Are you having difficulty coming up with fresh and engaging content?
In this article, we’ll go through the common reasons why content gets low engagement, as well as several tips to fix the issue. Let’s dive in.
Why Your Content is Getting Low Engagement
Too many businesses think content marketing is just a matter of writing any old blog related to the business niche you’re writing for. Draft a 1,000-word post, put a few images in it, and hit publish. That’s it, right?
Not quite.
A poorly-defined content strategy leads to poor audience engagement. Without the right content strategy, you won’t even get any views, let alone the engagement you need. Case in point: 116 blog posts are published every second. How can your content stand out if you use the same formula as everyone else?
Another cause of low engagement is your content type. Written posts are great, but they should not be the only content medium you use. Readers get bored if you publish the same type of content every time. 54% of customers want more video content from brands they support, according to a HubSpot study.
The types of content customers want to see from brands (Image Source).
Chances are, these two factors are contributing to your content’s low engagement. Polishing your content strategy is not so straightforward, as it varies for every company. Fixing the latter, however, is easily achievable. Here’s how to do it.
5 Types of Content to Explore to Boost Engagement
1. Video
It’s not a coincidence that video marketing is on the rise. Consumers find it easier to consume videos as the world shifts to a mobile-first landscape. Mobile video consumption grows by more than 100% every year.
Why do people prefer video content?
For starters, it’s easy to consume. They can pause it and pick up where they left off anytime. Videos are also more digestible for detailed content. A 10-minute video is easier to consume compared to a 3,000-word blog post, for example.
People take in more information when they’re engaged. Viewers retain 95% of a video’s message compared to 10% when reading text.
Keep your videos short and sweet. Video lengths of 5 to 10 minutes work best for delivering content. You can make longer videos, but you risk losing the viewer’s attention. Including interesting visuals in your videos as well to further improve engagement.
2. Infographics
For one thing, infographics are filled with catchy visuals and stats that demand attention. They also excel at breaking down lengthy data into concise, readable chunks of information.
Like videos, it’s easier for readers to retain information from an infographic because of the visual way they’re presented. They’re fantastic on social media as your followers can skim through infographics and easily understand your message. In fact, infographics drive 12% more online traffic compared to other types of content.
A popular strategy is to summarize long-form content like guides or industry studies on social media with infographics. This way, readers don’t have to go through pages of content to get relevant information.
However, be careful not to put too much text in your infographic. If you have a lot of data points to include, separate them into different infographics instead of stuffing everything into one post. Consider using tools like Canva or Piktochart to speed up your infographic creation if you don’t have a dedicated team to design your assets.
3. Thought Leadership Pieces
Thought leadership pieces are posts written by founders, CEOs, and team leads. Companies use these articles to share their views on a specific topic, with the ultimate goal of helping the audience understand a specific issue a little better. Bloomberg, for example, publishes economics and business-related op-eds from industry leaders regularly.
Writing a thought leadership piece alone won’t instantly get you thousands of views. If you’re Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, sure. But for the non-celebrity author, you need to work hard: your piece has to be as captivating as any other type of content to be effective. Want to really capture your audience’s attention? Make it relatable and relevant.
Often, companies create content that just sounds salesly, which is an instant turn off. No one wants to read a manufactured PR piece.
Good thought leadership pieces evoke emotions. They’re personal and meaningful. They make the audience feel like you understand their problems, and that you’re there to help address their pain points (rather than sell them something). They should work as trust-building exercises and create desire by helping the reader understand their problems a little better. Take a look at the best sales enablement blogs from recent years. They all have something useful to offer.
There are other ways to make thought leadership content engaging. Instead of written pieces, try hosting interviews or round tables with other personalities in your industry. You can even convert interviews into podcasts, which amplifies your content marketing reach. You can also work with mainstream publications like Bloomberg and Forbes to further improve the engagement of your content.
4. How-Tos
How-tos are the Swiss army knives of content marketing—you can never go wrong with tutorials and guides. There is, however, a barrier to how-to content. Generic tutorials and guides won’t attract readers due to the massive number of how-tos on the web.
Instead, you want your guides to be as detailed and specific as possible. Many companies keep their advice vague so they don’t give away their ‘secrets’. Ditch this mindset. The more generous you are in giving tips, the more likely it is readers will absorb your content. They may even share it with their inner circle if they like your content, which is free advertising for your brand.
One way to create viral how-tos is to use the skyscraper technique. This technique is essentially researching existing content and improving it with additional information. Don’t confuse additional information with ‘longer word count’. You want to build on top of the existing content with new and valuable insights. Updating old data, including new stats, and adding tips are some things you can do to make use of the skyscraper technique.
An illustration of the skyscraper technique (Image Source).
How-tos can be presented in many different ways. Let’s say you wrote an article on ‘5 Ways to Improve Your Sales’. You can also convert the article into other mediums like videos, infographics, or webinars. Repurposing is a powerful strategy and it’s best to practice it as soon you can to up your content marketing game.
5. Trending Content
Ongoing industry trends make for excellent content ideas, especially if they’re related to your target audience. Business leaders want to keep up with the latest updates to remain competitive. You want to scratch this itch by picking relevant stats and building your content around them.
It’s important to get your information from legitimate sources. Businesses will use your content to help them make informed decisions. The last thing you’d want is to share inaccurate—or worse, false—data with CEOs and executives. Newspapers, case studies, and whitepapers from credible sources are safe bets. Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to verify data even if it comes from trusted sources.
Ask customers what they want if you struggle to come up with ideas for trending content. Social media polls, email blasts, and good old one-on-ones can help you with this. You can also use technology to aid your content strategy. Bigtincan’s sales content management software, for example, suggests the best type of content to engage prospects in each stage of the buying cycle for strong sales enablement. This saves you a lot of time and money down the line by eliminating manual research work.
Make Your Content Less Boring
Improving your engagement is a matter of sprucing up your content to make it interesting. One of the easiest ways to do so is by experimenting with different types of content mediums.
Use the tips mentioned above to level up your content strategy to increase engagement and achieve better content marketing results in the short and long term.