9 Powerful Ways to Increase Engagement on your Business Blog

How to increase engagement on your business blog - We all understand the value of using a blog to promote products or services in our business, but we must also realize that without sufficient engagement on our business blogs, we can’t effectively promote our business or the products and services the way we want…

Take a look at a couple of internet based businesses in any industry, you’ll notice that more and more of them are beginning to realise the power of integrating a blog into their websites, unfortunately many of those are somewhat lacking in user or client engagement. But in this post we’re going to look at nine incredible ways in which to increase engagement on your business blog.

Increase Engagement on your Business Blog: 9 Tips

Know your Audience

Ok so the first way in which you can increase engagement on your business blog is to know your audience or customer base, know what they really want to read on your blog. Find out what kinds of questions they are asking, what types of comments they are leaving, and what types of content they are sharing?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions yourself, one of the best ways to get feedback from your audience is to create a poll.

Don’t just use your blog to write about news and developments about your business although it’s good to do this, but use the blog at your advantage to get your readers talking about your products or services a lot more.

increase engagement on your business blog

Contests and Giveaways

You might have noticed a lot of businesses on the internet hold contests and giveaways on their company blog’s. They do this not just to promote their products or services, but also to get their customers, readers engaging more. And it’s also a great way to reward your customers for their continued support.

You can even ask participants to enter a reason ‘why they visit your blog or what they enjoy most about coming to your blog’ as a form of entry into your giveaway. This way you’re giving something back, getting them to engage by asking questions, and you’re beginning to understand more about what your audience really want.

Embed Videos

These days’s every online business is creating some kind of video to either promote their products or services or advertise their business using YouTube. And actually embedding those kinds of videos into your blog posts can really encourage readers to leave comments and ask further questions… Give it a try.

Reply to All Comments

Let me ask you this… do you reply to all the comments that you get in your ham folder? Or are you selective with the ones you want to answer? Let me know… as one of the things I see a lot of companies doing is that although they’re getting good comments on their blog’s, much of them are failing to engage or simply replying to some of these comments.

Visitors will almost get put off immediately and tend not to return to a blog where they’re being ignored, I’m sure you’ll agree with me I know a few blog’s that I’ve placed good engaging comments on and they never get a reply… So don’t let those kinds of opportunities slip you by. Increase engagement on your business blog by replying to all the comments, well at least the genuine ones. Just be seen to engage with your readers more, your online reputation will go far.

Make Sharing Easy

No blog post should go without the tools needed to share content on the web, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and StumbleUpon etc. Ensure that they are visible as well and not small and hidden somewhere in your post…

Give Praise

Giving someone a mention or praise is a great way to get people flocking and engaging on your business blog. It could be one of your top clients, a new customer or even one of your competitors… and why not? I’ve noticed that when you give someone else gratitude, more often than not that person will come right back and acknowledge it by leaving you a comment…

Interview Someone Important

Many bloggers do very well with getting lots of engaging activities on their blog’s through doing people interview. There is an awesome post about this by Ileane Smith on BasicBlogTips; you can read it by following the link below:

http://basicblogtips.com/blog-interviews-increase-engagement.html

Request Feedback

We all know the value of feedback to a business, it can be the ultimate decider whether others choose to use your services or not, choose to buy your products or go elsewhere… so the more positive feedback you receive the better right? And what better way to increase engagement on your business blog?

So consider using your business blog to request some feedback from your recent clients. You could even create a special post for feedback only, and place a link to it in your navigational menu.

Provide Customer Support

Finally we come to using your company blog to provide customer support, and I personally think that this is one of the best ways to increase engagement on your business blog.

For this to effectively work you’ll need to create individual posts that cater for each ‘frequently asked question’ or ‘most common problems’ that may occur. This way anyone leaving a comment wishing to receive support can do so on the respective post. It’s a lot easier to then address that question or problem a lot quicker.

So here is a quick recap on the things you can do to increase engagement on your business blog or your company blog.

Know your audience
Use contest and giveaways
Embed videos
Reply to all comments
Make sharing your content easy for users
Give praise and gratitude
Interview someone important
Request feedback
Provide customer support

Well I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips, if you have any tips or suggestions of your own you want to add, as always please add them in the comments section below.

