Excelling in the Age of Engagement

In the digital media world, the number one way to measure online success is through engagements. Whether you are sending emails, posting to social media, or monitoring your website, you are always evaluating the number of engagements that your content is receiving. 

During this process, you are probably asking yourself the following questions: 

Why are engagements important? 

What does it mean to be engageable? 

How does one make engaging content? 

Keep reading as we dive into these questions and more! 

Why Are Engagements Important? 

Engagements are the best measure of how your content resonates with your audience. 

When you have an engaged audience you see increased participation, improved learning, and heightened satisfaction. Those who are actively engaged with your content, whether it's via email, social media, or your website, become brand ambassadors for you; sharing your content, creating a buzz, and building referrals. 

Having a clear picture of what your audience finds valuable will help inform your future business decisions more effectively. 

What Does It Mean to Be Engageable? 

To be engageable, you must create content that occupies your audience's attention. 

Whether you are creating email content, crafting social media campaigns, or developing your website, you need to ask yourself: “Is this something that will occupy my audience's mind?” What we mean by that is this: is your content sticky? Is it compelling enough to quickly capture your audience’s attention? Will your audience find it worthy to react to or share? Will your message stay top-of-mind or stick out to them? 

Good news, any content that meets the criteria above for your audience is engageable content! 

How Does One Make Engaging Content? 

The number one way to make engaging content is to listen to your audience! 

This may take some time, a bit of trial and error, and patience; but, putting in the effort to test what resonates with your intended audience will ultimately result in you creating engaging content. Since engagements look different across platforms, let’s break down what to look for on the three we’ve mentioned thus far: 

• Email: look for views, replies, and click-through rates as a general measure for engagement. 
• Social Media: look for reactions, comments, and shares as a general measure for engagement. 
• Website: look for page sessions and conversions as a general measure for engagement. 

Once you know what you are looking for, you can start testing what makes your content more engageable. Below are some tips that  drive engagements on digital content. 

Applying these tips and monitoring your results will help you refine your content strategy. By being intentional and adaptable, you’ll deliver the content your audience wants.  

Email: here are tips for improving opens, clicks, and replies on your email content. 

• Videos in email break up the monotony of plain-text or HTML emails. 
• Animated GIFs provide movement that draws in a recipient's attention. 
• High personalization invites intrigue. Example: when sending a video email, include the recipient’s name on a white board in the opening shot of your video.  

Social Media: here are tips for improving likes, comments, or shares on your social content. 

• Ask your audience to leave a reaction based on the content of your post. 
• Prompt your audience with a question to be answered in the comments. 
• Encourage them to share your content if they found it useful. 

Website: here are tips for improving clicks and sessions on your website. 

• Put your call-to-action first and last – give them multiple options to click. 
• Create a mix of video and plain-text content to cater to diverse audiences. 
• Share your site to social media to drive traffic to specific pages. 

All of these tips come with this caveat: always be listening to your audience! 

If you do not see much engagement on your content, that is an indicator to shift to something else. Content creation should be an ever-changing process. It should grow and adapt as your audience grows and adapts.  

If you found this article useful or interesting, leave us a comment down below! 😉