What is our reach? — A reflection on the social media
In today’s world everything revolves around influencing others to do things. Getting people to do something by posting a Call To Action on your Facebook post, getting people to like that Instagram photo of yours that you were editing for hours, getting people to buy your product, to use your service, influencing friends to go with that brilliant idea that they have, but are afraid to start, all the way up to getting support from others via social media for your presidential candidacy; Reach is a very important step in getting anything done in the world. Such an important element begs the question of how do we know how much reach we actually have? What, and how big is our reach really?
To get a sense of how much our reach has grown during the years you don’t have to look far. Look at all the successful people today. They all got where they are by influencing others on their attitudes, morals, ideas, products, and wishes. That is one of the reasons successful people are called “influential”. They have the power to change the attitudes and thoughts of others, so that they create or accomplish something brilliant, that serves some purpose. One of the ways people reach others is through social media. Their reach and influence is terrifyingly big.
Thankfully, today, you don’t have to be powerful, or famous for your posts to gain some recognition and presence. Social platforms, and the internet itself, have hugely helped common people in that regard. If your post is well placed, with the right integration (tags, hashtags, etc.), on a popular site or social platform, in the right time, then you will be surprised how many people find out about your post, literally over night. You can immediately get feedback from others regarding your post or picture or something else entirely that you showed to the digital world. The thing is; in the digital world, word of new things travels much faster, than in the “normal world”. Your reach is much bigger the more popular or trending your post is. From the moment you post anything on the internet, it is exposed to the whole world, and instantly, the world is able to know what you said.
Our reach is, in a sense, our ability to influence others so that they agree with us, regarding anything we’re trying to get across, whether that is a religious or political statement, an idea, or an attempt to introduce some product to a bigger audience. The best example of reach is how tweets and posts are shared and liked and retweeted on Twitter, Facebook, or other social platforms most of us use on a daily basis. Those platforms are the best way to see how reach works and what it can do, when everything works the way it was meant to. If, for example, some tweet is gathering a lot of attention, it means that the subject of the tweet is something that a larger audience considers important at that time.
Everyone has seen viral videos, jokes, songs and posts. It might be about cute cats; a song that stays in your head for days; or it might pertain to a certain situation currently in development; such as a news agency reporting on a hurricane currently ravaging Florida or a man filming an earthquake in Japan with his phone and than posting it on social media, and the word about that situation travels like a wildfire. In a matter of hours, if not even less, the whole world has been “briefed” about the situation, and that is when the feedback starts, from all corners of the world.
People urging governments to donate money to countries affected by the disasters, protests starting, and escalating because of idle governments, about a situation developing half a world away. All because a man filmed a natural disaster with his phone. That is how big our reach is today. And it is only going to grow bigger and bigger.
With all of that in mind, I hope you realize how important it is to learn about reach, and the consequences it can have on others.
In case you need to increase your reach, here are a few handy tips:
1. Have in mind a target group of people which would want to see and possibly comment or like your post before publishing that post. That way you will almost subconsciously change the way you write something, so that it can fit in more with that audience, i.e. segmentation.
2. Always research at least a little about the subject you want to bring to attention to others. That way, you avoid writing something incorrect, and in turn you slowly start building a reputation for being truthful and knowledgeable about the subjects you are writing about.
3. Get their attention by using a different font, a picture that gets your attention, or something that stands out from the usual posts they see every day. Be creative. Even one little detail that is different than what they are used to seeing in posts will make them stop scrolling and actually start reading your post.
4. Try to complement your posts with something that is currently trending in the world by adding hashtags and links to that subject, but try to keep it at least somewhat connected to your post, to avoid negative feedback or even backlash. That way your posts will always get a bigger reach, because a much larger audience is following the issue your post is connected to in some way, and they will often reference your writings on the trending subject if they find it relevant.
5. Be yourself, and try to get your story across. Don’t just try to sell or upsell some products or services through your post. Most people that see another sale post will just keep scrolling. It will sometimes work, but it is much more effective to get your story across to your readers, helping them realize why they need you, or your product, and not why you need them.
