Building engagement is remarkably important, no matter how large or developed your company is. A good approach can draw in new interest in what you offer, as well as turn current clients into long-term brand advocates.

 

So what kinds of approaches work? To find out, we asked members to share their preferred ways of getting people to engage with their brand more often, as well as touch on why they work.

 

Members discuss a few ways you can build engagement with your brand.

Members discuss a few ways you can build engagement with your brand.PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.

 

1. Likes and Comments

 

I find the most success in increasing engagement with my personal brand by simply giving love back through liking and commenting. My followers and engagement throughout social media have grown steadily due to this approach. Why does it work? It’s because it shows you care about those who support you. Not only will it encourage others to ask more questions, it’ll also show how genuine you are. – Fritz Colcol, ABN Circle

 

2. A Clear Content Strategy

 

Having a clear content strategy allows you to truly understand your audience, as well as the different channels they’re using to engage with you. It’s not about posting for the sake of posting. Focus on content that truly brings value to them and ties to their pain points. Go beyond selling. Focus on content that’s relevant and your audience will find more value and engage more often. – Suneera Madhani, Fattmerchant

 

3. Being Useful

 

My preferred way to drive engagement is by being useful. And it’s very OK to do that even through obvious means like content and events. The key is simply to ensure they’re actually useful to people. That means it’s especially important not to make this about you, but instead make it about the thing that’s helpful to others. – Ryan D Matzner, Fueled

 

4. Instagram Stories

 

Instagram Stories are an easy way to build up amazing engagement for your brand. People absolutely love the little snippets of video or photos with commentary. And, best of all, it’s easy for them to engage with them with a quick message or emoji. It can lead to solid relationships with your fans and followers, increase brand awareness and help drive sales. – Yaniv Masjedi, Nextiva

 

5. Live Videos

 

I love making live videos using my personal and company account. Then I usually pair with our customers who are willing to share their stories with our followers. Our followers enjoy talking with us and connect with others who they can relate with. In our own little way, we want to empower and inspire others through our stories. – Daisy Jing, Banish

 

6. User-Generated Content

 

Share content that has been curated by your audience. Ask your community to send in or share photos and videos of them with your product or service and then feature them on your accounts. This helps build your community feel and gets your audience excited to see themselves featured. It is a fun way to bring more life and community participation to your brand. – Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

 

7. Giveaways

 

We use giveaways to grow our email list, engage with social media subscribers and grow our social channels. Offer a prize—such as an item from your store, or something more generic like an Amazon gift card—and raffle it on social media. Create rules designed to pull in more subscribers. For instance, make a rule where in order to enter, participants have to tag three friends. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC

 

8. Email Marketing

 

Offering a free giveaway (in exchange for an email) for something valuable is a great start to a relationship. But even better than that is to continue delivering more value through an email follow up series and building that relationship even further. Once that relationship is built, you can share new content you’re releasing and new products you’re launching. – Matt Diggity, Diggity Marketing

 

9. Asking Questions

 

Companies are often confused why they have such low engagement despite the fact that they are only talking to their users rather than with their users. There are many channels where you can ask both your customers and the public questions about their needs, situations, experience, desires or thoughts. Consumers have plenty of things to say—you simply have to know what to ask. – Colton Gardner, Neighbor

 

10. Surveys and Quizzes

 

Ask your community input on something they want to hear or learn more about. Send out surveys, quizzes or questionnaires to better understand what your audience likes and wants more or less of. When you ask for their opinion, and then take action to implement it visibly in your business, it shows you value them. – Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.

 

11. Exclusive Deals

 

Who doesn’t love a good deal? People are constantly looking for ways to save and get more, so by offering exclusive deals and discounts, you’re able to cater to consumers’ needs and spark excitement. If customers know they’re getting a good deal or saving money, they’re more likely to purchase. It’ll also encourage them to reach out and engage with your brand via social media and email. – Jared Atchison, WPForms

 

12. Interactive Content

 

Interactive content does what its name indicates—it gives people content that they can interact and play with. You can pose questions, create a poll or a survey, or use more sophisticated tools to create rich interactive content. It works because people get to participate in making content, instead of passively consuming it. – Blair Williams, MemberPress

 

13. Online Communities

 

A great way to get people to engage with your brand more often is by creating an online community. We have a closed Facebook group for just our customers. In the group, we share tips and tricks for using our product. Our customers can ask questions, share their progress or just chat. Building an online community will help you build stronger relationships with your customers as well. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

 

14. Genuine, Caring Interactions from the Whole Team

 

Consumers don’t want to do business with corporations, they want to do business with kind people behind a brand. If you care more than your competition, then you can create greater engagement. We find it’s best to have a team of people responsible for engaging, so the brand doesn’t rely on the personal brand of a single community manager or founder. Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogging, etc. – Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences

 

If you found this helpful and would like to dive even deeper into my brain on everything PR & Marketing, I just recently put together a repertoire of online courses that basically sum up the A-Z roadmaps to scaling a business. Between The PR LAB and The Marketing LAB, you can take your pick and gain access to quality business knowledge at your fingertips. 

Go to www.theceoschool.com/lab to grab them.