Engagement has become a buzzword that shimmers over every aspect of the marketing industry. We are not immune to its appeal – and admit that we use this term just as much as we refer to conversions in our conversations.
If you find yourself listening to us and wondering what exactly does engagement mean?, we’re here to get clear. Let’s define and discuss ways to add value to our engagements.
We believe that true engagement involves creating experiences that foster a two-way connection between a brand and its customers. To achieve this, marketers must consider how different channels and touchpoints can be leveraged and coordinated to create meaningful experiences that inspire action.
Social Media Engagement:
One of the most common understandings of engagement in marketing is through social media. In this case, engagement refers to actions such as likes, shares, and comments on a brand’s posts. However, true social media engagement means much more than just increasing likes and shares. It involves facilitating conversations, building a sense of community around your brand, and providing content that is relevant and valuable for your audience.
The average daily time spent on social media platforms by individuals aged 16 to 64 is approximately 2 hours and 31 minutes. This indicates that, YES, people are still looking to social media to engage with one another, and that it provides a significant opportunity to reach and engage with a large audience.
Facilitating conversations is a key aspect of social media engagement. It involves actively responding to comments and initiating discussions around your content. By personally engaging with your audience, you show that you value their input and opinions. This back-and-forth conversation helps build trust and connection with your audience, making them feel heard and appreciated. Furthermore, by encouraging conversations between your audience members, you nurture a sense of community, where individuals can interact with each other and develop relationships based on shared interests or experiences.
Email Engagement:
Email engagement is often thought of as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates. However, these metrics often only measure a fraction of what true email engagement means. Engagement extends to the level of interaction, personalization, and conversions that occur as a result of your email campaigns.
So really, when it comes to email engagement, the targeted action goes beyond the email interaction. It can include a variety of actions (aka conversions), including website visits, purchases, submitting survey answers, signing up for events, etc. You get it.
To achieve this, your email campaigns should be targeted, segmented, personalized, and tested. It’s not just about design (though, please do not ignore that!), it’s also about reaching the audience that is right – and ripe – for engagement.
Content Engagement:
In content marketing, engagement means creating assets that encourage audience participation and sharing, such as videos, infographics, and interactive tools. By taking a customer-centric approach to content creation, marketers can more effectively encourage engagement by creating memorable experiences that resonate with their audience.
Much like what we’re doing here, provide content that you feel will be valuable to your audience. What will help them succeed in their journey? Whether that journey is marketing their business or combing tangles out of their kids’ hair, create content that addresses pain points, easily informs, and can be easily shared (making the original reader the hero in their friend’s/associate’s journey to detangled hair/web presence).
Website Engagement:
On a brand’s website, engagement means going beyond the metrics of page views and bounce rates. It involves creating an intuitive user experience, providing valuable content and calls to action, and continually testing and optimizing the website to improve engagement metrics. By tracking user behavior and using data-driven insights to inform website design, marketers can create a more engaging site that encourages visitors to take action.
Understanding the Value of Website Engagement
High-quality website engagement goes beyond simply keeping visitors entertained. It’s about nurturing them into qualified leads who are genuinely interested in your offering. Imagine a visitor who actively engages with your insightful blog posts, downloads white papers on relevant industry challenges, and participates in live webinars hosted by your experts. This visitor demonstrates a strong interest in what you have to offer, making them a much more valuable lead compared to someone who simply skimmed a product page and left. By fostering quality engagement, you’re attracting and qualifying leads who are more likely to convert into paying customers.
In-Person Engagement:
In-person engagement refers to the physical experiences that audiences have with a brand. From trade show meet and greets to in-store demos, the design and layout to the experience is all about encouraging brand loyalty and repeat business. By providing personalized experiences, such as exclusive events and personalized promotions, brands can create a true emotional connection with their customers.
By prioritizing intentional engagement across social media, email, content, website, and in-person touchpoints, you will deepen customer relationships and drive consistent revenue growth over time.