Solid content is only the beginning. Engagement is the next goal. The number of followers you have doesn’t matter if they aren’t engaging with your content or your brand. High engagement levels show the connection between a business and its customers, the trust level consumers have for the brand. And, truly, the ultimate goal of engagement is to create “super customers” who will be loyal to the brand for life.
How do you elicit a higher level of audience engagement? Here are some tips.
Offer Value
Help people, make a positive impact
Provide something useful, show how to do something or answer a question
Offer insights that others can individually interpret and assimilate into their own lives
Demonstrate your ability to share your expertise in an area
Provide uncommon information
Serve the Reader
Understand what your readers want, what they need
Answer their questions in a way that differentiates you from your competitors
Provide insight into common challenges
Understand which types of events and trends will generate traffic
Sh are ideas and stories surrounding topics they want to read, talk about, and share
Provide a Q & A forum
Give consumers a chance to tell you what they do and don’t like
Structure open-ended questions to garner information on topics you might not think to ask about
Elicit feedback that can help you make informed, actionable decisions
Know which channels your audience members prefer to use to communicate and what sort of content they interact with on each platform
Remember that engagement level is a baseline indicator of whether or not your content is resonating with your target audience
Create Shareworthy Content
Offer solutions to complex issues
Trigger thoughtful questions
Encourage discourse
Summon an emotional response
Topics should be newsworthy, provide educational value, or motivate readers to learn more
Make it Easy to Engage
Include social sharing options on your posts – encourage readers to “tag someone” who might find the post helpful, amusing, thought-provoking, etc.
Provide opportunities for comments or reviews
Keep comment forms simple and intuitive
Actually write “Share Your Thoughts with Us” at the end of your posts
Offer opportunities to opt-in not opt-out
Push out surveys to elicit feedback and opinions
Create contests that have an interactive component
Add a chat box
If monitored by an actual person, clearly indicate (and follow) the times during which someone is available to interact
Provide a way to leave a question or comment if no one is available and follow up
Feature clear calls to action to indicate what comes next
When you take the hardest, first step of proactively joining a conversation, consumers will be more likely to take the second, easier step of responding.
Your Part in All of This
Be an active participant
Build strong relationships with your audience as you grow your online presence
Don’t ignore your audience when they reach out to you – answer questions and respond to comments
Reactions and responses must be authentic and personalized
Canned auto-responses read as such and will not increase engagement rates
T oday’s consumers expect a timely, if not quick, response to their questions and fe edback
Social media – 1 hour
Email – 1 day
Embrace and encourage feedback
Communicate your gratefulness for the time and effort consumers give
Initiate interactions
Share others’ posts
Offer comments
“Like” posts
Reach out with a “Thank You” or “Haven’t Heard from You” type of message on social media or via email
Understand What is and Isn’t Working
Establish an organizational understanding of engagement
Identify which metrics or information will help you track and measure successes and challenges
Track and respond to those metrics
Things to consider (just some of many…)
Time spent on a page
Time spent on the site
How many pages viewed per visit
Bounce rate
The number of shares from article pages
The behavior of new versus returning consumers
On the More Technical Side
Be consistent in the time of day and times per week that you post in order to build and maintain your audience
Reduce page load time
Remove unnecessary elements from pages
Compress images for quickest load time
Reduce the number of plug-ins on your site
Simplify site navigation
Use responsive and mobile friendly design
Offer an easy to find and use search bar
Photos and videos are more engaging than text; native video content also helps your SEO
Strive to entertain, educate, and edify. Remember that engagement impacts the level of visibility of your content. Shares, likes and comments often pull in other traffic from your followers’ online communities. Engagement also helps build brand loyalty, keep a positive image, and grow your reach. An engaged audience is one step closer to conversion. To learn more about what your first step to higher engagement rates might be, contact the experts at Strategy Driven Marketing for a free 30-minute consultation.