Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire Stick. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are five ways to increase online engagement?”
Having an actively engaged online community is one of the most important aspects of growing your business. How do you get to that point, though? It can oftentimes be one of the most difficult things to successfully do.
But you don’t have to be in the dark on this any longer! There are a bunch of ways you can drum engagement online, but we’re going to talk about five ways that you can increase your online engagement right now.
1. Evaluate where you are at right now
Before doing anything drastic, take a step back and evaluate where your small business is at right now. Which channels are doing best? Which channels are not doing well? Pay attention to your audience’s patterns of consumption and give them the kind of content they want to read, watch, or listen to.
When you start by evaluating your current situation, it gives you a much better sense of what to do next. Often, you’ll find that the best thing you can do is modestly tweak a current process for great results.
2. Engage with your audience on a deeper level
People crave genuine, raw content. Being real with the people who are engaging with you already is one of the best ways to help increase engagement within your community already there. People are smart and they can spot a phony a mile away.
By engaging with your audience on a deeper level, they will, in turn, feel closer to you and be more likely to engage. Business is all about relationships – growing them, nurturing them, and building them up stronger and stronger. Treat your online community the same way.
In short, be a human – even when time and money are tight!
3. Run giveaways
Everybody likes winning things. I mean come on, it’s free stuff! Hosting giveaways is one of the best things you can do to increase engagement online. You can incentivize people to do anything from follow you on social media to subscribe to your podcast. Your engagement will go up and people will have a chance to win whatever you are giving away. It’s a win-win!
4. Start a blog
Blogs are a fantastic way to voice your opinion, inform people, spread knowledge in your area of expertise. Blogs help start conversations start, and this is true for nearly any field. People are always asking questions and trying to increase their knowledge, so give them a platform to learn!
5. Double down on social media
Social media is huge! Each social media channel comes with a unique set of features. From Instagram stories, to live-streams, to still photos, and short snippets of text, there are so many different ways you can communicate your desired messages. Use as many of them as you can!
Final Thoughts to Increase Online Engagement
There is no shortage of ways to increase online engagement. The five suggestions we have shared above are just scratching the surface, but they should give you enough to get started. Use them and watch your audience grow and your community thrive!
