Striking An Emotional Connection With Your Audience
As human beings we have a basic instinctive need to connect with others, from being involved in communities, to our social groups, we all need to have some form of emotional connection with those around us.
All of this coming from an introvert, who took the news well, back when the pandemic first presented itself and the first lockdown came into effect. “You must stay at home, not go outside or interact with others” This was a task I could do. Easily.
Even as an introvert, I still find other people fascinating, whether that is hearing their stories, or learning from others along the way, even I need that emotional connection with others, and over the last year, the cracks that started to appear within myself proved this more than ever.
What is an emotional connection?
Great question, the dictionary definition, from the Collins English Dictionary is as follow;
Connection meaning
“A connection is a relationship between two things, people, or groups. […]”
Emotional meaning
“Emotional means concerned with emotions and feelings. […]”
Reference from Collins English Dictionary
How Fatherhood made an emotional connection with me
A few weeks ago, it was like any other weeknight, I had finished work, spent some time with my daughter before bed, then sat down to write for a few hours. This night I had finished writing a little earlier than usual, with my daughter’s bedtime being a lot earlier than usual, so I lay back on the sofa, and did the right thing in times of extra free time, I flicked on Netflix.
I had seen a Netflix original, called “Fatherhood” with Kevin Hart, and I thought to myself, perfect, a nice relaxing film with Kevin Hart, it is bound to be funny! How wrong I was.
I am not sure if it was because I had recently become a father myself or if someone had put something in my glass of red wine, I started to feel an overwhelming sadness for what Matthew Logelin’s (Kevin Hart) was going through. All the way from the sleepless nights, to finally getting some sleep with the aid of white noise (this felt more real than anything).
As the film went on I felt more connected with Matthew Logelin, and I will admit as the film was coming to a close, I started to become overwhelmed by my own emotions and I felt a strange wet residue coming from my eyes (not sure what that could have been)
This film connected with me. However, like with other forms of art and expression, it all has its own set audience. Others out there may have watched the same film and had a completely different experience than I did, and maybe did not enjoy it. That is fine, because it is not for everyone, in the words of Seth Godin.
“The stuff that’s for everyone, that’s easy to click, sniff, share, produce and learn–that stuff ends up having no character. It’s not memorable. Tater tots are for everyone.
But would you miss them if they were gone?
The goal isn’t to serve everyone. The goal is to serve the right people.”
Seth Godin (source)
Striking an emotional connection with your audience
First and foremost you need to find your audience, those who find value and or joy in what you do, whether you are a writer, artist, musician, poet, actor, or anything in between, you need to find your audience and build a connection with them over time.
Like with the friends and communities you may already be a part of, building a connection, takes time. It starts by getting to know each other, listening, and giving.
Now you wouldn’t charge a friend of yours if you invited them over for dinner, but you would if you owned a restaurant and a customer came in. Although that does not mean you can not build a connection with your customers, just like your friends we are all human, and even something simple like a free dessert at the end of a meal, or friendly service, can be one step towards building that connection.
In the beginning, I would break it down into three areas. Listening, understanding, and giving. By keeping this in mind, and through treating others, like you would want to be treated, over time (in some cases a long time) you will start to build a connection with those that get value or enjoyment from what you do.
At the end of the day, we are all human, we all have our own goals, dreams, and ambitions, but through giving more, being honest, and treating those around us with more compassion, we can build better connections.
“Constantly think of the universe as a single living being, comprised of a single substance and a single soul; and how all things issue into the single perception of this being, and how it accomplishes all things through a single impulse; and how all things work together to cause all that comes to be, and how intricate and densely woven is the fabric formed by their interweaving”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.40 (source)
