Article Content Must Have The Engage Factor
A Multi-Tasking Word, “Engage”
My loyal readers know I often start my erudite missives with adefinition of the prominent word in my Title. The prominent wordhere, engage, has 14 meanings in Merriam-Websters Collegiate. I amgoing to use 5(a) and 5(b).
The engage factor defined in 5(a) “to hold the attention of” and 5(b)“to induce to participate”, are the two that I think most accurate to the underlying study we want to elucidate. So the Jar shall attempt to make this a place to engage and to hold the attention of all readers and attempt to induce to participate those who are shy or reserved.
It’sThe Comment Box Stupid
“It’sThe Economy Stupid” is a famous George H.W. Bush quote from the1972 presidential race. And I am not calling you stupid; it is a play on words that Jar thinks fits this challenge Jar has. Just like Bush lost the election, Jar is losing the battle for comments in the Comment Box.
Why is engagement so important?
Engagement promotes familiarity and loyalty. When a user engages with you material directly, he/she will feel like a more integrated part of your brand community. That means a greater sense of familiarity and loyalty, which could drive purchasing decisions in the future.
Engagement enhances visibility. Almost any kind of engagement has the potential to increase the visibility of your article. It may mean your article getting in front of a greater number of people, or your article developing a kind of aura around it based on existing discussions.
It’s a sign of content effectiveness. Getting more engagement generallymeans that your content has been more effective—it has generated interest, which means it’s probably going to excel in other areas. Monitoring engagement gives you insight into how your content is performing.
But before you start trying to come up with a plan to “increase engagement” in some vague, general sense, you need to know that there are different kinds of engagement:
Usercomments. Found at the bottom of blog posts.
Discussionthreads. Occurring in a forum setting, or on social media.
Active participation. For things like surveys and quizzes.
Social shares. Direct or indirect.
Obviously,you’ll want a nice mix of all of these. How do you go about that?
Strategies for Greater Engagement
Thereare many ways to drive higher engagement, but these are some of the most effective:
Stir up controversy. Your first job is to make your posts more debatableby stirring up some controversy. This doesn’t mean you should write about something that’s going to outright offend people, or try to take a hard stance on something you don’t necessarily believe in. Instead, look for topics and angles where there are two sides of an argument, and take one side. This alone will likely encourage people to respond (and hopefully, discuss the issue with each other).
Surprise people. People love to be surprised. On an immediate level, your surprising post will stand out from the crowd, attracting more attention and visibility. Beyond that, some readers will feel a compulsion to reward you, somehow, for surprising them, either by recognizing it in the comments or by giving you a “like.” They may also be more compelled to share your post with friends, spreading the contagious “surprise” factor.
Ask your readers’ opinions. If you want your readers to engage in a conversation, why not start one by asking them a question? This is a common tactic often done at the end of an article; for example, apost about different strategies in headline writing might end with a question like, “what strategies have you found to be effective?” Doing this naturally prompts people to respond, but it’s even more effective when combined with the first tip in this section—strive to ask questions that you know are debatable, or questions that you know your users will be passionate about. The stronger they feel, thebetter.
Get your readers involved. It’s also a good idea to encourage active participation. Interactive forms of content are easier to engage.Unfortunately, you don’t have many options when it comes to interactive content. You might develop a quiz, such as one that evaluates your readers’ current needs, or you might create somekind of survey or poll to reflect your readers’ opinions. These aren’t the only two options, but they are two of the most commonand effective.
Enlist more content mediums. Including more mediums in your content strategywill not only help your content become more visible and easier to interact with, it’s going to make a broader range of readers interested in interacting with it. For example, some users engagemore readily with video content, while others are more likely toreact to in-depth written features. Cycle these different types ofcontent through in your strategy, and offer pieces with multiple mediums incorporated.
Reward your users for engaging. This is an extremely important piece of the puzzle; you have to let your readers know that you appreciate their engagement. This can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be,but know that your efforts will be noticed. For example, you might get active in the discussion thread as a participant when it develops, or you might thank one of your readers specifically for sharing one of your content pieces on social media.
With these strategies in consistent practice, I can almost guarantee you’ll earn more engagement in your content strategy. They may not turn your campaign around overnight, but if used regularly, you’ll start to see more comments, shares, and participation in growing patterns over time. Use these engagements as metrics to measure your content effectiveness, and reincorporate that feedback to take your content to an even higher level.
Dear reader, don’t be shy! Give me some feed back on anything you read in this post. Have I made any mistakes? How do you like the grammar and big words I used in the first paragraph?
When I let ole Jar b Jar the readers b ax me if English is my 2nd language so I used sum big words. Which do u perfer? This part of the post is dedicated as the engage factor per 5(b).
Sit Up Straight! – Look At Me!
Boy when Granma uttered those dreaded words we were at the place to engage in mortal fear on my part, and sheer anger on Granny’s part of the confrontation. We’re dealing with definition 5(a) here. Well, sort of. Granny definitely had my attention.
There in Granny’s bony right hand was the dreaded ‘STENSUN CORD’ that she used get her point across to Jar when I’d broke some house rule. This woman was 60 years old, bow-legged, and weighed in at right around 90 pounds soaking wet with two pockets full of rocks. The Jar was 15, 165 pounds, and played wide receiver for the Dixie Bulldogs Junior Varsity foot ball squad.
I’m too big to let Granny whoop me with frayed old extension cord. While she is giving the reason for this unpleasant pow-wow I’m eying the best escape route. The melon patch is only steps away and Granny’s never gonna catch me if I cut through there on way to freedom.
I turn and dart into dem melons at full speed. It’s only about sixty yards to the dirt road on the other side. I’m a running like a coon dog on the scent of deer; as I hit that dirt road and turn my head to look back and laff at ole Granny I feel the burning sting of that stensun cord and darr b Granny saying “Don’t you run from me,boy.”
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The action is in the Comment Box! If you comment me I will reply. Be honest about this posting. What did you like or did not like? How can I improve the page look? Do you think it is too short? Almost 1400 plus words. I am going to add graphics. I have to go back and add pictures to most of my posts; very difficult for me because I know next to nothing about graphics. Any clues or ideas on graphics?
4thof July was only a couple days back and it made me think; I got a lot to be thankful for.
You can't give away, let alone sell, a steak to a vegetarian!
Recent Comments
5
Wow!
Great post Jar.
I have saved this to my desktop.
I want to engage more and you have some very useful tips here.
Thank you very much for sharing :)
Di :)
Very good advice, thank you!