Engagement

How to Keep Blog Posts Engaging

SN:D Agency · October 30, 2019 ·

Maintaining a blog is one of the best things you can do for your business’s online presence. In addition to increasing traffic and widening your audience, it can also be a great opportunity to develop real connections with your consumers. The best business blogs are the ones that engage with their readers on a personal level and put a human face to their brand. Talking to consumers in a genuine way is often what sets a blog apart from others.

This task, however, is often harder than it sounds.

Some businesses spend months, even years maintaining a blog and never achieve the viewership or interaction goals they had originally set. Having a successful blog is not simply a matter of putting out as much content as possible. It’s about addressing the needs of your audience to keep them engaged with your site over time.

There are a variety of factors that make a blog stand out to its audience and keep readers interested and entertained, as well as helping them feel informed. Below is a guide on how to optimize on these aspects to set yourself apart from other business bloggers in your industry and keep your posts engaging to your readers.

Business Blogging: Look and Layout Affect Engagement

Sometimes, the best thing you can do to keep your content engaging has nothing to do with the content itself. When someone clicks on your page, the first thing that will catch their eye is the aesthetics. Colors, fonts and overall layout should be strategically set up to be compelling and attention-grabbing. Additionally, the content should be laid out on the page in a way that looks inviting. The last thing a reader wants to see is a page full of large paragraphs with no breaks. Long reads are daunting.

However, if your post is a longer one, consider including a table of contents. That way your reader can easily sort through it and pick which parts jump out at them. It also increases the interactivity, allowing readers to actively engage with your content.

Another way to improve the aesthetic is with images. Did you know that blogs with lots of pictures and graphs get nearly double the views? Including images helps keep the reader’s attention and break up the piece into bite-sized chunks. Just be sure the pictures you find online and use are in the public domain, or that you have proper permissions to use them. Some great sites for getting free, high-quality stock images are Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels. If you can afford it, I also suggest investing in a monthly subscription to Adobe Stock, where you can get unlimited access to thousands of free high-quality images.

Business Blogging: Strategic Headlines Help Engagement

When it comes to business blogging, headlines are an important tool to use strategically. The headers above the content, rather than just the content itself, should be engaging enough to make the reader want to see more. This means that they need to be more than just summaries.

If all you do in the header is paraphrase, in fewer words, what the content says, your viewers will have no need to actually read the content. We’ve all stumbled upon articles like this–where the headline gives everything away and the content is basically there to fill up space. It’s a common mistake, especially when writing step-by-step guides or cataloging various products or services. The reader will see the item in the headline, skip the content and move on.

In order to prevent this, use this analogy: your headline is to the question as your content is to the answer. In other words, your headline should arouse curiosity, rather than satisfy it. That way the viewer is compelled to continue reading to find out more.

Business Blogging: Staying Relevant Affects Engagement

As a business blogger, staying up-to-date on the latest trends in your industry is important if you want to engage with a wider audience.

Now, this does not mean that you should always follow the trends and write about the same things that others in your industry are writing about. But you should always be aware of these things so that you can make an informed choice about whether you want to chime in on the topic. Keep up to date on current events as these are often the topics that keep readers most engaged.

One tactic some business bloggers use is to try to be one of the first to jump on a trend. By doing this, your readers may begin coming to your site as their main source of industry information.

On the other hand, some bloggers are more choosy about which current events to discuss and only write about things that their brand can offer a unique spin on. Remember–don’t be afraid to be opinionated. If you want to highlight your unique brand position, you may have to bring some strong opinions to the table. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes, controversial topics are ones that get the most buzz.

Business Blogging: Being Useful Helps Engagement

As mentioned above, one tactic that can help engagement is to be a trusted source of industry information. While some readers are there simply to be entertained, others are interested in learning or gaining some new knowledge on the topic. Understand your audience so you can cater to what they want.

