Engagement is an original term from English that, in Spanish, is used to determine the commitment that is established between a brand and its audience in the different communications they produce with each other.
Engagement is a factor that companies and their Marketing teams pay more and more attention to , as it is associated with sustainable positioning and good brand management.
However, for some organizations it is a difficult element to measure and achieve, since they do not know or apply specific practices that promote a higher level of commitment in customers and the general public.
Even many Marketing teams are still not entirely clear about what this relatively new concept is about, its breadth in digital environments.
All this motivated us to produce this complete guide, in which we will review from essential aspects of the concept, such as its definition and types, to the most profound and practical topics, such as the best Engagement strategies and the keys to measure it.
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What is Engagement?
Engagement can be defined as the level of commitment that consumers and users have with a brand , and this goes beyond the purchase of its products or services.
Among other things, it encompasses constant interaction, trust and even empathizing with its values, perceptions and messages. This translates into long-lasting, sustainable and deep relationships, based on sensitive purchasing experiences .
On the other hand, Engagement is not something that happens overnight. It is about a consolidation that brands achieve after multiple tasks, strategies and actions aimed at conquering, captivating and eliminating annoyances or points of friction.
This important concept grew and expanded thanks to the digital transformation and, especially, social networks and other media that allow constant interaction with users.
In digital environments, Engagement is a palpable element, which can be stimulated on a daily basis and which can be measured through metrics, indicators and the quality of interaction.
What types of Engagement are there?
Such is the breadth of Engagement, especially in the digital environment , that it is an indicator that can be classified into different types, such as:
Customer Engagement
This edge of Engagement refers to the commitment and interaction dynamics of a client over time or during their relationship cycle with a company .
Employee Engagement
Yes, Engagement is a factor that can also be present in employees and collaborators.
This concept encompasses the emotional and human commitment that a worker has with the company in which he operates, beyond the employment relationship and the payments that relate to it.
User Engagement
In a simple way, we can say that this metric shows how “hooked” the user is with the different interaction and communication channels of the brand , as well as with the different elements of its digital presence in general.
Engagement in social networks
This indicator qualitatively shows the positioning in these networks , since it is not only based on the number of replicas and the size of the communities, but also assesses the quality of interactions, the acceptance of messages and the perception of the audience in general.
How to measure Engagement in Marketing?
As we mentioned earlier lines, Engagement is something palpable, which you can determine precisely through different metrics and indicators .
At the same time, it is a broad element, which covers different aspects of the digital environment and the relationship of a brand with users and consumers.
Precisely, below we will show you how to measure the level of commitment in different channels and contexts.
Engagement in social networks
Social networks can be the main engine of your company’s Engagement strategy, and it is also very practical to measure commitment in this area, since it is marked by constant interactions.
Even networks like Facebook have algorithms that calculate this indicator to give more reach to publications , such as showing status or profile updates to a greater number of followers, for example.
An almost “standard” formula to determine Engagement in social networks , known as the Engagement Rate, consists of dividing the total of interactions during a certain period between all the publications made during it.
Then, this result must be divided by the total number of followers of the company in the social network in question, to finally multiply 100.
This makes it possible to evaluate the relevance of a brand in the environment of a social network, but it is convenient to go further.
In addition, it is important that you evaluate the characteristics of the interactions. For example, you can establish an average of “I like” and “I do not like” in the publications, to know the acceptance of the same and the repercussions of the tone of voice and the messages.
Engagement on a blog
With tools like Google Analytics , you can track different metrics that have a direct relationship with Engagement .
We talk about indicators such as:
Bounce rate
In the web and digital sphere, the rebound occurs when a user leaves a website after having seen only one of its pages, without interacting with others in the domain.
When the bounce rate is minimal, logically, it is positive for engagement.
Duration of sessions
It is nothing more than the average time that users spend browsing your website.
A high average duration can be synonymous with the blog’s hookability, as long as the pages visited per session are also high.
Pages visited per session
There is not much to explain: as its name reflects, it is the number of pages that users visit when browsing your blog .
If this average is high, and adds to a high average session length, it means that they are captivated by the blog and that they interact with multiple articles and materials in a single session.
Conversion rate
This fundamental metric in Digital Marketing and Content Marketing focuses on the percentage of users who carry out positive actions for the commercial process.
In the case of the blog, you can calculate the percentage of visitors who share contact information and subscribe to news and other functionalities, becoming Leads .
Backlinks
It is the links that a website gets from another website, which have a positive impact on SEO and are a reflection of authority, positioning and Engagement.
Brand mentions
These are produced in different ways, but, in general, it can be said that it is when someone talks about your brand and uses it as a reference.
In the case of the blog, they can occur when other portals or users mention data, research and opinions expressed in one of their posts.
Here it should be said that it is not always necessary to receive a backlink for the mention to be relevant and benefit the company, because search engines and users feel those social signals when making a decision. Although it is always better that the mention is accompanied by an external link, which transmits authority to your website.
User comments
All of the above is valuable, but they are still “cold” numbers.
Therefore, in addition to following the previous metrics, measure the amount of comments your publications receive and, above all, what they say and what positive or negative patterns are present in them .
