In a world where people can engage with each other at the click of a mouse, or tap of a Smartphone, engagement has become a huge factor when it comes to the success of a business. So how do you make sure you’re engaging your customers at the best of your ability?
1. Know your customers & Identify what is missing
It is hard to engage with your customers when you don’t know what they need. It’s vital to study your customers, interview them, know what they want from you and then turn around and provide what they need. Let’s say your target market is college students. Start thinking like a college kid and what problems they face (dorm room space, lack of cooking knowledge, no money, etc.) and turn that into content. It’s a deceptively simple concept, though, sometimes difficult to do well. It takes work and time. But give it a try; the rewards can be dramatic because it puts you and your customers on the same wavelength. What you say and do will resonate with them. That’s really the key: providing the “missing link” for your customers to click on.
2. Grab their attention, or don’t bother
GET SIX-PACK ABS IN SIX WEEKS!…….Did I get your attention? Odds are, yes. And that is what you need to be going for. To engage your audience with content, start with a solid headline. Create a headline they will want to click. You have the power to engage through your attention-getter.
One caveat: you must pay off that headline with the real deal. Your attention-getter has to have substance behind it; be believable. If I said, “Get Six-Pack Abs in 1 Week,” it would likely get fewer clicks because no one would believe it. Wishful thinking will only take you so far. Give people a “hook” they can believe in!
3. Originality is king
This is where creativity comes in. Once your believable, attention-getting headline drives people to your site, what is going to keep them there for more than five seconds? What will keep them engaged with your content? Being original is a good start. Repurposed, retweeted, reposted content is good, but original content is better. If you establish yourself and your content as an authority, your customers will listen. Think of it this way: there are millions of articles circulating on the Web every day, but the ones that you see (on Facebook, Twitter, BuzzFeed, etc.) are the ones that have made it because of their original, creative content. For example, 27 Things You Need To Do Before Summer Is Over (BuzzFeed), is intriguing enough for a click and leaves room for exciting and original content that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.
4. Connect
So now that you know what your customers want to consume, what grabs their attention, and why being original is vital, it is time to connect. The most important part of creating engaging content is how it gets shared. With social streams being the outlet to do so, your ability and your company’s ability to utilize social media is key. You want your customers to share, comment, and engage, and, by doing so, draw still more potential customers to your site.
Know, attract, create & connect- producing engaging content is as easy as that!
LogoGarden.com founder and president John Williams is a leading logo design expert who literally wrote the book on brand standards for companies like Hewlett-Packard and Mitsubishi. An entrepreneur and former owner of award-winning studio Logic Design, John served as Entrepreneurs.com’s branding columnist for over 5 years and has written for the Kauffman Foundation.