Once you address your readers’ needs, tell them exactly how you can help them–whether you say this directly or not. Show them that you have wisdom to share, not just in one particular post, but in your overall blog. Then follow through with your promise. Enlighten your readers. Leave them feeling more knowledgeable, educated and informed than they were before. You are the expert, so let your blog posts prove this to them.

Business Blogging: Being Personal Helps Engagement

It’s been said before but we will say it again: your business blog should reveal your unique brand position.

When writing a blog post, keep a strong sense of your brand’s personality in mind. You should be able to answer with certainty what makes your blog unique. What distinguishes it from other business blogs in the industry?

Perhaps you cover certain kinds of topics in more detail than others, or you have a unique way of propositioning solutions to perceived problems, or you use a lot of personal stories and imagery to get your points across. Whatever it is, own your individual style and align it with your brand personality. One thing to remember when business blogging is to keep your writing voice conversational rather than formal. Yes, you are their trusted industry expert, but you should also be their friend. Your readers should feel like they are talking with someone on their own level.

You are the voice of the industry that they can count on. Be authentic. After all, a big reason blogging works so well to engage with readers is it puts a human face to the brand. Use this perk to your advantage. Be personal, be genuine, and, most importantly, be human.

Overall, the point we are trying to make is this: in order to be engaging, you must write not just for your target audience, but to them. Speak their language, both verbally and visually. Anticipate and address their needs. Be a source they can trust, depend on, and grow loyalty toward. Let them come to your website with their guard down, knowing that they can rely on you to both inform and entertain them, to both enlighten and connect with them. Give them something useful and interesting that they can take with them. If you follow this guideline for making your blog posts more engaging, you will begin to establish and/or deepen your relationship with your audience, which will vastly increase the effectiveness of your business’s blog.

Did you know that business blogging is a big part of our work here at SocialNicole? Writing and publishing our blog is part of our own social media marketing plan, and as a leading social media agency, we know blogging inside and out! Want to learn more of what we have to offer you and your business in the world of blogging and digital marketing? We would love to hear from you. Contact us today about partnering with us to take your business’s social media presence to the next level.

8 Tips To Increase Your Social Media Engagement

Nicole Harrison · May 5, 2017 ·

Click here to scroll directly to the 7 Tips To Increase Social Media Engagement (and skip our introductory conversation).

In an ever-changing world of social media, there is one thing that can be frustrating and that is when people do not engage with your content on your social media platforms. Engagement can come in many different forms: likes, comments, shares, and retweets…but most forms of engagement have value as it indicates your target audience is listening.

Not only does engagement show your audience is listening but it also opens the door for you to build a sense of community with your following. Engagement allows you to develop long lasting relationships with your online community and will help you drive business. But there are also some practical reasons to get more engagement your Facebook business page, the kind of reasons that equate to making more money. Here are the facts:

Organic Facebook fan engagement (non-paid) is more likely to convert to
leads.
The more often fans interact with your Facebook page, the more likely they will see your posts organically.
The more your fans engage, the more “stories” are created in their friend’s timelines. This equates to more views and more traffic to your page. Organic means you are not paying for ads and that means you save money.
When your fans engage, they send a signal to Facebook’s algorithm that you are sharing quality content. This means your Facebook page gets a higher ranking, so more content gets through to your fans. We are not advocating that you stop using ads, as a matter of fact one of your ad strategies should be to get people to engage. You will get the most bang for your buck if you get people on your page talking to you!

There are many ways to increase engagement but one thing remains steady, you need to put time and effort into your social media to get people to engage. You need to care about your audience and you need to be genuinely trying to help them, provide solutions and/or trying to connect with them on a real level. If your only goal on social media is to sell and make money you will find people see right through this and they are not likely to engage. As a business, you are not readily accepted. You need to earn your place in the communities where you want acceptance. So buckle up and commit to truly be present and watch the engagement begin!

