April 22, 2018
If a business is consistently creating content, but all they hear is crickets, the one thing missing may be brand engagement. You can churn out as much content as you want, but if it’s not quality, it may not spark any interest. So, are you really listening to your audience?
89% of social messages get ignored. Brand engagement is about listening and understanding your audience. With the onslaught of algorithms and the change in social media feeds, it’s getting harder to know how to keep people excited. Here are three ways you can start to optimize brand engagement:
The number of smartphone users is forecasted to grow from 2.2 billion in 2016 to 2.5 billion by the year 2019. As of today, 36% of the world population is said to be using a smartphone. This means your digital footprint should be mobile-friendly in every aspect. To optimize your brand engagement, people need to interact with it on their phones.
This involves responsive design. You should always ensure that your website is not only viewable on a desktop, but all mobile devices as well. That includes lap tops, tablets, and smartphones. Optimizing brand engagement means understanding what the market demands and being the first company to give it to the people.
Think about it. How much revenue do you think the developers acquired who invented responsive design? A competitive edge means staying on top of trends and being consistently creative. That’s what is engaging!
The most powerful form of marketing is that of your brand advocates. It’s the new “word-of-mouth” for modern business. In fact, Twitter ran a study and found that when an influencer tweets about a brand, it increases purchase intent by 5.2 times.
Currently, millennial women are the highest consumers online, and a recent report demonstrated that 84% are influenced by comments, customer reviews, and ratings. 62% reported they would choose a brand based on a recommendation from an influencer. So, the largest purchasers in the market right now are listening to influencers.
The best way to reach these people is to be genuine and give them something of value. Tweet about their brand, guest blog, or link them in your web content. Just make sure you reach them somehow.
The key to engaging people is providing content that is thoughtful and adds value for your audience. A recent survey of 1,300 business decisions makers found that 80% of respondents appreciated strong thought leadership pieces and stated it increased their trust in a brand. Additionally, 51.5% stated thought leadership was a major element to choosing potential partners and were willing to share their contact information.
Demonstrating thought leadership not only strengthens brand awareness, it stimulates engagement. Don’t be afraid to try several forms of content across multiple channels to test your approach. Different audiences may appreciate different pieces of content.
Some c-suite executives insist on videos as the only form of content they will digest, while others prefer lengthy white papers. You can demonstrate thought leadership in any of those ways, as long as you are making the effort to create value for the people you are asking to consume it.
There’s no exact science to being social, just make sure it’s natural. If you plan on using automation, keep it to a minimum until you have a good audience. You should also have at least a quarter of good content under your belt.
Always make sure all your web content is responsive to the hardware your audience is using, you are seeking out your greatest influencers, and using creative thought leadership to approach all marketing strategies. Optimizing brand engagement comes naturally when a company is authentic and truly listens to their customers.
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