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No matter what survey you read, they all say the same thing – creating engaging content is one of the most challenging parts of being a content marketer.
And, unfortunately, it is only getting harder.
With an ever increasing amount of competition and social channels decreasing the amount of organic reach businesses can receive, getting your content seen is challenging and getting people to engage with the content can seem impossible.
4 tips to increase engagement
But, of course, getting engagement is not impossible; it just may require some new strategy and tactics. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:
Merge the in-store and digital experience
Your brand exists online and off, so you need to allow people to engage with you online and off. One of the best examples of unified communications right now is Target’s new-ish Cartwheel program. Cartwheel is a coupon app, but Target uses every medium to promote it. When a product has a coupon on the app, Target posts a sign in-store. The sign tells shoppers what the coupon is and provides a QR code to download the app. Have the app but lousy at remembering coupons? Target also sends SMS messages to remind you of the deals available on the app.
While you may not have the budget to invest in all of these mediums, you should at least consider using QR codes on your print pieces. It makes it easy for people to transition from connecting with you offline to engaging with you online.
Make it pretty
Have an announcement to make? Don’t just create a text post and post it on all your social media channels; instead, create a graphic for your announcement. Visuals increase views, credibility and engagement. Check out this Facebook post from our client The French Academy of Minnesota. They received significantly more engagement on this announcement than they had received on any past announcement because they started using visuals instead of text posts.
Use nostalgia
When creating your next campaign, think about how you can take advantage of people’s love of all things nostalgic. Just a few popular examples of brands capitalizing on nostalgia lately include Nickelodeon creating a new TV channel for just 90’s cartoons, Coca-Cola bringing back Surge soda or entertainment sites like Buzzfeed writing articles with titles like “10 things only 80’s kids will understand.”
If your organization is older, create a “then versus now” infographic that shows how the world and your industry have changed since your business started. Our client Secure360 had a great infographic for their 10-year anniversary if you need some inspiration. If your company isn’t that old, take advantage of throwback Thursdays and have your team submit photos from when they were younger or talk about their favorite industry trends from back in the day. This has two benefits – it plays off people’s love of nostalgia and lets your audience get to know your team.
Ask questions
People love to talk about themselves and give advice, so let them use your website or social channels to do it. Ask your audience questions and for their opinions on current industry or other relevant events. You can use the polling feature on some channels or, even better, ask the question with an attractive graphic.
This is the tactic that keeps on giving. After you have collected some comments or information from your audience, use it! Use it to better tailor your content to your audiences needs and use it to create some user generated content.
While cats can be successful, a variety of content and content styles will certainly elevate your game and engagement numbers.
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