The Power of Empathy

There's a divide between marketers and their audience, between writers and their readers. Sometimes it takes years to realize this, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it stays invisible and nobody says anything about it, sometimes it's close to tangible that it riles everybody up.

This divide is the line that goes in between "us" and "them." Hence the existence of the word "versus." It then becomes "us vs. them" when it is supposed to be "us and them" or, simply, "we." Some might think it's harmless, even necessary, but why does such a line have to exist? Touch the line, step on it. Walk across.

It is much easier said than done but it all boils down to empathy. Empathy is the most important skill to develop not just as a marketer, a writer, an artist, an entrepreneur, but as a human being in general.

But how do you become empathic? What is empathy in the first place?

Empathy does not equal sympathy. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it is “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.”

For a further understanding of what empathy is, this video perfectly sums it all up:

Being empathetic is being vulnerable enough to connect with the people you want to truly connect with. It is lowering your pride, clearing yourself of the judgments you tend to make, and really putting yourself in the place of others. You can never fake it. People will know if you do.

Businesses and established individuals have been trying to possess this invaluable quality for years, especially in social media. You can see it in the way they reply to the comments they receive, the way they react on being called out, and the way they present themselves or the content they produce for the consumption of their followers.

These digital platforms expose everything about a brand or a person so they can either be careful or carefree. It goes both ways. If you are too careful, you lose the potential to create a community with your audience. And if you are too carefree, you might lose your audience because of how you deal with them. Strike a balance. Always.

There are many brands and influencers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that try to be as real as they can be. Some are so natural at it, some are trying too hard, some are not even trying at all. Empathy is really hard at first, but once you develop it, it just flows.

One brand that hits the nail right on the head is Dove.

One look at Dove’s Instagram and you will immediately notice faces of women that have empowering stories to tell. Dove knows its audience so well that it has made a name for itself as a brand that makes a woman feel beautiful inside and out.