What are the best ways to drive consumer engagement through content creation?
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— The LinkedIn Team
Content creation is one of the most effective ways to attract, engage, and retain your target audience. But not all content is created equal. To stand out from the noise and deliver value to your consumers, you need to follow some best practices and strategies. In this article, we'll share some tips on how to drive consumer engagement through content creation, based on the latest trends and insights.
Before you create any content, you need to know who you're creating it for. You need to understand your audience's needs, preferences, challenges, and goals. You can use tools like surveys, interviews, analytics, and personas to gather and analyze data about your consumers. This will help you tailor your content to their interests, pain points, and expectations. You'll also be able to segment your audience and deliver personalized content that resonates with them.
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Nick Lloyd
Senior Brand Manager. Playwright. Cyclist. Mammal.
At some point you have to remind yourself that the data and research in front of you is not a mandate to paint by numbers. Your audience is real people who most likely could give a hoot about your brand at the moment you interrupt their day. The trick is to turn your data insights into something that feels like a gift to your audience. A forgotten itch that has suddenly been scratched. If you are not having conversations about things like your audience’s joy and meaning and anxiety and frustration, you are not there yet. You are still looking down at the script and not up at the humanity on stage.
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Devin Dillon, MBA
Strategically Elevating Brands as a Results-Driven CMO 🚀 | Marketing Visionary | Driving Growth and Innovation
Knowing your audience is like hosting a dinner party. Data analytics helps curate a menu to tantalize their tastes. Crafting buyer personas is pre-meeting our guests, ensuring lively banter. Journey mapping crafts the playlist, setting engagement rhythm. Sentiment and trend analysis keep the conversation fresh and vibing. Competitor analysis is understanding the popular eateries, finding our unique niche. Open feedback channels are our RSVPs, turning our brand's narrative into an open-invite soiree. Behavioral analytics are the subtle nods and smiles, guiding engagement. This approach morphs us from mere content creators to charismatic hosts, where every content piece is an invite to a captivating narrative, keeping our audience returning.
Content comes in many forms and formats, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, ebooks, webinars, and more. Each format has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on your goals, audience, and resources. You need to choose the right format for your content, based on what you want to achieve, how you want to communicate, and how your audience prefers to consume content. You should also experiment with different formats and measure their performance to see what works best for your brand.
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Yasaman Karimpour یاسمن کریمپور
PhD in Marketing Management/ Brand & Marketing Strategist/ Podcaster
In addition to content format try to choose right tone of voice for your brand. Its important to talk and respond to your audience based on each channel characteristics and your brand personality. Each touch point has its own way to communication. For example LinkedIn can be useful for your internal branding purposes while Instagram is a place to talk to your final customers.
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Alison Osborne
Marketing at Quill Inc & CoHost | Helping brands create podcasts
Choosing the right format comes back to having a deep understanding of your audience. But in addition to this, you also need to have a strategy in place around how your different formats and channels will work together. Will the podcast inspire the blog? Will a series of posts from the blog turn into an e-book? It's helped me save time when I know how each piece of content is connected and it also makes for a more cohesive brand experience for your audience.
The most engaging content is the one that provides value and relevance to your audience. You need to create content that solves their problems, answers their questions, educates them, entertains them, or inspires them. You need to create content that aligns with their stage in the buyer's journey, from awareness to decision. You need to create content that showcases your expertise, authority, and credibility. And you need to create content that reflects your brand voice, personality, and values.
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MKay A.
Your buyer is looking for ways to solve their problem, therefore your content needs to resonate with solving their problem. Above all else, understand the needs of your audience and highlight pain points. Once you understand your buyer then you can provide value through the use of content. Answer the questions your buyer is asking and curate your content by story telling. People resonate the most with good stories.
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Scott Taylor, MBA
Connecting People + Brands With Purpose | Brand • Marketing • Strategy | Agency Founder @ goBlkDog.com
With content you can do one or a combination of the following: Inform. Inspire. Include. Enlist. Educate. Entertain. Empower.
