Introduce Yourself

While scrolling YouTube, you see a video about how to make your own pizza crust from scratch.

You can imagine the savory taste of fresh homemade pizza dough and your mouth begins to water. It’s decided… you need to learn this.

You watch the video and sign up to their newsletter to get the recipe.

In a few minutes and a few clicks, you’ve unlocked the secrets.

You know how to make pizza dough from scratch and love showing off the skill. Your friends and family can’t get enough!

A few weeks pass and you see an email in your inbox about making salad. You ask yourself: “Is that really something I need help with?”

You just wanted to learn about pizza… so what now?

After only a few weeks on this email list you unsubscribe, never to return again.

Why didn’t you stick around? Didn’t this creator make you the hero of every pizza night just a few weeks ago?

In todays Creator Glue newsletter we’re going to talk about introductions – why we are more likely to continue listening to someone we feel like we know, like, and trust.

The sticky factor of introductions

There is a phenomenon called the halo effect. A cognitive bias in which an initial positive impression in one aspect leads to a generalized positive perception of an individual or object as a whole.

In the pizza crust scenario, you had a great impression of that creator’s pizza making skills, but when it came to salad (a topic you weren’t as interested in) you had no reason to stick around. The value came solely from the pizza crust tutorial.

If you’d been introduced to this creator – learning their name, background, and goals – you would have been far more likely to take a look at that salad recipe.

Connecting with your audience

If your audience connects with you, they’ll like your content

Have you ever noticed that some creators are constantly struggling to make bigger and better things while others seem to coast along getting a big response from just about anything they make?

The difference is connection. If your audience finds you or your brand interesting, they aren’t so picky about every piece of content you produce.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean you can simply introduce yourself once, make whatever you want, and expect massive growth. The point here is that introducing yourself makes it far more likely that your audience will continue to give you a chance. From there it’s up to you to give them value.

How to apply this

Ok, let’s look at a few ideas for how you can apply this right now to start growing an audience that sticks.

Make an introduction video

Record a quick video sharing why do what you do and why people should care.

Put that video front and center on social, your about page, etc.

A few tips:

• Speak to one person (the person watching).
• Focus on benefits to the person watching.
• Smile. Smile. Smile.

Send a welcome email

If you’re growing an email list (which you should, by the way), send a welcome email to introduce what you’re all about and what readers can expect.

Bonus points for including your introduction video.

You can also expand this into a welcome sequence, where you take readers from knowing nothing about what you do to craving more. Consider including:

• Your greatest hits – content that has most resonated with others in your audience
• Background and context to what you do, focused on how that helps the reader.
• What readers can expect to see from you in the future.

The Takeaway

Give you or your brand a voice. Tell your story and connect on a deeper level. Your audience will stick with you for a lot longer!

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