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What does your “ideal customer” look like? In my food-writing side business, this is someone who comments on all my posts, purchases all the products I have available and regularly provides feedback on how I can improve. But this person does not walk in the door as the “ideal customer.” Through a series of events, they are activated and engaged by regular, high-quality content that increases their investment in my brand.
If you want to improve your brand engagement and increase sales, follow these five proven strategies:
1. Consistency
Arguably the most influential factor in fostering engagement is consistency. This means that if you blog, you do so every week or every month, not just when you feel like it. Or, if you have a podcast, you release episodes on the second Tuesday of each month, rather than haphazardly during the fall, when things are a bit slower.
If your message is good, then people will want to engage. If they cannot plan their routines around your content’s delivery, however, there is a lower chance that they will consistently engage with you. After all, why would we expect our audience to be more consistent than we are?
Organizing a simple posting calendar or blog release schedule can make all the difference.
2. Variety
The golden rule of engagement: an engaged “customer” will remain engaged as long as you engage them. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, there’s actually a little more to it than that.
Once you have consistency down to a tee, it is time to introduce more variety into your content output. If you traditionally only post on social media, branch out and offer a weekly email with a blog post derived from this week’s sermon. Or if you have a very healthy email list from consistent blogging, amp up the value by delivering bi-weekly podcasts to the same list.
This will increase the number of ways people can engage with your brand. For “oldies,” this will keep them coming back or even lead them farther along the pathway to becoming a “perfect customer.” For “newbies,” it will kickstart the process of engagement, since these new formats may align better with their preferred way of engaging with a brand.
3. Quality
At the end of the day, if your content isn’t good, it may be better not to post at all. When I write “good,” I am not referring to production quality or crispy sound as much as I’m referring to the message itself you are communicating. Does what you are communicating make sense? Do you feel that the message you are sharing is actually helpful? How can the value you deliver to your audience outrageously outweigh the “cost” of engaging with you (time, nominal fees, etc.)?
If what you are sharing with your brand audience is top-notch, the growth will come.
4. Response
This is a critical point a lot of leaders miss. They want their team to edit their graphics and edit their speaking engagements into short, satisfying Instagram reels, but they neglect a very important aspect of social media: that it is social.
If your followers don’t think they will get a response from you, they won’t comment on your content. A simple like, thumbs-up or “hallelujah” can do wonders. Even better is when your leader is able to respond with a photo or video. If your brand feels less like a corporation and more like an actual person, engagement increases.
5. Organic Content
Last but not least is the unplanned, spontaneous posting. It’s the photo of green room prayer before a new service or of a volunteer tearing down after the eighth Easter service. It’s one of your 20-year-old wedding photos or high school lacrosse photos. Audiences eat this content up because it feels real.
If you follow these five proven strategies to increase brand engagement, your results will noticeably increase in just months. As they say, “Rome was not built in a day.” Remember, “ideal customers” don’t walk in the door as such. It is your responsibility to activate and engage and grow them.