Content creation is not enough. You also need to make sure that your content is visible and accessible to your audience. You need to optimize your content for search engines and social media platforms, using keywords, titles, tags, descriptions, images, and links. You need to follow the best practices and guidelines of each channel, such as length, format, tone, and frequency. You also need to monitor and update your content regularly, to keep it fresh and relevant.
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Isabel Geriante
Driving IT Employer Branding and Community Engagement | IT Branding and Community Specialist @ ISS | Internal Communications Expert | Creator of Digital Content 🚀
When doing inbound marketing, for example, you really need to attract an audience to your website and digital platforms. First, start by understanding what your audience will search for and go from there - you can go on Google Trends or Answer the Public to listen to what people are saying, for example. After that, and more technically, use the right keywords and repeat them on the image tag, usually defined by 'alt text'; on the title; and on the description. Using link buildings - either the internal or external ones that redirect your audience to your profiles or similar content you already created can be very helpful as well. Also, Keep in mind to write in an active voice, and be direct and concise.
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Wolfgang Schultz
Für ein schlagkräftiges Marketing-Team, das Anfragen generiert – mit maßgeschneiderten Vertriebsmarketing-Systemen
Visibility is the top priority. Because what good is it if, as a manufacturer, you print a great advertising flyer and lay it out at the entrance of your company? If people don't notice what you offer and the benefits you provide, then no matter how great your benefits are, you won't be able to help anyone. Therefore, it's essential to also be found and to optimize the content and formats so that they are discovered by the target group AND are perceived as the ideal solution partner. And only then can you help your target group, and the target group will be receptive to the help.
Content creation is not a one-way street. You also need to engage your audience and encourage them to interact with your content and your brand. You need to invite them to comment, share, like, subscribe, rate, review, or take action on your content. You need to respond to their feedback, questions, and complaints. You need to create a community around your content, where you can build trust, loyalty, and advocacy.
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Rachel G.
Senior Oracle HCM Consultant | Candidate Experience & Talent Branding
All too often content becomes a reader board of announcements and ideas, rather than a place for people to grow and discuss ideas. Creating content goes beyond posting and needs to include engagement with the audience . There are so many content creators who share posts but never interact with their audience, react or respond to their thoughts in return. How is the audience supposed to be invested in you, without some sort of personal connection?
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Keirsten Hansen
Think like a storyteller. Start by understanding your audience – their needs, interests, and pain points. Create content that speaks to them, offering solutions and valuable insights. Keep it fresh and relatable, using visuals, videos, and interactive elements. Encourage feedback and conversations, responding to comments and questions promptly. Stick to a content schedule that your audience can rely on.
Content creation is an ongoing process. You need to constantly analyze and improve your content, based on the data and insights you collect. You need to track and measure the performance of your content, using metrics such as views, clicks, shares, conversions, retention, and satisfaction. You need to identify what works and what doesn't, and adjust your content accordingly. You need to test and experiment with new ideas, formats, and strategies, and learn from your results.
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Thomas Baen
Marketing Strategy Leadership Professional
One danger of this is trying measure too much or the wrong things. Vanity metrics are still alive and you should not let them guide your efforts.
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Alexander S.
Helping companies find exceptional tech, product & sales talent | Director of Customer Success @ Baldur Connect
Improvement comes from reflection and analysis. Elon Musk's habit of reviewing his own speeches and presentations helps him identify areas for enhancement. Regularly assessing your performance and content allows for continuous growth.
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Belito Garcia
I offer strategic advice and solutions that dramatically improve online operations for small businesses.
The best way to drive consumer engagement is to be your true authentic self. It’s easy to portray someone that you’re not in a digital space. Over time, even your most ideal clients will see through the act and leave you for your competitors. People love authenticity, personality, and opinion. Even if they disagree with you, they’ll respect you for being transparent and open in your content. Being your true authentic self and showing your personality will help you stand out in a sea of “Gurus” and monotony.
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Alexander S.
Helping companies find exceptional tech, product & sales talent | Director of Customer Success @ Baldur Connect
Beyond these seven points, consider the power of collaboration with the LinkedIn community. Engage with fellow professionals, share insights, and learn from their experiences. One community member, Sarah, shared her story of how connecting with experts in her field allowed her to tailor her speeches to different regions effectively, acknowledging cultural nuances.