Engaging the audience is important because it helps keep them interested in what you have to say. If they’re not engaged, they’re more likely to lose interest and move on to something else. It’s also a good way to build trust and credibility with your readers. To be engaging, you need to be interesting. You can do this by sharing your personal experiences, telling a story, or providing valuable information. You can also make your content more engaging by using strong visuals and concise language. Other ways to be engaging include:
- Sharing personal stories or anecdotes.
- Linking to infographics and videos.
- Including photos of people or objects.
- Using charts, graphs, or lists that break up text.
Here are tips on how to make your content ideas more engaging.
1. Be genuine
It’s important to be yourself and show personality. This is why it’s a good idea for brands to have a tone of voice that matches their audience and industry – you’re more likely to find something enjoyable and relatable if you’re writing about something you know well. Being genuine also helps build trust with your readers as they can see who you are and why you’re writing. Also, try to keep your tone of voice appropriate for the specific post.
2. Be precise
Consumers want to get straight to the point so you need to be precise in how your content comes across. Try and avoid vague language and useless filler words such as “basically” or “just”. You can also keep things short by being concise with your writing. With precise content, you give your readers more reasons to stay engaged with your writing.
3. Tell a story
For example, Seth Godin tells how George Riedel, a glass blower in the tenth generation, a manufacturer of wine glasses, sells. Riedel says that the ability to reveal the “character” of the wine, to feel its bouquet and aroma, largely depends on the shape of the glass. To convey the character of wine in the best possible way for our senses is the responsible mission of the glass. This has a greater impact on the taste of wine than oak barrels, fancy corks or rainy June.
When famous people around the world confirm Riedel’s story, everyone else just has to think the same, even though the glass doesn’t really do anything tasteful. But everyone has their own taste. Thus, people who drink wine from Riedel glasses actually feel that the wine tastes better. Of course, this works not only in the field of wine and glassblowing.
4. Inspire action
If you want to keep your audience engaged with what you have to say, you need to give them something they can do with it. Sharing tips or resources about how to solve a problem is one way of doing this. You could also try using calls-to-action that ask your readers to subscribe, share, or buy something specific. By inspiring action, you encourage your readers to keep reading to find out how they can take action.
5. Arouse emotions
Your content can be more engaging if it makes people feel something. You could do this by sharing some of your personal experiences or by speaking about why an issue is important to you. Another way to arouse emotions is by using visuals such as photos and videos, particularly ones with strong symbolism (e.g., showing why something is wrong without saying why). Emotion is such a strong factor for why your content will be engaging. If you can create an emotional connection with your audience then they will be much more attracted to what you have to offer.
6. Use provoking questions (this involves commenting)
Provoking questions get your audience to take an active interest in what you have to say. They also help get people thinking and talking, which is why it’s a good idea for brands that want to engage their customers with little effort. Just remember that if you’re going to be provocative then you need to follow through by providing the answers when necessary. Also, provoking questions can help you get more discussion around that topic. This “buzz” phenomenon is more likely to get consumers to share this specific content and keep it relevant.
7. Use visual components
Visual components, such as images and videos are a great way to make your content more engaging. You can also use strong imagery, symbols, or metaphors to help get the message across. If you don’t have access to any of these things then you could consider rewriting your post with an emphasis on why it’s important rather than why something is wrong. Some of the top visual components you can use are:
- Infographics: Such as how-to guides, this type of visual content is a great way to get your message across. It’s also interesting and appealing for the reader.
- Videos: If you want to explain why something is wrong then you could consider making a video to demonstrate why it fails from an expert point of view. This would be a great way of showing why something is wrong instead of saying why.
- Photos and images: These visuals are great for adding personality to your content and can be used in different ways such as testimonials or facts.
By implementing visual components into your content will break up the monotony of text. If you want your content to stand out amongst the rest, why wouldn’t you try one of these methods?
8. Clickable titles
Many internet users only read the headlines, so your titles must be engaging to make them want to click. You can do this by making sure they’re descriptive and catch the attention of people who would be interested in reading what you have to say. If you’re struggling, why not ask your readers what types of titles they like? Unfortunately, with so much information out their consumers have become accustomed to ignoring clicking on uninteresting titles. This is why it’s important to make sure your titles are begging for someone to click on.
9. Format wisely
The essence of content formatting is to make your pages comfortable for the users you attract to stay on your site. This means having good headings, ideal paragraph lengths, a good flow of relevant visuals (images, infographics, videos, etc.), bulleted lists, numbered lists, etc. Users are impatient but smart. If they don’t find what they’re looking for, or at least something interesting within a few seconds, they’ll quickly come back and click on the next result. Content formatted to suit the needs of the fast-paced user can be a game-changer for any business looking to sell online.
10. Keep your material up to date
If your content is getting old then you need to either bring it up to date or create fresh, new content because people will quickly lose interest if there’s nothing new. You can do this by including a date at the bottom of each post that shows how recent it is and why your readers should still care about what you have to say. Experts often say that updating your content is more important than creating new content. This is because your old content is already established so making a few small improvements can boost traffic if performed the optimal way.
Conclusion
By following these tips on why engaging the audience is important you’ll find it much easier to keep your audience engaged with what you have to say.
