Content marketers know that engagement is vital for their content marketing strategy. But what exactly is engagement? Neil Patel, content marketing guru, defines engagement to be real people responding in measurable ways to your content. Before we can help you determine what tactics you can utilize to increase engagement, it’s first important for you to understand the goal of your content. Do you want to increase page views or brand interaction? Knowing what you hope to achieve with each piece of content is vital before you can improve engagement with those content pieces. Once you know what your goals are for your content, you can begin to increase engagement with your content.
1. A clear point
Each piece of content you create needs to have a clear point to it. At the end of every post, you should ask yourself the question: so what? Once you answer the question of why someone would want to read your content, you have imposed a clear point to your content. One of the best and easiest ways to deliver that main point is to simply include it in your headline. This seems like a logical and easy step, yet so many content marketers forget to do this. This isn’t the only place your point should be, however. Include it throughout your post, especially the conclusion.
2. A logical structure
For your audience to understand your content, there must be some logical structure to it. Create an outline for your post so that it’s coherent and easy to comprehend. If your audience can’t understand what you’re saying, they will move on to a competitor whose content is easier to read. It isn’t just what you’re saying either, but how you display it to your audience as well. Make sure your content is visually appealing – utilize headings and short paragraphs in order to do so.
3. Ask a question
At the end of each post, it’s a good idea to include some sort of question. This will leave your audience thinking and questioning what he or she just read. Asking a question at the end of each post is great to ignite critical thinking and further research of the topic at hand from your readers. When your audience becomes interested in what you have to say, they will return to your site to receive more information.
4. Include some controversy
There’s nothing that sparks further debate and conversation than some controversy in your content. Controversy can be dangerous – you can turn away some people from your content. However, controversy can also create some great conversation about the topic at hand. Controversy gives you the opportunity to bring in more readers if they want to be updated on the latest trends surrounding your industry.
The previous points are simply tricks to receive more engagement from your audience. It is not all-inclusive and, to receive engagement, it is not necessary to include all of these elements. It is important to recognize, though, that improving engagement is vital for your content marketing strategy. What other strategies do you have to improve a content marketing strategy?