Communicate with Purpose
“Profit isn’t a purpose, it’s a result. To have purpose means the things we do are of real value to others.” – SimonSinek
If you have not yet watched Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, please treat yourself to 18 minutes of wisdom and inspiration: How great leaders inspire action. Simon’s main point is that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it.” My mission is to infuse communication with positivity and purpose. But what is my purpose in communication? Another way to phrase it – Be positive and have a point.
I often see organizations, like the private clubs and university groups I work with, posting to social media for the sake of posting. Some go into what I call “announcement mode” with every post sounding to the tune of “join us” or “don’t forget to RSVP” or “save the date” and other similar sentiments. But WHY? Communication should be about your audience. What do your members need to hear? What content are your members craving? How will that post help members network? Strategic communication is not what you want to say, but rather, what your audience needs to hear.
For example, with my private club clients, we have an underlying goal that every post on every channel in some way or another helps members take advantage of their membership and better connects the membership to the club and to each other. (That’s the purpose.) We have the understanding that a highly connected and engaged membership means greater retention and more opportunities to drive revenue. (Profit being the result.) Every message should have purpose. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself before you share your next “check this out” post:
1. How will this information help my audience?
2. What do I want my audience to do with this information?
3. What’s my intention for posting this?
4. Does my audience need this information? Is it of value to them?
5. Does this align with our brand image and values?
Infusing your communication with positivity and purpose equates to making every message valuable and meaningful for your audience.
That doesn’t mean that some of your photos, tweets and posts can’t be fun, just for the sake of being fun or even just conversational. But if you have no strategy, no thought process, no WHY behind your communication, your audience will quickly tire of empty posts where there’s nothing of value or meaning.
This post originally appeared in Shanna’s other business blog, before Private Clubs Online was created. It has been posted here because if its relevance to private club and member communication.
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