(This is a spec article for juicer.io)
Engagement isn’t Sales, but it’s still a Big Deal
Sales are and will always be the bottom line.
No amount of likes, comments and shares will change that.
But…
Without an engaged audience, even a great sales pitch falls flat.
(Like a Taylor Swift concert at a heavy metal convention. Great “saleswoman”, but the crowd has no relationship with her.)
Engagement measures if your audience cares about what you’re sharing.
If they do, you’re building an emotional connection.
You’re laying the groundwork. For them to be open to hearing from you again. And to trust you when you pitch a product.
Sales pay the bills, but engagement?
It keeps the line of communication open. Which sets up your sales.
All Content Marketers Struggle with Low Engagement (I’m one of them)
You stay in this content strategy and creation game long enough and you’ll have:
- Created content that seemed like a surefire hit. But got a fraction of the praise your competitors got with the same subject.
- Shaved a year off your life making a boatload of posts in record time, only to see them get 1 view, 1 like. All from Bruce in Accounting.
- <Fill in your own content marketing trauma here. Or skip to the solution below.>
One of the biggest reasons for low engagement? Not caring.
Getting likes and views starts long before you write a word or pick a Canva template.
It’s a game with one rule:
And a lot of brands don’t care.
Think about some of the content they put out:
- Company news (that only the company cares about)
- Those “Did you know” posts, asking if you realize they now make 77, not 76, products
- The repetitive “product, price, link” sales post
The bad news?
Most people aren’t surfing the Web thinking “Today, I hope I get 33 video ads and 17 pushy emails.”
The good news?
We know what content strategies work for engagement.
It’s not bland PR or cold selling.
It’s being useful to the people you want to reach.
And, for your content marketing to show that you care, you have 4 big options.
The 4 Content Pillars that Power Up your Engagement:
1. Educational Content
Overview: Educational content simplifies what’s complicated. Find your audience’s unanswered FAQ. And answer them. (Take this article. It aims to answer a common digital marketer’s question: “why is my engagement so low?” *throws keyboard into wall*)
Examples: Tutorials, listicles, how-to guides, checklists, quick tips
Use in your content strategy when: You want to position yourself as an expert
Audience reaction: “Nice, I can use this in my own job/life”; “Wow, you know your stuff.”
Gets engagement because: You’ve given problem-solving advice. And people will feel like reciprocating (with a like, a click, more session time, etc.)
(Emma Stratton teaches us how to make tech jargon understandable)
2. Inspirational Content
Overview: Think motivational speakers. Think empowering leaders. Tony Robbins, Brene Brown, Ron Swanson. Inspirational content turns our negative energy (fear, hesitation, worry) into positive. Your lack of motivation into motivation.
Examples: Success story, brand origin, motivational quote
Use it in your content strategy when: Your ICP deals with a lot of emotional adversity
Audience reaction: “I felt hesitant, unmotivated… but not anymore”
Gets engagement because: You’ve given your audience an emotional boost. They’ll feel grateful and will often reciprocate.
(Tyler Smith helps keep some perspective)
3. Entertaining Content
Overview: entertainment breaks your audience’s routine. It gives them a vacation from the world.
Examples: meme, blooper, timelapse
Use it in your content strategy when: you want to stand out, keep it light and informal
Audience reaction: “Haha, this made my day”
Gets engagement because: think of your audience like people listening to a joke. If it’s funny, they’ll signal their enjoyment. They’ll keep reading, watching, leave a like, share, etc.
(The Marketing Millennials spread some marketing humor.)
4. Activation Content
Overview: Get your audience involved. And when they do, make them feel valued.
Examples: Q&A, polls, contest, user-generated content
Use it in your content strategy when: You want to gather feedback. Or encourage participation.
Audience reaction: “Huh. They actually care.”
Gets engagement because: People feel they have real input. And express their appreciation by interacting with the content.
(Helen Burness polls her followers with a quirky question)
Too much information? Let’s Brainstorm with an Example
Our newest client helps beginner entrepreneurs get started on their business idea.
He offers us a big suitcase of cash. In return, he wants a content strategy that gets likes, comments, and shares. All the good stuff.
To help him make an emotional connection with his LinkedIn community, we pitch:
Educate
- Infographic. “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of how to start your day to maximize one’s daily energy.
- Listicle. “10 Rookie Entrepreneur Mistakes that Kill your Passion Project”.
Inspire
- Video. Our client remembers his own struggles, to explain why he helps rookie entrepreneurs.
- Text in image. “It’s supposed to be hard. If it was easy, there’d be a huge line in front of you.”
Entertain
- Meme. Falling in love with the new idea, forgetting older ones.
- Video. Our client shares a story of how he got his favorite client by accident.
Activate
- Open question. Ask followers to share their biggest obstacle. Reply with depth to engage with at least 10-20 comments.
- Live Q&A. Our client answers the comments for 30 minutes.
Picking the Right Pillar for your Brand
No two brands are the same.
To figure out what works best for your brand, ask yourself these 5 questions:
1. What is your Brand’s Personality?
For example, security companies tend to be formal, sober and serious.
They will likely shy away from entertaining content.
But gaming influencers will be informal, playful, with buckets of energy.
They can live off of entertaining content.
2. What do you want your Client to Feel?
Security companies want their potential clients to feel safe and trusting.
Stranger Things memes won’t make a client go “Hmm, these are the people I want guarding the 5 million in the safe.”
They’re better off betting on educational content, to prove their expertise.
3. What Channel are you publishing on?
Each platform has its own culture, which may or may not fit with your content strategy.
This is why gamers stream on Twitch. Not LinkedIn.
(It’s the Taylor-Swift-heavy-metal-wrong-crowd story, again)
A good way to figure out your brand’s ideal channels is on the next line.
4. What’s your Competitors’ Content Strategy?
Your competitors had to figure out their own content.
We can reverse-engineer their strategy.
Find the best competitors that focus on engagement and analyze:
- What channels do they use? Social media, website, blog, etc.
- What pillars do they rely on? Educational, inspirational, entertainment or activation?
- What gets them the best (and worst) results? Ex. inspirational content on Instagram
- What can we do better? Ex. their educational content is full of jargon
While it’s true that no two brands are the same, our closest competitors can provide a wealth of knowledge.
Especially, what content works. And what doesn’t.
5. What’s Working For You?
If your brand has been creating content for a while, you have two things to show for it:
- Data
- A folder full of “Image_September20_v5_final_adjusted_final copy copy”
Let’s focus on the first and discuss your file-naming later.
If we can analyze how well a competitor’s content performs, we can do the same for our own:
- Categorize your past content into pillars (add categories like “Sales”, “PR”, “News” as you need)
- Compare their engagement rate.
The best-performing pillars may be what you need more of and refine.
But look at the other 4 questions to get a bigger picture.
(If you’re only posting educational and activation, but your competitors are killing it with inspirational… that might be worth a try)
Key Takeaways
- Sales are great. Sales content may not be, if our goal is to create a connection (aka engagement) and get people to trust you.
- High engagement comes from 4 types of content: educational, inspirational, entertainment and activation.
- There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for our content strategy.
- It’s a balancing act between audience, competition and our brand’s positioning and track record.
- Nail down your pillars, before thinking of content ideas.
