When people are blogging, creating products and generally sharing cool stuff with the world, there is a natural tendency to just broadcast, broadcast broadcast!

They have so much to share,  get excited and just keep putting it out there in the hopes that something they do will be the next big thing 🙂

The reality is there are probably many other people doing similar things, and that is ok.

Do you want a great differentiation strategy to stand out in an incredibly crowded online marketing space?

Ask your audience a QUESTION!

Seriously.

Just ask them.

You might love the responses.

It could be as simple as:

• What topics would you like me to publish content on next?
• What are you struggling with now?
• A specific question to your niche that you would like to research

Five ways to ask a question are:

• Through a LinkedIn group – Join a group, post a question and engage with the people who comment. I LOVE this strategy!

• On a Facebook Fan Page (or personal page) – Use a great picture with your post to draw them in. People tend to respond better with multiple choice questions on this platform

• On Twitter – Utilize hashtags to extend the reach beyond your followers

• Through a blog post – If you already have an audience, go a little deeper with them.

• Through your email list (if you have one) – If your list is HUGE (not a bad problem to have) you could select a smaller group of people, personalize the emails, and make them feel special. If your list is smaller, then you could email all of them the question. IMPORTANT – if your autoresponder system (automated email system) does not allow subscribers to reply directly to an email you send out, change the settings. This has become a big deal, and the ability for people to just hit reply greatly increases the chances that they will respond.

I have learned so much from my audience by posing questions, and am looking forward to posing many more in the future. Like anything else, it takes work, but I would rather ask these critical questions than just thinking I have it all figured out.

If you have any questions related to this topic or anything else content marketing/branding/social networking related, please reach out through a comment or on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

As always you can email me at:

TimMushey@gmail.com

Not following me on Facebook? Swing by when you have a sec:

https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed

Have a FANTASTIC day!