Prioritise audience engagement and completely transform your business
How this one simple change in your business can (and will) change everything.
John Doe
Co-founder | CEO | Senior Marketing Manager
22 June, 2023 • 2 min
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– George Bernard Shaw
So, what does audience engagement really mean?
Businesses thrive on numbers, but it’s not only numbers driving the growth of your brand. Audience engagement is a crucial aspect of sustainable business development.
It’s natural that people prefer brands they feel emotionally connected to. In fact, a Deloitte paper cited that 60% of long-term customers use emotional language to describe their connection to favoured brands.
How well do you engage your audience? We mean, really engage. Do you talk at them, or with them? Do they see and engage with one other?
Answer honestly!
While numbers and data insights are important, seamless buyer journeys are about more than just targeted Google Ads and clever marketing slogans.
Local audiences, digital footprints.
Demonstrating the worth of your products and staff is about leaving authentic digital footprints in places where your audience will see them. Often this means targeted, local engagement.
There are numerous benefits to increasing local engagement:
- People trust people like themselves
- Local stories are engaging and authentic
- People like to see products and outcomes of service in situ
- It’s the fastest way to build engagement and sales momentum
- Local authentic content is up to 62% more engaging than equivalent corporate content
- Linking your brand with local communities keeps your business top of mind
- Localisation builds engagement and trust, which speeds up sales cycles
- It leverages horizontal influence over vertical influence
- It inspires action and can drive positive change
Business <> Audience
Customer <> Customer
Influencer <> Audience
Audience engagement falls under three main categories:
We all know about categories 1 and 2, but customers are drawn to brands with open channels across all three categories. Many businesses are missing out on vital audience engagement opportunities when category 3 is overlooked, and here’s why:
- Humans instinctively look to their peers for guidance on how to live and behave
- Consumers look to local peer groups for purchase guidance online
- Individuals have become wary of paid advertising and don’t trust on marketing claims alone
- User-generated content is priceless for establishing holistic brand connection opportunities
If your marketing is a one-way street, it’s not safe to assume you’re reaching the right audiences, or reaching them in the right way.
Audience engagement might sound complicated and time-consuming, but with a local mindset and the right tools, it can be the most rewarding and profitable shift your business makes.
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