Blogs and websites are more than just marketing platforms. They can be used to engage with customers, gain support, and even make sales. However, not all blogs and websites are created equal, and it can be challenging to figure out how to engage with your audience efficiently and effectively.
This piece will outline ten best practices for engaging with customers on blogs and websites. Whether you’re a blogger or a content marketer, these tips will help you better understand your audience and make the most of your online space.
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Build Trust And Credibility
Consumers have an average of close friends and acquaintances they trust for product information. Similarly, the trust adults have in famous brands like Apple and Coca-Cola is also applied to online sources, creating an environment of trust and credibility for your brand.
To build trust and credibility, you must earn it. Create compelling content that is often shared. Make sure that the information you provide is trustworthy and reliable. Moreover, be open and honest about your product’s strengths and weaknesses. Your audience will appreciate your transparency, showing that you are true to your brand.
As a brand, you have to earn the right to be trusted. You can’t expect people to trust you automatically. You have to earn that right.
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Make Frequent And Pro-Active Use Of All Social Media Channels
Consumers are constantly connected to social media in today’s world, especially with the rise of the #contentmarketing trend. Consumers check Facebook or Twitter before turning on their computers, while others visit YouTube or Instagram to research or watch videos before clicking on a product or service link.
To best engage with your audience, make frequent and proactive use of all social media channels. This will help you gain trust and credibility. Moreover, as we’ve established, social media is a marketing tool that can be used for many purposes. Why not capitalize on this? Use your social platforms to engage with your audience, provide them with valuable information, and eventually, grow your business.
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Make Your Blog Or Website Accessible For All Users
To create the best possible user experience (UX) on your blog or website, ensure all of your content is accessible to everyone. The most basic principle of UX is that a product or service should be usable by anyone without special training or knowledge.
That being said, not every blog post or website post will be created equal. Some posts will be more suitable for some audiences than others. For example, a product review that is heavily focused on features (and maybe even a bit of price comparison) will be more valuable to someone who is already well-informed about the product. But, if a person is completely unaware of the product, they may not understand or appreciate the value in a detailed review.
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Distribute Your Blog Post To Multiple Channels
As we’ve established, social media is an important part of a brand’s marketing strategy. But did you know that consumers research products and services on social media before purchasing them? This is why it is essential to have a strong presence on all major platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.).
You can also use cross-platform measurement and analytics tools to track the performance of your content across different platforms and devices. For example, you can see how many times a particular blog post was shared on social media, how many websites visited the post received, and how many people clicked on a particular link in the post.
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Measure The Success Of Your Strategy
To determine the effectiveness of your blog or website strategy, measure the results of your efforts. This means tracking everything from the number of blog posts you’ve published to the amount of traffic they’ve generated. While it would be great to claim that your efforts led to enormous success, the fact is that you can’t measure results without having some sort of baseline to compare to. And in many cases, there is no baseline, so it’s difficult to determine what has worked and what needs to be changed.
You could try using a tool like Google Analytics to track the number of visitors to your site. Moreover, if you integrate Google Analytics with your website building tool (e.g., WordPress), you can see how many pages views each article, video, or slide pack received. And, if you want to get super fancy, you can use Google Display Optimizer to create custom banner ads to track the performance of your campaigns online.
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Measure The Performance Of Each Chink In Your Marketing Automation Chain
To ensure that your blog or website strategy is as effective as possible, it’s important to track the performance of each link in the chain, from the content you put out to the platform you use and even the device your audience views the content on. Optimizing all of the pieces in your marketing automation chain can create the perfect user experience for your audience, regardless of whether they are on a mobile phone, tablet, or notebook computer.
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Create Shareable Content
Consumers are likelier to share valuable and interesting content or provide new information. Moreover, people are more likely to share information that they find valuable than something just interesting.
The key to creating shareable content is ensuring each piece has a value proposition that is interesting and/or informative to the reader. Moreover, consumers check Facebook or Twitter before turning on their computers, while others visit YouTube or Instagram to research or watch videos before clicking on a product or service link. This means that your content will most likely be consumed in its original form through a link or video on social media. The easier it is to find and share content, the greater your chance of gaining exposure and engaging with your audience.
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Personalize The Way You Communicate
Blogs and websites that provide information and services to consumers are now commonplace. So, it’s not surprising that internet users have posted or read something on a blog or website about a product or service they later bought.
The key to successful content marketing, and customer engagement on blogs and websites, is always to be personal. Instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach to all of your content, take the time to find a way to connect with your audience on a personal level. Moreover, consider your target audience’s interests, hobbies, and lifestyles when creating content.
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Use Video To Tell A Visual Story
If you’re reading this piece on a digital device, you know that video is the preferred form of content now. Consumers prefer to learn via video, while other consumers find images more useful than text. Moreover, the trend of using video content for marketing is increasing, with marketers and content creators indicating that they plan to increase the use of video in their campaigns.
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Don’t Forget About The Mobile
Did you know that majority of consumers research products and services on mobile phones? This makes it essential that your blog or website is optimized for all major mobile platforms, like iOS, Android, and Windows. Moreover, if you want to engage with your audience via mobile, you should consider using apps to gain access to more users.
The great thing about mobile phones is that they’re always with us. Whether at home, in a coffee shop, or on a trip to the countryside, we can always pull out our phones and use them to access the internet. This makes it much easier for people to engage with your content, whether you’re a blogger or a brand looking for help with marketing.
Why Blogs And Why Now?
Engagement with customers is more important than ever in a world of uncertainty. Thanks to the pandemic, customers have more time on their hands than usual and are learning to use that time effectively.
What does that mean for marketers? It means that customers are doing their research online. They’re reading consumer reviews, looking at product comparisons, and gathering general information about brands, companies, and products.
