The Internet today is a crowded place, and marketers who want to stand out need to make sure of one thing: They have to really connect with their target audiences. That was made clear by ASI Dallas Education Day speaker Alice Heiman, head of consulting firm Alice Heiman LLC, during her session titled “Three Big Ideas: How to Increase Your Online Influence and Authority.”

“How do you get people to pay attention to you in a crowded and noisy marketplace?” Heiman asked the audience. “Talk to people the same way you do in person. You need to interact with them, without overtly selling and advertising your company’s products and services. You have to connect with them personally.”

To do that, Heiman stressed the importance of focusing on the right social media channels, sharing great content on those outlets and using online tools that can save you time in your online marketing efforts. Ultimately, Heiman said, it’s vital that you’re not wasting your time by focusing on too many social networks and online marketing strategies.

“Survey your customers to find out which networks they’re on,” Heiman said. “How can you connect with them without knowing where they are? Once you know where most of them are, pick one channel and do it really well before you starting mixing your channels. Don’t try to be on too many networks and do too much online, because you’ll be spreading yourself too thin.”

And to create compelling content, Heiman urged her audience to look away from straight marketing and selling, and focus on sharing information that their customers can benefit from. “Write blogs, share pictures, get personal with your content, and provide data and strategies that can really help your customers in their business,” Heiman said. “That’s the key to social and online marketing today. Push out information that your followers need, not just about promo products, but about marketing in general or anything you know your customers would be interested in. That’s the key. Be interesting, and then people will gravitate to you and want to do business with you.”