As a community manager at SocialNicole, I manage many client social media channels. Believe me, I know how challenging it can be to get your audience to engage with your content and to keep the engagement momentum going. I promise that once you get on a roll and really start to figure out how to connect with your target audience, what they are looking for and how you can be of service the engagement will come. I use the word momentum because that is typically how it works. It starts slow, but over time with some elbow grease, strategy, and continued effort, the engagement will begin, from there it will get easier.

Below are my top tips to increase engagement on your business social media channels. I hope this helps. If you have questions after reading this feel free to comment below and we will be happy to answer your questions! Go forth and engage!

7 Tips To Increase Your Social Media Engagement

1. Know your audience to increase your social media engagement

I know we have said this before and we will say it again. It is crucial that you know your audience. If you do not have a target audience in mind it will be very difficult to come up with content that will resonate with a particular audience or niche. People tend to NOT want to narrow in on a tight and specific audience, stating that “anyone” or “many people” can use our product or service and narrowing the audience seems like a missed opportunity.

We understand how difficult this can be and also the feeling of leaving money on the table by “excluding” one audience while catering to another. The fact is that you are leaving a lot of money on the table when you try to reach a broad audience without any real definition. You need to know who it is that buys your products or services. Chances are it is one or two key audiences. There is a high possibility that there are plenty of people within that very narrow audience who want your product or service, yet you are doing a scattershot approach to reach as many people as possible. The fact is if you do not have excessive amounts of money you will not be able to reach that massive audience and even if you could, your most likely buyers will be the narrow, targeted audience.

When you focus on your targeted audience you are not leaving money on the table, you are investing in reaching the people who will most likely bring money to the table and ensure they will see your messages. By targeting one audience it does not mean that other audiences will not see your messaging, it just means you are focusing your message to reach the target. Your target is where the money is, go after it and make it yours.

2. Be relevant and provide value to increase your social media engagement

This goes in hand with knowing your audience. Post content that your audience will find relevant to themselves and their lives. When you do this you become relatable and your audience is likely to engage.

The fact of the matter is that people are bombarded with content all day long. They have news feeds pushing into their phones, emails coming at them left and right with all kinds of articles and information to process, they may even be viewing feeds on multiple social media channels. There is no shortage of content for them to view. So the question is: Why should they care about your content and why should they choose to connect with you, listen to you and/or engage with you?

The only way to reach people is to be relevant and make sure your content has meaning for those who see it. This is why you have to create a very targeted audience. When you create that audience you will be able to curate and create content that will be valuable to your audience. Remember that you are there to help people and provide value. How can you help and provide value if you are speaking to everyone? You cannot. The best examples of businesses using social media are those businesses that have narrowed their target audience and are creating content that is truly relevant to them. This content includes paid promotion and ads. Just because you “force” me to view your content does not mean I need to engage with it and/or decide to allow you to join my community. You must be willing to provide me with relevant content and give me a reason to engage. That’s it, but that is everything,

3. Be active, but remember the rule of quality over quantity will yield results when increasing your social media engagement

Being present daily on your business social media platforms is essential for your audience to see you and engage with you. While it is important to post daily (for most channels), you may even post multiple times in one day on occasion, you need to be aware of whether or not the content you are posting is valuable to your target audience. Posting quality content is essential to ensure your community finds value in staying connected to you.

There are two types of content you can post. Content that you curate from others and content you create. Both are important to your content strategy. Many businesses and brands do not share any content that is not their own. So the question we have is this? Do you have that much content that you do not need to curate from anyone else? Do you think that you are that interesting and/or you are an expert at every topic that your target audience may be interested in or want to know more about? Chances are you will answer no to these questions. No, you are not that interesting and no you will not be an expert on every topic that is worth sharing. And no you most likely do not have the resources to create new content daily to reach all the needs and wants of your audience.

Read Now: Tips To Increase Engagement On Facebook!

