Yesterday, I shared briefly about building an audience. Here are some ways I think ANYONE can build an audience. Of course, it takes skill to “scale” the audience, and I’ll leave that for another blog post.

Steps I use in building an audience:

1. Authenticity: If people think you’re fake, your dead. Be you!

2. Tell: Tell a story that has meaning, and create a simple and effective pathway for your audience to help. For instance, check out this story of Jonathan Acuff; In less than one day, he leveraged his tribe to build a school in Vietnam, Amazing!

3. Follow-thru: Once your audience gets involved make sure you follow-thru with results. Show them the impact ASAP. If you do this they will be even more committed.

4. Be consistent: It takes a lot of work, time and effort; Run the race for the long haul.

5. Add value: This is not top-down leadership, add value to your audience. It’s all about relationships, we all help each other along the way.

6. Use social media: It’s free & effective: I use Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Websites, Flicker, Linkedln, Youtube, etc! You can also use vodcast and podcast. Anyone can have a global audience.

7. Become an expert: Malcom Gladwell tells us it takes 10,000 hours of work to be an expert. If you’re not an expert, don’t act like an expert. But, become an expert, learn, grow, read, etc!

8. Live- it: Eugene Cho slept on a couch this summer, so he could fulfill his commitment, Scott Harrison spent close to a year living in Africa, Charles Lee invested in a conference before anyone knew about it. These are simple examples of people who lived their story first, and then invited people to journey with them.

9. Speak-it: Donald Miller reminds us, if we want to tell great stories we have to live great stories. Be interesting & unique; if you’re not, you will get lost in the noise. My friend Ken has a phenomenal blog about fatherhood; it’s funny, heart-warming, and edgy. It’s not your typical blog, but its good, has a lot of potential and there are very few Dad’s who write blogs about father-hood.

10. Find your niche: Gary knows Wine. Maxwell knows leadership. Todd knows missional living in Suburbia. Creativityist knows work-flow. David Allen knows productivity. Alan Hirsch knows missional. John Piper knows Reformed Theology. Scott Wade knows photography. Tim Keller knows everything, . And on and on… Find your niche and MASTER it! All of these folks have a niche. Some are large and influential, others are small and growing. They are all in different stages, but they are all telling stories about what they love and building an audience along the way!

And, no matter what, GO FOR IT! Just start. Do something. Ask for help. Add value. Take risks. And if you fail, who cares. At least you tried; and trying is usually half the battle!

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