I confess. I don’t love in-person-networking events. I am an introvert.
I don’t apologize for it. It’s what I am. And it serves me well as a writer and blogger.
After an event, I know that I have some serious energy re-charging to do when I get back. Because being alone refuels me and being around a lot of people can be draining.
One event I attended recently was no different. And yet it was different.
It was an evening event, promising good food and fun after a two-day conference. After the last conference session, many of us had dropped our nametags in a big box for recycling. After all, we live in Seattle. Who here is not green-friendly?
That evening, with the loud chatter of people trying to be heard over the raging music, I felt something was off. I wasn’t in top networking form. I was out of my element.
Several of my conference mates, who I had seen but not yet mingled with, introduced themselves. But their names didn’t stick.
Why?
Because I am a visual learner. I see someone’s name printed once and I will remember it. I hear it spoken five times and each time it flies out of my brain.
I need the name tag.
What does this have to do with blogging?
Our readers have preferred ways of processing information and remembering our content, too. The problem, of course, is that not all readers are the same.
What if, by understanding these differences, you could learn how to communicate on a deeper level, connecting with each of your readers in the way they learn best?
Back in the 1970s, a linguist, a psychologist and an anthropologist walked into a bar. Oh, wait, wrong story.
Actually, these three scientists conducted a ground-breaking study on how people communicate and learn. What emerged was a new theory: Neuro-Lingusitic Programming (NLP). It’s a fancy name for the idea that each of us experiences the world primarily through one of three sensory systems: the eyes (visual), the ears (auditory) or by touch/feelings (kinesthetic).
What’s this got to do with blogging?
Well, knowing this helps you shape your posts to include all three sensory learning styles, so you connect with all your readers.
The Three Little Readers
There are ways to tell which information processing style someone prefers by looking for certain cues during a conversation. But since you can’t do this with your blog readers, it’s a good idea to include a mix of communication styles in your blog posts.
Here are the three reader types and how to connect with them:
The Visual Reader: Show Me
Now, you might think that all of your readers are “visual,” because they have to read your post, right? While that’s true, the visual reader remembers your content way better if it’s in print. And there are certain things on a blog that drive her crazy.
The visual reader thinks in pictures. She has to “see” what you are talking about. Words for her conjure up images.
If you are putting together a table from Ikea and can’t follow the directions someone reads to you, I’m betting you are a visual thinker. You need to read them yourself to make sense of them.
In the general population, approximately 60 percent of us are visual thinkers.
How to use it in a blog post:
If you do a video or audio post, always include a print version, too. Because otherwise, she may not stick around. Use a photo with every post because that helps her remember your content more. And try using some “visual” words in your post, like: imagine, focus on, point out, see, blind to, get a picture of, review. Because these are words a visual thinker will respond to.
The Auditory Reader: Tell Me
The reader with an auditory style retains content better when hearing it. In college, this was the student who could listen to and process an entire lecture without taking notes. Because she didn’t need to see it.
If you are wondering if you are an auditory thinker, you just might be, if, say, you prefer the phone to email.
In the general population, 20 to 30 percent of us are auditory thinkers.
How to use it in a blog post:
Offer video and audio when you can. Use the language they use and respond to most—words and phrases like: talk through, tune in, listen, ring a bell, explain, hear me out, I hear you, same wavelength.
The Kinesthetic Reader: Let Me Feel
This reader enjoys hands-on stuff. She wants to know how things work. Wants to touch and feel, if not in person, then through the words she reads. Likes to move. If you meet her and shake hands, she might hold on to your hand for a few seconds longer.
The kinesthetic learner processes information best by direct experience—by doing it.
Do you play around with things on your desk? Fiddle with pens? Get fidgety if you can’t get up and move around during an event? Need to touch the grain of the paper samples your graphic designer shows you? You could be kinesthetic.
In the general population, 10 to 20 percent of us are primarily kinesthetic.
How to use it in a blog post:
You obviously can’t offer your blog post for the kinesthetic learner to touch (although she may point to certain things on her computer screen as she reads). What you can do is vary your post lengths, mixing in a few short ones because she can get restless.
Write a few how-to posts for this reader because they retain the content best when they can practice the conecpts in real life. Phrases and language kinesthetics respond to: hold on, put my finger on, strikes me, get a grip on, in touch with, sticking with.
Here is an example of a post that incorporates multiple senses and learning styles, 5 Reasons First Graders Would Rule the Blogging World. (Even threw in “aroma words” for readers whose earliest and strongest memories are associated with the sense of smell.)
What about you?
Which is your primary thinking/ learning style?
Are you a visual learner who runs away when you encounter a video or audio only post?
Have you found ways on your blog to address all three styles?
About Judy Dunn