There is no reason not to share other people’s content. Of course, you are not going to share competitors content and you will take the time to review and ensure the content you are sharing is high quality and worthwhile. Sharing other people’s content is most often a good strategy. Talking only about yourself all the time that can get pretty boring to your target audience. Who wants to listen to a company drone on and on about their products and/or services and share only content about themselves? It is important to mix things up and this is where curated content comes into the picture.

For curated content, you should create a feed of the trustworthy sources that you would like to use to curate content. Typically we look for relevant blogs where we know the bloggers or have spent time getting to know them through social media, we may also select news source and other industry sources for a feed to curate from. We have certain guidelines in place when curating content to find the best and most relevant content. One last word about curated content, if you tag the people who created the content it can help build a relationship with them. You may find over time they begin to share your rockstar content too. This can help you increase your own reach and engagement. I mean, this is what being social is about, sharing what others are doing, giving accolades, lending a helping hand and being a real human being that cares. Try it, you will not be disappointed!

As far as creating your own content this is where you have a chance to shine. Do not copy others, do not do what everyone else is doing. Set out to create unique content and do it well. Create compelling images, enticing messages and excellent content that is high quality, useful and relevant. It takes a lot of effort to create awesome content, but trust me it matters. We definitely advise quality over quantity. Take a look at our blog, we typically post once per week. We try to focus on real topics that people are looking for answers to. We work to make our posts relevant and useful.

That’s right, we only post once per week which means we are sharing a lot of other people’s content to fill in when we do not have our own unique content to share. When we do share our content it is high quality and people want to read it. This is why our email list has grown, why we are on the top of Google searches and why we have created an amazing sales funnel that feeds this growing company. Quality over quantity matters. Make sure you provide the quality content that people want and watch them engage.

4. Experimenting regularly is necessary and important to increasing social media engagement

Here is the thing, social media marketing is both a science and an art form. While SocialNicole is comprised of experts who have years of experience in how to create compelling content, present the content in enticing posts that are geared to get engagement and constantly working on campaigns to increase engagement one thing never changes. We have to test what we are doing and see if it is effective and make adjustments. Constantly. It never ends. Digital marketing provides us with great analytics to see how content performs. But if you are not analyzing the data and testing to see if you can do better you will not see improvement in your engagement and results.

It’s also important to test out different formats of content such as photos, videos or quizzes, and polls. There are so many different types of content you can post, try them all out and fin out which type of content your audience engages with most. Don’t be surprised to learn that while your audience loves videos, they may not always choose to engage with your videos. They may prefer photos, slideshows or other content depending on what the topic, event or campaign is. Testing is imperative to ensure people are engaging with your content.

5. Ask your social media followers to engage

This is so obvious and yet most businesses miss this one simple thing. Be straightforward and ask your target audience to engage with your page by telling them what you want them to do. Tell them if you want them to comment on a post, share a photo or take a quiz. Most business posts miss the call to action. What is it you want your reader or viewer to do? You should know when you post the content and then tell them. An example is to post a question with a link to an article and then say, “What you do you think? Please tell us in the comments.” Or for some nonprofits, we work with when they have an important message that they want their community to hear they will simply say at the very beginning of the post “Please Share”. This is so simple yet it is missed by most organizations. The results are compelling. Don’t be afraid to ask as this will help you get results.

6. Talk with your Facebook audience

This is another simple tip and yet it is often missed. Businesses will work so hard to get people to engage and then when people start to engage the business will not interact. Seems pretty counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Yet what happens is that a business or organization will be so busy and when the engagement comes in they may not think the comment(s) warrant a response or that the person or people commenting are not asking for a response. Our rule of thumb is that we respond if we can to let people know we are listening. Our responses always include liking the post but that is not enough, we reply to the comment to be sure that the person sees the response and knows we are actively engaging. If you want people to engage with you, you need to engage with them. Do not let a golden opportunity to build your community and your social empire slip through your fingers by NOT responding.

