How To Bring The Likeability Factor Into Your Work

People share and engage with the work from the people they like. It’s not always about your message, but the type of person you are. 

Bonds can last for years, friendships found and alliances formed. When you take a step back, what makes you different isn’t always the type of content you produce, it’s you!

When you bring the whole you to the table, you stand a better chance of finding stronger connections and your message starts to move in directions that help your overall efforts.

Your job is not just to knuckle down and create more content, but to figure out how your content and personality can bring people closer to you and share your work.

Your work has to attract the right people. Let’s highlight two scenarios. 

Your work has a matter-of-fact feel to it, whereas to the person reading/watching/listening, it feels like more information. You share a message that fits in with everyone else in your industry and can be found easily in other places. It’s fact-driven, quite dry, but well collated and perhaps pretends to know more than you do. Not many people share or want to get to know you better. However, you keep plugging away.

Your work has an upbeat, personable feel to it, where other people find a theme that resonates with them as it comes from a deeper level. It doesn’t take the approach of knowing all the answers, more driven by curiosity. People enjoy what you produce and think it’s worth sharing. Opportunities arise to get to know people better and friendships are formed. This helps fuel ideas and keep going.

I’d like to think it’s the second scenario that feels much warmer and where work starts to pick up momentum, not just struggling to find traction.

No matter how prolific you are, you won’t grow an audience with people willing to share your work if you miss that likeability trait.

🎤 When you start it’s your content that becomes the driver. This is what helps you put your stamp and perspective on the world. This is how other people find you. 

🎤 As you become comfortable, you then start to add more of your personality, which makes your work original. 

🎤 As your personality starts to shine, this becomes a beacon for others that supports familiarity, connection, friendship and growth.

In a nutshell:

START – content creation (videos, writing, audio)

PROGRESS – personality in the content (own story, your quirks)

MOMENTUM – connection to you (familiarity, sharing work, friendship)

When you START and find PROGRESS it’s where your content takes centre stage. Here is a checklist to make sure you are on track.

Be clear that you’re not here for everyone. In a recent article on getting the right people (not all) on your side, when you know the people you are creating for and understand that more isn’t always better it provides the cornerstone for building something you probably didn’t think was possible. 

Assert the theme that is central to all you do. A central message is what helps you with ideas and inspiration. This helps with industry relevance

Develop a way to keep (the right) people informed. For me, the YATM weekly newsletter has been the engine to everything I produce. It’s how I have built subscribers and how I have been open with people.

As you find MOMENTUM with your message, this is where people warm to you and your work and more compelled to tell others.

This is where your profilestarts to elevate your content andmakes stronger connections and friendships. It doesn’t happen by chance, some cues and actions become the impetus where your personality becomes the glue:

You need to show an interest in others. When people ask, email you or make reference to what you’ve produced, follow up. It is wrong to cast aside and ignore others. People like to feel heard and acknowledged. What happens is that someone knows you’ve taken time to reply and thought about them.

It’s worthwhile to acknowledge that everyone has it hard. It doesn’t always need stories of success and abundance from your side, acknowledge that people have had it hard, if not harder than you. It pays to respect the position of others and not use it as fake altruism. 

Know that being yourself is harder than it looks. It is such an easy thing to say, but actually more difficult than it looks. When you are comfortable with yourself, it’s a way of showing your audience who you are, not just the product or service you sit behind.

You recognise that being overly promotional was the old you. When people make that connection to you and your work, they are more likely to promote for you, it’s not all on you (like it used to be). What happens is that your audience take an interest in who you are as a person, what you stand for and what you value

You need to be upfront about your path. It’s ok if you have never won an award or never had an initiative turned into gold the moment you made it a reality. Honesty is what draws people in. You Are The Media has a timeline story, read here and I’ve held my hands up when projects haven’t worked.

When you are the type of person for someone else stronger connections are formed. From the time and effort you put into your content, the likeability factor grows. 

The people around you can:

– Introduce you to different marketplaces and help form new contacts

 – Ignite your message by sharing within their networks 

 – Step up and have an active role in what you do

 – Participate in the activity you curate (and enjoy being and feeling a part of it)

 – Promote what you do on their social channels

 – Recommend you as a knowledgeable person in your field of expertise

 – Have long-lasting and happy friendships

The bonds and relationships you form with others are what encourage people to stick around, share your work and enjoy being a part of your world. 

What starts as proof in your creation efforts to earn trust and reputation, encourages your own personality to shine through as a constant reminder to others that you are fighting a corner and it’s better to do when others are a part of it too. 

You build genuine connection by letting yourself be seen, sharing the stories that you have experienced (that can help someone else) and the ability to be present that doesn’t always have to be a reminder on someone else’s timeline.

People like to feel connected to each other. When you understand that intersection between your message and your personality, it helps to elevate everything you do and can become fulfilling as you’re always true to yourself.