How Do I Increase Content Engagement?
Darren Westall
November 28, 2020
Marketing
Content engagement is every marketer’s bittersweet objective. It can seem that we are constantly striving for increased engagement, so when we achieve it, we’re happy that our campaigns are successful. But, when our engagement isn’t quite where we wanted it to be, it can give us a sleepless night or two.
Oftentimes, we will find our content engagement has consistently increased over a number of weeks or months, only to find that it suddenly drops, despite not having changed anything in our strategy. Sound familiar?
The question is – are you doing the basics to increase your content engagement? Or are you barely scraping the surface?
Here’s a checklist for you to run through before you share any content in the future:
1. Make your posts shareable and saveable
Whether you are sharing a blog, a video, a whitepaper or a post on Instagram – make sure any and all content you are putting out is shareable or saveable. Instagram engagement isn’t now just about likes and comments; the algorithm is now also tailored to how many ‘saves’ a post receives. To put it in layman’s terms, the more shares or saves your content gets, the more people it will reach as a result of this engagement. Always encourage your audience to share and/or save your posts, where possible.
2. Always Include A CTA
Do all your posts include a call-to-action? If not, you’re missing a trick. Some marketers believe CTAs should be left out of posts occasionally, for fear of sounding too “salesy”. This is understandable – not all content needs to include something relating to a product you’re offering. Some content can simply be that – good quality, valuable content. However, in order to increase engagement, always include either a question to your audience (to encourage comments and conversation), or a link leading your audience to the next stage in your funnel.
3. Make It Fun
No matter what industry you work in, you can make the occasional post less product or service-related, and more tailored to what your audience will enjoy and interact with. Have a look at your audience demographics in Google Analytics and tailor some content towards what you think will increase engagement. For example, if a large portion of your audience is interested in golf, you could create a poll asking people who they think is the best golfer of all time. Encouraging people to engage with your posts in any way at all will, as a result, increase your reach with future posts, due to your audience’s algorithms favouring your content going forward.
4. Don’t Over-Hashtag
Yes, hashtags are still a thing. However, brands need to avoid over-hashtagging their content – this screams spam. People still follow hashtags – particularly on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram – so using them properly will help your content to appear in the right places, in front of the right people. However, you need to keep it brief and relevant – two or three, max. Otherwise, you risk looking like a bot, which in turn will definitely have a negative impact on your engagement.
5. Increase Your Posts As Your Followers Grow
Marketers far and wide have had countless discussions about “how many” posts or “how much” content is the right amount. The answer is this: increase your number of posts as your number of followers grows. For example, if you have less than 1,000 followers on a certain platform, a consistent one or two posts a day will suffice. However, as you reach 5,000, 10,000 or even 20,000 followers, ensure you keep increasing your content output – the more people you are reaching, the more engagement you are likely to see.
6. Invest In A Good Copywriter
Ensure that all content you are putting out is top-quality in terms of copy. Don’t just leave it up to anyone on the marketing team, or an intern working in your office, to come up with compelling content and captions for social media. Make sure you have a specialist who knows how to capture the attention of your core audience – otherwise, everything you put out will simply sound like you’re screaming into the abyss. Content engagement is sure to increase if the person wording and creating the content is on top of their game.
7. Make It Easy For Colleagues To Share Content
Asking coworkers to share marketing content isn’t as simple as it sounds – ask any marketer, anywhere, and they’ll tell you the same. Sending out an office-wide email asking everyone to share your latest video might get a few responses, but not quite the overwhelming enthusiasm you would expect. Why? Because people often see it as it is time-consuming, or something they’ll put on their to-do list… and never do.
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