7. Facebook Outreach Works – Interact with other pages too!

Take the time every day to go through your Facebook and “Like” the pages of other businesses- whether they are in your local area or in your same industry. Heck, even if they are competition! By liking other pages you’re giving yourself another avenue to get noticed and gain more fans. Make sure to also go through your home page and comment, like and share what’s being posted by other businesses. They’ll love your interest and engagement, and will most likely do the same for you! Facebook isn’t all about you (as some people may believe), but it’s also about networking with others and taking an active interest in them as well!

Don’t forget that you can tag other Facebook pages and individuals who follow your page too. Talking about other people and engaging with them is a great way to get them to engage with you. Share the love!

Click Here To Read About How Facebook Tagging Can Increase Engagement

8. Know When Your Fans are Online

When it comes to engagement, timing is everything. Why bother posting if your target audience isn’t online? If your fans are online in the evening but your content is posted each morning, your engagement will suffer. To improve the timing of your posts, use Facebook Insights to see when your fans are online and post accordingly.

My final thoughts on social media engagement and how to get your audience talking

While social media is always changing and evolving, having active and engaged social media platforms has always been important. When people engage with your content you know your audience is listening. Engagement shows the door has been opened for you to create a community, build relationships and eventually drive business. I hope this post not only gives you tips to help increase your engagement but that it also drives home the importance of creating a social media presence online that is positioned to engage.

Getting results with your social media marketing is a lot like working out, you have to keep at it and build it from a solid foundation. You can never stop growing your community and you have to be willing to do the work to get the results. Building a presence that provides value, quality content and is truly looking to connect and engage will lead to your business growing. It will happen naturally because your target audience will want to share your business with others. They will feel you are truly present and real, not just a corporate robot posting content to fill the page. Please share your engagement tips with us below. We would love to hear your comments.

Need help coming up with a plan to increase engagement on your pages? Contact SocialNicole today and let us help you engage!

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How to Get Followers on Twitter | Build a Real Audience to Grow your Business

Nicole Harrison · October 16, 2014 ·

It’s safe to say that we all want to know how to get followers on Twitter. More followers means more interaction, and more interaction means more opportunities. What is there not to love about more Twitter followers? Check out the tips below to see how to build relationships with your followers and how to get more of them!

1) Buttons. Display your Twitter button clearly on your blog or website. Make the button apparent and refer to it so that others can notice and allow them to follow you. Promote your Twitter candidly and inform others of the benefits of following you on a certain platform rather than all of them.

2) Retweets. It isn’t Twitter if you aren’t retweeting. Oftentimes, people only read what is on their newsfeed rather than searching. Stay on top of your A-game by posting often, but with quality content that will engage your readers.

3) Engagement. Engage in conversations, including others who may be an inspiration to you or someone you respect. By including their @name in the tweet, you allow a conversation to form. After all, social media is social!

4) Brands. Brands are a big deal, just like retweeting back to someone. Businesses small and large alike pay attention to tweets about their company. When you reach out and tweet something engaging, in return they might retweet you and from that, their followers will be exposed to your Twitter profile.

5) Guest posts. Guest posting on other platforms allows you to extend your reach as well as expand your content. Not only will you have a chance to deliver good content to a new audience, you will have the chance to connect and engage in dialogue, building relationships with more and more people.

6) Location. Build a following using your location. Location can help when you have it displayed on your profile and/or mention it in your tweet or in a #hashtag. People like to follow others who live nearby to help network in their communities.

This might sound easy enough, but the big test is incorporating it into your routine when tweeting. To break it down, keep it simple, keep it high quality and of course, no matter what, keep building that dialogue. Follow these tips on how to get followers on Twitter and let me know how it goes! For more information on how to gain a greater following on Twitter, contact me or leave a comment below and we can build your Twitter following together! — Photo Credit

