In today’s digital age, high online audience engagement is the key to a business’ success. Without digital marketing expertise, your online presence and engagement will not be up to the standard of your competitors, and your business may risk looking inexperienced.
Over recent years online platforms like social media channels have become so saturated with content, news and brand advertisement. This means that digital marketers need to think outside of the box in order to stand out against their competitors and to increase conversions.
The key to online brand success and high audience engagement is to maintain a strong and consistent online presence. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to engage your audience online, here are five stellar ideas that you can leverage.
- Ask questions
Social media has become so advanced in recent years; the main platforms (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) have really upped the ante in terms of creating new ways to enhance audience interaction. Now, marketers can reach their brand’s audience in more dynamic and multi-dimensional ways, rather than in a traditional, one-dimensional sense (i.e. a poster on a wall).
Leading social media platforms have introduced interactive functions like polls where they can ask their followers direct questions. Instagram’s new Question Sticker feature means that a user can type a question and a follower can type an answer straight into the box. Instagram also has a poll feature where users can answer a question by choosing between two options (i.e. “Yes” or “No”; “Left” or “Right”). These features encourage audience interaction and increase engagement, but they also act as a great tool for market research, allowing brands to gauge their audiences likes and dislikes and if the brand is ecommerce, shopping behaviours.
Image Source: Instagram
- Conduct competitions
Another creative way to increase audience engagement is to offer incentives for interaction. A great way to do this is through social media competitions. For example, if you are an ecommerce business you could conduct a competition on your Instagram and or Twitter page where you give away one of your products/services/experiences to a customer who posts the best picture doing X, Y and Z. The competition T&Cs should include hashtagging, mentioning and sharing, so that if you have a lot of entries you will majorly increase your brand awareness online. Social media competitions also position your brand as fun and exciting, which is never a bad thing.
- Offer discounts and coupons
Get audiences excited by giving away generous discounts in return for a follow on social media or an email address (which you can then use to market them). For example, if you have a pizza restaurant in Sydney, you can attract customers to you by offering a wide range of dining discounts and deals (i.e. a free side dish for the first 50 people to share your Instagram post).
Many ecommerce sites will offer a new customer 10-15% off just by signing up to their mailing list, and this is very beneficial in terms of future marketing and conversion.
Studies on consumer behaviour have found that discounts, however small, probe consumer interest increase the probability of investment.
- Give away free content
Don’t disregard the benefit of giving things away for free. If done smartly with digital marketing know-how, it is a tactic that can majorly increase brand awareness and audience engagement.
It is a great idea to create blog articles, how-to guides, eBooks, video tutorials etc. with the aim of gifting them to leads for free. For example, if you are a marketing agency or creative consultancy, for example, you can offer access to valuable expert industry advice in exchange for an email address. This way, audiences will feel they are getting a good deal, and you will catch their contact information to continue to nurture them until they convert.
- Collaborate with
Another creative audience engagement idea for digital marketers is to harness the power of influencers. Online influencers can have monumental followings across their social media platforms, and leveraging this through collaboration means you can access their large following and increase your brand’s awareness tenfold.
Partnering with an influencer is a great marketing tactic for ecommerce businesses or businesses who sell experiences, as there is scope for creativity. This means that if an influencer is endorsing your brand they can do it in-line with their personal style, which will come across as more authentic and less “salesy”. Just make sure that your business and the influencer are compatible in terms of industry niche, ethos, style and audience demographic.
Conclusion
The secret to increasing audience engagement is to encourage interaction and provide incentives. Do this by analysing your audience – who they are, their interests, age, location, etc. – and reaching out to them inappropriate means. For your brand, this could mean implementing a social media strategy when you continually ask questions and conduct competitions (as long as they are in-line with your brand identity).
By using these five audience engagement ideas, you will experience high returns and increase brand awareness. Don’t waste time – get started today!
