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At least once a week, I get a DM or an email asking me what I'd recommend people do to increase audience engagement. Sometimes they're referring to socials, and other times they mean email or blog posts, but most of the time the business owner is meaning website clicks and people buying their stuff!
It doesn't really matter what business you're in, whether it's product based or you offer a service, we're all trying to get people to take action using our words. So how can you get better engagement by simply tweaking the way you write?
It's simple really
You don't have to have a degree in creative writing (like me) to implement these. The trick to better engagement is to pay more attention to your calls to action (CTA). It might sound basic, but your reader and potential buyers likes to be told what to do. They are used to being given instructions. So you need to be making life easy for them.
CTAs on social media
Put a call to action on all your Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter posts (etc etc...). Ask a question at the start of your caption, try one of these:
Have you ever...?
Am I the only one who...?
Do you feel like this...?
And then finish the caption with a CTA too. A simple "Share if you know someone who'd find this useful." Or "Leave a (relevant emoji) if you do this too!" Or you can be more creative. I find that I get better engagement when I'm more specific.
For more Insta tips, follow Helen Perry. She's got free resources on her website!
Engagement in your stories
Same goes for your Insta stories and reels. Both of these tools are fantastic for engaging your ideal client and you can use them to truly build trust and reciprocity with the people you want to work with.
Use the tools Insta offers you! Put up a poll, ask them to DM you, pop on a question box...and you'll notice your engagement go up. Even one person responding is awesome. Because that builds social trust.
As well as writing a CTA in the caption on your reel, but also put one in the actual reel itself because most people watching reels aren’t going to read a caption, especially a long one. If you have a call to action (CTA) or key point to stress in your post, make sure it’s in the audio and any text overlay on the video so the viewer does see and hear it.. "Now it's your turn! Tag me when you've done yours!" Or ask them to use a specific hashtag.
Blog engagement
You might've noticed that there's usually a CTA at the bottom of all my blogs, and I always recommend that clients do the same. Think about the purpose of that particular blog post.
What do you want them to do when they've finished reading? Buy something? Download a freebie? Sign up to your mailing list? Or perhaps you want them to join your online community...whatever it is, pop that in the closing paragraph of your blog. Encourage them to leave a comment and to share the blog.
Push the button
This is the important one! I want you to go through each page of your website and look at the call to action buttons. How creative are they? Would they actually entice you to click through? Or are they dull af and about as engaging as the Tory Party leadership elections...? Be honest with yourself.
If you're stuck on how to write engaging CTA button copy, think about what they get from pushing the button. Maybe they get a freebie - "Freebies this way!" Or "Get your free shizzle here!" Don't over-complicate it. Make it obvious!
(You can nab a copy of my Cracking Calls To Action workbook here.)
CTAs in your emails
With META constantly pissing about with Insta and Facebook it can be hard to stay motivated, but using email is a great way of building engagement.
Sending out a regular newsletter develops relationships with the people you know don't like social media and those lurkers who never engage with anything! Even when there's tumbleweed on my insta posts, I always get lovely replies to my Power of Words emails. Sometimes telling me they've been inspired by the woman I've written about that week, or just an "OMG I loved this week's email!"
Encourage those replies by saying "Hit reply!" Or ask them to tell you something that resonated.
You can do this with your nurture sequences too...
Use engagement to build trust
When you're expecting engagement, you must also follow through with whatever it is you're promising. Because if you don't, they'll lose interest or - worse - they won't trust you. Which means a potential client just said goodbye.
If you've asked them to DM you, reply! If you've requested them to leave you a comment on your post or to tag you in their post, make sure you acknowledge their response and take the time to reply to them.
Something I've been keen to explain to my clients is that engagement takes work, and is absolutely not a right. It's a privilege. Building a community and earning their trust is a vital part of growing your online business. Don't miss out on all these opportunities.
In case you need a helping hand with CTAs, I bloody love brainstorming ideas and this is the perfect way to use a Witching Hour with me. I can review your website and/or socials, and help you get more engagement!
Book your Witching Hour now and you'll be able to start building better relationships with your ideal clients straight away. (Limited August availability.)
Let me know if you've found this blog helpful - leave a comment or share it with a friend who's finding engagement a bit of a ball-ache.