Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

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You have a great deal of information to share with others. You don’t want to force it on others. You want to earn their attention instead of demanding it. Earned attention is a building block of a sustainable relationship.

Earning versus demanding attention

The majority of people who are trying to share their information with other people inundate other people and don’t give any consideration to whether their recipients are actually interested in the information that is being sent to them. There is another approach that works much better in the long run and the positive results will be much more permanent. You can earn attention from people who you feel are valuable to you professionally and with whom you feel you can have a mutually beneficial relationship. A large volume of content, if shared respectfully and discretely, can really go far. On the other side, of course, you want to provide something valuable to the people with whom you are trying to cultivate a relationship. Once you have earned the attention of your chosen people, everything will fall into place.

There are several different ways in which to earn the right kind of attention through your content.

Intrigue: If your content is entertaining and humorous, people will be interested in it and it will stay with them for a long time. People love to be entertained. You definitely don’t want to share dry, boring content. Having entertaining content doesn’t mean that your content isn’t valuable. You should make it as interesting as possible for the people whom you want to read what  you are writing.

Inspire: People react and connect emotionally to what they read if it has the ability to touch them. If you can’t touch them emotionally and inspire them in some way, you won’t succeed with your content. If you share thoughts and ideas that other people can connect with and can relate to, you will be able to get them to respond to you in a positive way and to start to build a relationship with you.

Teach: People love to learn new things all of the time. The more you are able to teach them, the happier they will be. When you sit down to write content that you gear in an educational direction, there are several ideas that you will want to consider incorporating into your articles. Your content should plainly state why you should and why you should not doing something in business, how you should do something, when you should do something, and what you should and should not do.

Sharing information: If you give other people information that they find useful and valuable, they will remember you for it and will truly appreciate the help that you have given them. When you share information, you are simply giving them a tool that they can use or not use, at their own discretion. that is different than teaching them something. In that case, you are giving them information and you are then showing them how to use the tool.

Treat controversy carefully: Controversy is not always bad. In fact, if you are smart, you can use it to your advantage in many cases. It is important, however, to choose which situations and issues are worth making a big deal out of and which ones are not. If you behave appropriately with the right people in a situation that is controversial, you may earn brownie points.

 Conclusion

If you use the approach that has been discussed here and you make sure that your content focuses on some or all of those categories, you will succeed and people will interact with you and they will want to continue to read what you are writing and sharing. Make sure that you always keep the needs of the people whom you are trying to connect with in mind and gear your content to them. Most importantly, you want to get people to continue to come to you and to continue to interact with you.

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Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

5 Responses

  1. Joseph David says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Social Media Plus
    Discussion: Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

    Hi Michael,

    Great discussion. Thanks for starting it. In our networks we call it "Attraction not Promotion" (co-opted from 12 Step programs, where we "practice these principles in all our affairs."

    Best always,

    Joe
    Posted by Joseph David

  2. Charles says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Consultants Network | North America
    Discussion: Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

    Thanks Michael – Good Article.

    For most people, it isn't about earning, it is about getting. Earning takes More Time, and our culture has trained our people to expect immediate gratification.
    Posted by Charles

  3. Aldo says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Consultants Network | North America
    Discussion: Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

    Great article – I agree wit you both, Michael and Charle and "earning" it makes the life experience so more fulfilling.
    Posted by Aldo

  4. Braxton says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Consultants Network | North America
    Discussion: Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

    Earning attention is more rewarding when it is combined with trust, respect and integrity that has been displayed over time.
    Posted by Braxton

  5. Kathy says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Consultants Network | North America
    Discussion: Earning Attention Rather Than Demanding it

    Still another way is to ask for advice. There is so much we don't know. There are people with a lot more information out there that may be really helpful to many us.

    Posted by Kathy