How to Keep Your Audience Engaged
with Your Content
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The declaration “content is king” has proven to be true. Professionals across a wide variety of industries report using content marketing to great effect. Additionally, tech innovations have made it easier to produce different types of content. In fact, statistics indicate video will account for approximately 80% of all web traffic by 2021.
Content is effective because it allows brands to inform or entertain users. Sometimes, it does both. Instead of blatantly advertising to consumers (which most don’t appreciate), brands can offer them something valuable.
If users engage with their content, that is. Just as iOS and Android app development companies are having to think outside of the box to attract users, businesses will have to be smart about how they engage customers. As more companies turn to these marketing tactics, competition will continue to increase. Brands need to know what their customers want in order to get their content noticed. An understanding of some psychological principles can help.
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The BJ Fogg Model
Trying to get people to notice and engage with your content is essentially the same as trying to get them to change their behaviors (or at least adopt a new one). To achieve this goal, it helps to refer to BJ Fogg’s behavior model. According to Fogg, a Stanford University behavioral scientist, a person will adopt a new behavior when three factors are in place: motivation, ability, and trigger.
Let’s consider an example to demonstrate how Fogg’s model would apply to content marketing. Perhaps you’re a marketer for a fitness brand that often posts workout videos on YouTube. A person interested in getting fit already has the motivation to work out, and they most likely also have the ability. An alert from your YouTube channel when a new video is uploaded could serve as the trigger.
Fogg’s model can be modified to fit virtually any type of content. It simply requires meeting certain conditions. The more a person engages with valuable content, the more they’ll benefit from it. This creates a reward cycle which gives them greater reason to engage with it again in the future.
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Maintaining Loyalty
Examples such as the one above demonstrate how you can use psychology to draw people to your content. That said, for content marketing to be successful, consumers need to engage with your content regularly. In other words, you need a loyal base.
That’s why it’s important to not overlook some of the more essential practices of content marketing. You still need to make sure your content offers genuine value to users. You have to test various approaches rigorously to determine what type of content your customers respond to most positively.
Thus, it’s always necessary to thoroughly understand what your customers want before planning a strategy. Relying on psychological principles can get them to notice your content, but creating something that truly appeals to them on a consistent basis is key to making sure they continue engaging with it.
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