Engage Your Audience Through Your Content

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Content is King” to describe the power and importance of your digital content.

I’d like to propose an alternative phrase: “Engaging Content is King.” Just because content on the Internet doesn’t necessarily mean it’s effective or well written. It can’t be king if it’s boring, copy heavy, or if most people who start to read it don’t get past the first paragraph.

Content is truly king when it provides value, drives traffic to your website and encourages an ongoing relationship with your reader.

Content is king when it engages your audience.

How do you engage your audience through your content? Here are seven suggestions for encouraging your audience to not only read, but also to interact, engage and take the next step with your content.

Write with a friendly, conversational voice.

No one likes to read dry, uninteresting content. You have the power to personalize your words by doing the following:

  • Use contractions. “We’ll” instead of “we will,” or “She’s” instead of “she is” rolls off the tongue and sounds more natural.
  • Use second person point of view. Make your audience the main character by using “you” and “your” instead of “them,” “they,” “he,” or “she.”
  • Avoid big words and industry jargon. Unless you are writing for a specialized audience, use simple words that most people will understand.
  • Get to the point. No one is going to read multiple paragraphs to find the information they’re looking for.
  • Use short sentences and short paragraphs. These are easier to read and digest in small chunks
  • White space. Content with white space is scannable.

Add a blog subscription form to your website.

Your readers can sign up to receive an email each time you post a new blog to your website. This keeps your name in front of them on a consistent frequency.

Ask a question that encourages your readers to comment.

Your blog and/or your social media profiles are prime real estate for customer engagement. If you wrote a blog, ask your readers for their thoughts on your article. Do they agree or disagree with your opinion? What has their experience been with the topic you are writing about? Polls and surveys on social media are another way to start a conversation with your followers.

Encourage your readers to sign up for your email newsletter.

If they like what they’ve read, there’s a good chance they will want to read more. Asking your readers to opt in to your email list is a powerful and effective way to continue your engagement with them. It’s a humble honor to be allowed into their email inboxes, so be sure the content you send them is valuable, and consistent without being too frequent. It’s a delicate balance that you’ll learn quickly. Your followers have an easy way to disengage from your email newsletter – and that’s through the dreaded unsubscribe.

Suggest a phone consult.

Do you offer a service or advice that you could “demo”? A short, free consultation is a great way to speak one on one with your potential customer to determine what their needs are and how you can help them. It’s low risk for them, because there is no commitment to buy anything. And they will gain a better understanding of what you do. Speaking live time by phone or Skype is a personal level of engagement that could yield you strong results.

Offer a free download.

Most customers are searching the Internet for answers to something. You can provide those answers in the form of an ebook, a checklist, or a white paper that they could download for free. All you would require to access it is their email address. Now you can follow up through your email marketing efforts.

Provide a contact form.

A contact form is a simple engagement option for you to create and for your readers to complete. It gives them another way to get in touch with you about a question or problem.

You really only need a few fields for it to be effective– a name, email address, a space to comment, and a submit button. You may choose to make a few of the field required, such as an email address and maybe their first name. But additional fields or drop-down lists can give you more information about your reader, if you can convince them to fill them out.

Be careful how many fields you offer and require. Your reader may not be willing to provide a lot of information if they just want to send you a message. They might be willing to answer a few more questions if they are getting something for it, such as a free download.

Still have questions?

A successful digital presence demands content that’s helpful, interesting and engaging – and you’ll need plenty of it. If you could use some help creating content for your business, or would like more information about making your content connect with your readers, contact me, or fill out the form below.

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