Writing for the Web: Tips to Better Engage Your Readers

Nicole Harrison · September 30, 2011 ·

It’s not hard to see. Today’s society thrives on a hustle-bustle mentality. “Grab-n-go” information is at our fingertips- whether it be sitting at our home computers, or navigating our smartphones on the train. This easy access to information via the Internet is a dream come true for today’s customer, but can be a pain in the behind for businesses. It’s become all too clear in recent days that the public reads a webpage differently than they read a book. The Technological Citizen reported that the advent of Google and other web-based services has changed the way we think. Especially in regards to how we read online. You may not know it, but even you have probably grown accustomed to reading online content in an “F-shaped” pattern- whereas you scan the top of the page and middle and then scroll down to the bottom surfing for key points. So how should your business tackle this “skim” reading? Here are a few tips to help you out:

Know What You Want to Say

Let’s face it. When a customer hops onto a business website, they’re not expecting to read a book- so why give them one? When you’re in the planning stages of content to add to your website or blog, have a good idea what you want to say. Don’t bog your content down with too many details. After all, if the customer wants to know more they’ll ask. Your main goal is to get your main messages across effectively before the customer closes the window. Remember, you’re not writing a novel. With that said…

Headlines and Headings

Who doesn’t love a great headline? Sometimes I’ve read an article simply for its eye-catching title. But don’t stop there. Separate your thoughts in your content by placing headings before each section begins. (Just like I did in this article- fancy, eh?) Unlike a novel-reader, online readers do better reading in chunks, so play to their intrigue!

Small Paragraphs

Just as you did with the headings, break those paragraphs up! The rule is: one thought to a paragraph. When readers are faced with content featuring short broken-up paragraphs, they’re more likely to read it than another document featuring long drawn-out paragraphs. Somehow, it just seems less grueling.

Inverted Pyramid Style

This style is law to most journalists, and if you’ve taken any type of writing class in college you’ve probably heard about it too. The inverted pyramid style is simply an easier-to-follow layout for content. Much like a pyramid set on its point, the content starts with the most general and important facts first (the base) and as the writer slides down the pyramid they insert more extraneous detail until the end (the appex). The benefit of writing like this is so that you’re reader gets the majority of what they absolutely need to know first- thus, if they leave bored halfway-through they already have your main points.

Bullet Points

I’m a huge believer in bullet-points. Why? They’re a breath of fresh air in content that’s written in standard paragraph form. Whenever you have any type of list, use and abuse your bullet points. Your readers’ eyes will be drawn to these “stand-apart” icons.

Bolded Words

When you’re writing for the web, most of the standard rules for writing can be thrown out the window. This can be both frustrating and exciting for the writer, but using your creativity on the web has been known to be powerful… so just go for it! One way of doing this is using bolded words. Whenever you want to really get a point across, hit that “bold” button. Just like bullet points, bolded words attract readers’ eyes like flies to yellow sticky-paper.

Links

Read an article on a popular news site, you’ll probably notice the content is rife with links. This is the fabulous part about online writing- using links to back up your points! It’s like writing a paper but not having to sweat out about the appendix. Sweep in the link, and keep on chugging away. Don’t want to fully explain something? Keep it short and add a link. If the reader is still interested, trust that they’ll click it.

Pictures

So you’re probably asking why I’m just now touching on pictures/graphics. To be honest, there is an over-use of graphics and pictures in web content. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, just know when and where to use them- preferably sparingly and strategically. Too much web content features pictures just stuffed into the paragraphs, breaking up the message as a whole. While the picture may be lovely, it’s distracting to the reader. And if you have too many pictures or graphics, it may look to the reader that you have nearly 3 pages of content, and they’ll move on- even though you may have had only 2 paragraphs of actual content!

Comments

Comments are really up to your own preference. Though they can create a great idea-sharing community on your webpage, they can also become hard to manage. (Remember, anyone can comment and anything can be said on the Internet). If you feel that you’re up to the task of managing and filtering a comment feed, then it could be a beneficial way ending to your page’s content. You can also set restrictions on who can or cannot comment, though this is sometimes time-consuming. Though if you decide comments aren’t for you, never fear! It won’t hurt your ratings, it’s just an added bonus. Photo Credit