Remember to let us know your reactions on whether you reply to every comment that’s left on your blog…

Photo by Mavis

http://travelwisconsin.us/ Liane Markus

The tips or techniques that you have stated here will really help a lot and this will really increase engagement on every business who is planning to use this very interesting tips that you have stated here on your blog. Many will benefit from this blog that you have created.
- http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano
  
  Hey Liane, thanks for stopping by and I’m pleased you’ve enjoyed reading the tips here on increasing engagement on your business blog. See you soon
  - http://travelwisconsin.us/ Liane Markus
    
    Your blog is very informative for me and I can use it with my daily activity. I am not really into business but I am into online marketing. Perhaps, I can use some of your great tips here. Thanks anyway.
http://BasicBlogTips.com Ileane

Hi Fabrizio, great tips for increasing engagement on a business blog – and thanks for the shout out too! I’m having a giveaway on my blog right now for free Blog Engage memberships and I have another one planned for next month. I’m using Raffle Copter and it’s great for creating a buzz and getting people to like your Facebook Page or opt-in for your list. I’ll be sure to share this one!
- http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano
  
  Thanks Ileane and as always you’re welcome I’ll take a look at your giveaways in a few days as I am on holiday at the present with no access to the web but via my iphone and even that’s a struggle
http://bestbusinesssocialmedia.com Chuck Bartok

Thanks for sharing Ileane. I especially like the tip regarding “giving Praise” or as we call it, edification of others.
It falls into the solid advice of road to success in Social Media..
The 10-4-1 Strategy
10 links to content of others
for
4 links to your or your company Blog
to
1 link to a page that discusses a product or service your Fans really want to hear about.
Appreciate your wisdom
to
http://www.techatlast.com/iphone-developer-program-university-guide Olawale Daniel

Really it is a great idea to always reply to all the comments on your blog, but in a situation where you’re getting more than 10,000 visitors per day with more than 500 comments all through your blog, I don’t think it would be easier for the person. But, above all, the fellow can fish out the best comments that needs attention and reply to them one after the other. BTW, really grateful for these tips
- http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano
  
  You made a valid point Olawale, I think when you get to that many visitors it would be more than a challenge to reply to every comment, thanks for stopping by, glad you enjoyed the tips.
http://hotblogtips.com/ Sheryl

Speaking of making it easy for people to share your post… I found this article today because Ileane had shared it. See, it does work.

I would say to help get people commenting and discussing your post, asking a few questions at the end may encourage then to write their own thoughts.

In fact, I have been know to have such a large comment, that instead of leaving it as a comment, I just write a post and link to the original. That is a big bonus for the original post as they get a link.
- Fabrizio
  
  Hey Sheryl, welcome to the blog, fine proof of how effective sharing works. I agree with you posting questions at the end of posts do encourage readers to comment. I also think some questions can be placed at the end of paragraphs also, especially for those who don’t read an entire post.
http://www.homebiz-supermarket.com Dele@profitable business ideas

Thanks Fabrizio for those 9 useful tips on increasing engagement on your business blog.

I am all for replying to as many comments as practicable on your blog as a top means of increasing engagement.

In fact, before i comment on any blog, i first go through the comments section to have a feel of the various thoughts of others on any post as well as to determine the level of participation of the blog owner himself.

I discover that where the owner engages his audience much more through replies to comments, he is likely to receive more comments since his audience realize he is indeed a live person and always willing to give them attention.
- http://www.magnet4marketing.net Fabrizio Van Marciano
  
  Hi Dele, thanks for stopping by mate I apologise for not replying sooner as I’ve had to fish your comment out of my spam folder. You’re very right indeed about the depth of engagement from the author is essential. I also too read through all the comments before deciding which ones to reply to. Inevitably not all comments warrant an in-depth reply, perhaps just an acknowledgment. I also believe that treating commentators as individuals rather than a flock can go a long way.
http://www.internetpassiveincomehq.com/ Ben Troy

Contests are an effective way to increase activity. Most websites run one of some type. If you haven’t, you should. Nothing attracts a crowd like the possibility of winning something for free.

But the standard contest that provides a free “prize” for those who enter may not be the best way to get your readers more involved.