We all want (and need!) to reach our audience in such a compelling way that they engage with us in return.
There are few things as discouraging and detrimental to you and your business as putting yourself out there, expelling a ton of effort, implementing painstaking strategies, only to hear crickets chirping in response to your hard work. Am I right?
A decrease in audience engagement is a sign that something is malfunctioning. Whether there’s an issue with the products or services you’re offering, the marketing strategy you’re implementing, or the particular audience you’ve targeted, consider these tips for getting over the hump that’s keeping your audience engagement from growing.
4 Tips for Increasing Audience Engagement
Learn Your Audience!
Why would you expect someone to engage with you if you haven’t spent some time to engage with them first…in the way they respond to well? It’s possible that you’re not seeing a lot of audience engagement because the particular audience you’re attempting to sell to isn’t overly interested in what you’re marketing or the way you’re attempting to market it. You need to learn who your audience is, what they like, and what makes them more inclined to engage. This might mean narrowing your audience substantially from “everyone” to a more specific group. Once you’ve done this, you’re better equipped to create and market specially for them in order to increase engagement.
Now, it might sound counter-intuitive to narrow your audience in order to increase engagement, but keep in mind that “everyone” will not be interested in what you’re offering, no matter how perfect your product or service. You must identify your audience, dedicate time to learning what they like, and then engage with them in order to grow your engagement!
Examine Your Product/Service.
It’s perfectly normal to love your business and believe everyone should want what you’re offering. To an extent, if you didn’t believe this about your business, then you might want to be in a different business altogether! However, often times we think our products or services are perfect and irresistible when, in fact, they could use some improvement. Don’t hesitate to examine your products or services for defects, mistakes, or weak points. Look for places to improve and then do so. You want people to engage with your business because it’s valuable, you’re worth it, and your product or service is actually good.
Consider Your Marketing Strategy.
Understanding your audience and your product or service is key to developing a stellar marketing strategy. For instance, if your product is meant to help elderly people, then you might not want to expend a ton of effort in creating Facebook ads (since the majority of your audience might not use Facebook). In the same way, if your target is business owners, then your Facebook ads need to be targeted in such a way to identify people owning a business rather than any and every Facebook user.
For online marketing, keep in mind that the day of the week and time of day also have an effect on your engagement!. Different industries tend to be “online” at different times. For instance, desk-job employees tend to be more active on the internet during business hours (between 9am and 5pm) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and social media accounts tend to be more active in the afternoons and evenings. For a different industry, these “popular” times might be different, so learning what’s accurate for your particular audience is valuable for increasing audience engagement online.
Look at Yourself and Be Genuine!
It will be easier for people to relate and engage with you if you’re as true as you can possibly be to yourself and your brand. Don’t try to be someone else (people will see through it and consequently not engage)! Now, genuineness can be hard to manage sometimes, especially through website content where we want to remain professional, social media posts we want to keep catchy, or webinars where we’re trying to educate others. Nevertheless, it’s so important that you remain true to yourself and your brand so that people who will click with you can do so easily.
Remember that not everyone will like you and your business, but that’s fine! You just want the engagement from your desired audience.
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