Audience engagement is a generic term to describe how much time a user spends with your content…how interested they are in what you (or your business) has to say. And no matter what service or product you’re trying to provide as a business owner, audience engagement is key. Successful audience engagement will improve your participation, credibility, user satisfaction, and overall business performance.
Keeping an audience engaged depends on a variety of factors. These can include reading, listening, purchasing, commenting, and even the simple act of clicking around your website. And depending on your business, you may need more than one strategy to make sure you keep your followers coming back for more.
So, we’re dedicating a whole post to audience engagement and some strategies you can use to keep your audience focused and ready to hear more! Let’s dive right in!
How To Keep Your Audience Engaged
Know your target audience.
First things first, you need to know who it is that you’re trying to reach. Is your target audience adolescent females in the workforce? Or, is your target audience middle-aged male travellers? With a little research about your target group of people, you will be able to better curate content for your audience. Content that your target audience wants to learn.
Create an outline.
Before creating any sort of content – whether it be a cool social media post, a informative blog, a great presentation, or a fun podcast – make an outline. This will help you keep your ducks in a row and make sure your content serves its intended purpose. Your outline should include the main purpose of your content, how it will achieve that purpose, who it is intended for, and its method of distribution to the public (Instagram, Twitter, your website. etc).
Start with a memorable intro.
Nothing draws in followers more than an interesting and intriguing introduction. There are many ways to go about catching your audience’s attention right off the bat. Memorable introductions can include stories, music, humor, a catchy phrase or slogan, a photo or video, a call to action, or even an interesting fact or statistic. And this doesn’t just stop at the intro. Creating memorable moments throughout the whole of your content is one of the best ways to keep those followers engaged.
Tell a story.
Need your listeners to pay attention? Tell an intriguing story. You can tell a personal story, a story you found in your content research, or even an audience member’s story (with permission, of course.) You can even invite guests to blog or interview. Telling authentic stories that are relevant to your content will not only grab your followers’ attention and keep it, but it will also increase your credibility and trustworthiness. Plus, it will make your readers feel more connected to your content.
Use concrete/specific examples.
Keeping your audience engaged starts with establishing credibility. Whether your content is true or not – if your audience doesn’t believe what you say – they won’t return to your content for information in the future. So, as you curate your content, make sure your research is thorough. Be sure to back up your claims with facts, statistics, and examples. And, most importantly, always cite your sources so that your audience can see your information came from a trusted and reliable source.
Provide an opportunity for interaction.
Provide an opportunity for interaction…what does that even mean? It means that audience engagement goes both ways. In order for your audience members to feel connected to you and your content, you have to provide the opportunity for interaction. You can do this by creating polls or going live on social media, reading and responding to audience comments, answering audience questions, and even hosting product giveaways and contests.
Be mindful of your color scheme.
While it might not seem like a big deal, followers love a good color scheme. Just think of those websites that you love to visit just because you love the layout, the fonts and colors, and because it’s just so darn fun to look at. Readers, listeners, customers – whoever – will be much more likely to return to your website or buy your product if it is visually appealing. And this will help increase brand recognition. Just remember to keep your look authentic – there’s no need to go overboard with flashy colors and fonts.
Choose easy-to-read fonts.
If your audience is having trouble reading your content, they are going to seek their desired information elsewhere. A good font should be easy-to-read, written in a color that is visible on both phones and laptops, and visually appealing. Fonts should also be curated to your target audience. For example, if your target audience is elderly women, you wouldn’t want to choose a small, pink font. Instead, you might want to choose a large font with black letters that doesn’t require a magnifying glass to read.
Use pictograms.
When curating content, pictures are essential. They help your audience better understand what you’re talking about and they break up the content. This gives the brain a little break from taking in so much information. In turn, your readers learn more from your content and have higher retention and satisfaction rates. If your readers feel like they are learning from your content, you can bet they’ll be back for more.
Increasing your audience engagement is key to increasing the overall success of your content.
When your audience just can’t wait to get their hands on more of your content – you know you’re on the right track! Audience engagement is the key to building a community of loyal followers and increasing the overall success of your business. For more on podcasting, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle, head on over to the Dear Media Blog. And, as always, feel free to drop us any questions or comments below!