Customer engagement
Among the metrics that serve to measure the level of customer engagement are the following:
Monthly active users
It is the number of users who actively interact with a service, product or communication channel. It is important that you follow how this statistic evolves or changes month after month.
Frequency of use
It consists of measuring how much products, services or added values of the brand are used, in order to determine their relevance and customer reception.
If you have a digital platform, for example, or a mobile app, you don’t want a user to access its features once every 2 months, right?
Understanding this behavior can help you implement improvements in your resources and establish more precise communication initiatives to reactivate users who have forgotten your product or service.
Brand mentions
In this case, it is about how often your buyers talk about your products or services or about the interaction with the company in general.
One way to perceive this aspect is to analyze the reviews of services and products in Google My Business or in specific evaluation platforms, such as Capterra.
LifeTime Value (LTV)
It is the total value or profits that a client contributes to the company during their relationship with it . If the LTV is high, it is synonymous with effectiveness in actions aimed at retention and Engagement .
5 strategies to increase engagement with your audience
Now that you know how to measure Engagement, you are surely eager to know how to boost it, so we won’t keep you waiting any longer.
Here are 5 key strategies that will help you achieve it:
1. Build a strong and powerful website
In this digital and interconnected age, the website plays a key role in the user experience .
Among other things, a solid web portal is a channel of constant interaction and a source of functionalities that add value to the commercial offer and make a person really follow a brand.These contents may also interest you ?:
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To meet this fundamental requirement for Engagement, you must take into account the good practices of WPO.
The Web Performance Optimization (WPO) encompasses a set of technical actions that allow a site to guarantee a good experience on the page .
One of these is to opt for a responsive design, that is, that adapts the formats to different devices, mainly mobile phones, such as tablets and smartphones.
Also, it demands the optimization of the loading speed of the pages, a key element of Technical SEO .
2. Offer a robust application for clients
As a complement to a solid portal, you can offer a mobile application for clients, which contributes to relation and provides personalized service , promoting a solid and lasting relationship.
Like a website, a mobile app must be highly functional and have a fast learning curve, which is achieved with the development of an intuitive and consistent interface and design.
3. Provide interactive digital experiences
When we talk about Engagement, we must immediately think about how to captivate the user , giving added value to the interaction, which really makes him feel committed to the brand and happy for his relationship with it.
And that’s when interactive content comes into play , as it is capable of engaging the user, stimulating interaction and generating mentions, positively impacting the commercial process.
Among these contents we find different types, such as:
- infographics ;
- ebooks ;
- questionnaires ;
- videos .
Even within these materials some stand out that become tools and functionalities that, in addition to captivating, satisfy user needs, such as calculators and templates.
To help you visualize it, I share with you the example of this interactive calculator made by the Cradlepoint company to show how much money websites can lose depending on the time their Internet connection drops:
Precisely, this functional value and the ability to solve problems, makes the same interactive content excellent bargaining chips , encouraging the user to share data and take conversion steps in order to obtain them for free.
This also shows that interactive digital experience pages have an attractive ROI rate , as they can generate leads both today and several months or years from now, as long as they remain useful and relevant.
In addition, they offer the following advantages related to Engagement:
- they improve SEO, by increasing the time the user stays on the page;
- they generate backlinks, by being shared on social networks and blogs;
- allow understanding consumer behavior by the data provided in each interaction;
- and many more.
In this complete guide you will see the details of how interactive content can benefit a digital strategy:
4. Put the product at the center of the strategy
Placing the product at the center of your strategy, as dictated by the product-led Growth , also favors Engagement .
For this, it is not only necessary to turn the product into the main generator of income.
It is also important to use it as a source of loyalty and satisfaction, making them interactive and highly functional.
For example, in the case of technology companies, they apply this criterion by developing software that allows them to solve needs and doubts quickly and easily , within the same tools, as well as interact with support representatives.
This creates a sense of ownership over the product and improves the business relationship.
In addition, each user interaction on the platform indicates how involved they are with the solution offered and how much value they identify in what they are using.
This feature can be put into practice even to generate new leads and customers.
For example, if you offered a user a free 30-day demo on your platform and realized that they managed to realize many valuable interactions on their pages during that time, it is a clear sign that they have a great chance of signing up for the paid version. when it comes to the decision .
5. Adopt a close, friendly and human tone of voice
Today’s consumers do not want to run into large corporate networks, but rather human-minded organizations.
Also, they prioritize brands that entertain and captivate with their communications, with a high degree of creativity and authenticity.
In fact, 3 out of 4 users of social networks prefer to follow brands that spread messages and ideas with humor, without following a strict formalism.
For this reason, both in your networks and in the blog and other communication channels, assume a friendly and human tone, while applying the best practices of Storytelling .
conclusion
Very good! You already know what Engagement is, how you can measure it and what are the keys to promoting it.
As you can see, this is a key aspect in the digital presence of your brand and, in general, in its relationship with users and customers, as well as the market in general.
Using interactive content, constantly optimizing your website and other efforts that allow you to captivate and eliminate friction points will help you foster a high level of engagement and enjoy all the benefits that this entails.
Let’s do it!
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