So whether you are recruiting folks to grow the congregation of your church, or growing support for your cause or charity or even looking for romance, in the spirit of sharing what works for me (!), here are a few tips on growing your audience effectively:
Rule #1. First and foremost, identify exactly who you really want to gather around you. Be selective. Its far more interesting and valuable to have an audience you actually love than to have a group of followers, listeners or so called " friends" who you really don’t care about.
Rule #2. Build a global tribe. Local audience building is nice but global audience building is outrageously gratifying. I recently set out to follow a few great minds from across the globe and have to admit my Twitter experience has improved for the better with the additions of the new global voices within my feed. Global perspectives from at least 45 countries should always be a part of your agenda. Reach across waters, reach across languages if you are bilingual—and know that erasing boundaries starts with building international relationships in your own life. Trust me, you will love this.
Rule #3. Quality time in real time is priceless. When you can have a real-time experience with your audience go for it. Social media is great but everything in real time is so much more potent. An espresso level experience is always better than anything instant. Find the way to reach out in real time whether it’s speaking to your audience on a panel, attending a charity event and or even hosting a dinner party. Identify, reach out and strategically engage members of your new audience on a monthly basis in person. Intimacy, trust and purpose grows in real time. One way I accomplish this is through the art of slow dining in every city I visit. I strategically select the person I want to spend time with and am trying to build a relationship with and we head out to dinner. The outcome is always, always, always even more valuable than I even imagined.
Rule #4. Add value. When dating your new audience, be creative and resourceful and remember to add value to the experience for them. Growing your audience is one thing but keeping them engaged and satisfied is a whole other ballgame. Don’t get lazy.
So here’s what I’d love to see you do: If you think these tips were helpful please forward this post to someone important to you. And if you really liked this post, register to receive my blog every week. My goal is to grow my audience by feeding it well and I need your help to do it.
Take 10 seconds to register to this receive this blog every week.
Send this blog post to 5 friends.
Tweet the tips.
And most importantly, become a messenger of the message.

