Facebook live video. If you have a phone, you have all you need.

Try writing an article about your idea and post it to your blog or Medium. Condense your pitch to 280 characters and post it on Twitter.

Use Canva to make a memorable quote and post it to Instagram and Pinterest.

Work through the list and see which gets the most favourable response and which ones you enjoy most.