Increasing Engagement on Your Blogs

Believe it or not, blogging can make a huge impact on how well your business performs online. Now, in several past blogs of ours, we have discussed how blogging can help your online presence, but now, we are going to put together exactly how important engagement is when it comes to blogging. Without engagement, your blogs do not get seen, nor do they get the attention they deserve. You put a lot of hard work into writing those blogs! Now, make sure they perform well. Here are a few items to consider regarding engagement and your blog posts.

1. Your blogs need to grab attention

How so? You might ask. Well, for starters, your blog will need a catchy title, an accompanying graphic, and well, informative content! Your blogs should also speak to your voice. As a business owner, you want your target audience to know exactly what they are reading, as well as the who holds the voice behind those words, right?

In order to properly adhere to your target audience's interests, you need to make sure you are researching exactly what your audience is researching. To do this, keyword research comes in handy. Once you have figured out the terms that your audience is likely to search for on Google, it will be easier for you to come up with a topic to write awesome content about. You will then be able to determine exactly what the message is for your specific blog, what questions you want your audience to receive the answers to, and the value you want them to take away from reading your blog.

2. Read (and engage on) blogs written by others in your industry

Yes, you need to read your competitors' blogs and articles. While this can be quite intimidating, it is extremely important to get a feel for what your competitors are writing about. Now, you do NOT want to copy their content, but once you start reading their blogs and articles, you are bound to come up with some ideas that take the topics in your industry to the next level.

Once you have read their pieces of writing, feel free to respond, challenge, and/or compliment others on their writing. One of the key pieces of information that all future social media experts need to know is that engagement is a two-way street. What I mean by this is that if you want engagement on YOUR posts, blogs, and articles, you ALSO have to engage with others' content! Engagement takes a lot of work on both ends of the spectrum, so making a habit of engaging with others' content is a great way to make sure you are receiving, and continue to receive, engagement on your blog posts, as well as your social posts.

3. Stay relevant

Not to be harsh, but the idea you have in your head maaaaay not be as relevant as you think. With every business and industry, there are plenty of topics to explore, but as you continue to research keywords, you will want to take note of what is relevant in your industry right now. For instance, if you are a financial advisor, right now is a GREAT time to be writing blogs about COVID-19 and its impact on the financial industry. If you are a business owner, writing content about how you are helping your community is a great starting point if you are looking to get into blog writing right now.

Relevant topics are not hard to find if you take the time and are willing to put in the work. After all, blogging gets a bad reputation because people think it's boring. However, when you're writing about things that could potentially increase traffic to your website and ultimately lead to sales, writing a blog is worth every minute. They do not have to take long either! Once you get in the groove of writing blogs about your business and what you are passionate about, you will be cranking out blogs in no time. You got this.

4. Reply to other engagements

As you continue to receive engagement on your blogs, you also need to make a routine of replying to those comments and interaction. Whether the comments are on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or even Instagram, the replies you give to comments go a long way. Do not just ignore them! Use comments to your advantage. The more you interact with other people's interactions, the more your blog posts get seen, and the better they end up performing analytics-wise on social media.

If you are having trouble finding posts that are similar and relatable to your industry, try searching some of the most popular topics in your industry right now. For example, if you are a business owner for a skincare company, try searching for popular skincare brands, then visit their blog pages to see what they are currently writing about. From there, you will be able to engage on the post either at the bottom of the page or on their social media posts that link to the specific blog you read. And yes, you absolutely need to be linking your social media posts to your blogs! Give those blogs and the graphic you created the attention they deserve! Otherwise, you would be wasting your time writing blogs. Engagement is what makes blogs go far online.

5. Ask for engagement

As mentioned above, you will definitely need to be actively posting about your blogs on social media. Posting on social media is a whole different story, and you can read some of our other blogs about the best practices for social media posts depending on your industry by visiting our website here.

Another great way to receive engagement on your blogs is to tag and mention those other bloggers and business owners in your industry. If you are going to include other's tags (@usernames) in your blogs and social media content, though, you need to make sure you are doing so with purpose. In addition, you might want to reach out to the person you are mentioning and inform them. This way, you are giving them the opportunity to engage with your pieces of content, whether they are your blogs or your social media posts.

6. Leave your audience wanting more

As I mentioned above, your entire blog needs to provide enough value that people will want to come back for more. With attention-grabbing content, you are bound to have your number of readers increase. You need to provide your readers with content that prevents them from closing your blog's tab and going to something else.

Your message to your reader should be clear with every sentence you write for each specific blog. For example, this blog is specific to increasing engagement through blog writing.

Now, I know this is a lot of information to take in, especially if you have never taken on blog writing head-on. However, it really is a great marketing tool to employ if you make the time and put in the effort.

If you are looking to get more into blog writing, have no fear! Hyperchat Social has several blogs that you can read for guidance, or even better, we can write your blogs FOR you! Want to learn more about our copywriting services? Schedule your FREE consultation today and let's get started!