Understanding Your Audience: The Key to Engagement
Imagine hosting a dinner party for a few friends and some colleagues youâve only met once. If you spend the entire night sharing in-jokes your closest mates know, the rest of them will stare into their glasses, counting the minutes until they can politely leave. I Doubt the same goes for putting out marketing collateral without first knowing who your audience is. It might be beautifully done but if it sounds like itâs talking to people much younger or older than your average reader, theyâll leave with a bitter taste in their mouth.
There is a way to craft content that avoids all the one-size-fits-all messaging weâre so used to hearing. That means doing some research, following up with customers via DMs on social media or emails (if you have consent), looking at demographic data from your website analytics, and getting a sense of whoâs joining the conversation around your brand online. You can even host an Instagram live chat or an event and ask questions to get to know the people behind each view or purchase.
Once you understand what type of customers are coming to your business, start making content tailored for them. If youâre running an indie beauty brand that caters to both Gen Z and boomers, there are often ways to speak their language while keeping your brand identity consistent across communication channels. It may take some time before you see results but when done right, it not only helps build trust and loyalty among existing customers but also increases conversions with new ones.
The bottom line is: Customers want brands that take an interest in them as individuals. Sort of. When they feel like part of something bigger than themselves - a community full of people just like them - theyâll come back for more every time.
Creating Compelling Content That Resonates
Suggests That you know that feeling when you scroll through instagram and suddenly you pause. Something catches your eye. Itâs a sassy meme about midlife fashion, or a quote from Iris Apfel that makes you chortle, or maybe itâs a behind-the-scenes video of an actual human - not just a model - wearing the brandâs clothes. You think, yeah, I get this.
Theyâre speaking to me, not at me. Compelling content isnât about flawless models in perfect light. That just feels flat.
Iâve always thought itâs more like having an honest chat with the customer on the other side of the screen. What are they struggling with. Are they worried about finding jeans for bodies that have stretched and shifted with time.
Or do they see themselves as style icons but canât find shops that offer their size. This is what pulls your content out of âsalesyâ and into âsavvyâ. Hereâs where authenticity counts.
Maybe throw in a few personal stories from staff or customers. Show us photos of different bodies looking and feeling fabulous in your gear. Fess up to a failed idea, even laugh at yourself if you did something goofy (but sweet).
And always keep your finger on the pulse: whatâs happening in pop culture that ties back to your product. Is there a viral moment you can jump on while staying true to your voice. Weirdly, it seems like most brands are still stuck in the 2000s with their shiny marketing budgets telling us to buy because weâll magically look younger or thinner or - letâs face it - more white or able-bodied. Consumers donât buy into that anymore.
Or maybe Iâm being optimistic, but it seems like weâre all craving real connection over targeted sales pitches now. What definitely works is content that helps women feel seen and heard, no matter their shape or age or life stage.
Leveraging Social Media for Community Building
Have you ever found yourself lost in a Twitter thread or the comment section of a viral Instagram post. People engage with content for all kinds of reasons - to argue, to joke, to feel included. Itâs never about watching an ad.
Looks Like brands that use social media to create connections with their followers stand out the most because audiences want more than product updates and plug posts. The way I see it, social media is a place where people can come together, share ideas, and talk about what matters to them. With consumers increasingly going online to look for everything from food deliveries to advice for health conditions (a big no-no in my opinion), they are forming communities based on shared interests.
The best part about these online groups is that theyâre not bound by geography or time zones. Brands that understand this opportunity and use it for customer engagement see better results. Brands can use social media platforms to build thriving communities by making people feel valued.
This means giving them a platform to voice their opinions, share their own stories, and connect with others who may be going through similar experiences. Social media makes it possible for brands to become facilitators of meaningful conversations about larger issues like self-acceptance or living sustainably. Even within these niche communities, brands can supposedly keep up the engagement by hosting events online and asking their audience what topics interest them. Social media is the ideal way for people everywhere to learn new things and find others like them.
It creates trust, inspires loyalty, and develops relationships between people who care about the same thing whether thatâs a brand or community cause.
Personalization: Tailoring Experiences for Repeat Customers
You know that feeling when you walk into a store and the sales assistant actually remembers you. And not in a fake âhi, sweetheartâ way but in a way that suggests they know what you like and have been thinking about you - just a little bit - since your last visit. Thatâs the sort of personalisation we want to bring to our customer interactions. All relationships require attention, so why would it be any different with customers.
Sort of. Personalisation can be built into every single customer touch point, from an email offering new product recommendations based on past purchases or something as simple as a handwritten thank you card with every purchase. We shouldnât ever underestimate the power of feeling seen. There are almost never plenty of tools in the market to help with personalisation but when it comes to strategy, go beyond the basics of storing data - use that information to serve customers better.
Sort of. Personalisation can nearly always also show up in experiences for loyal customers. That means loyalty events or special preview offers where customers feel like theyâre being let in before everyone else. Sort of.
You could also make some products exclusive for regulars or even offer them discounts on their birthdays. Sort of. The trick is to be consistent and help every repeat customer feel like your brand or business is listening and responding to their needs, instead of being sold products they donât want (and that are probably polluting the planet).
In an era where most communication comes from a bot, nothing can quite replace an authentic human interaction.
Implementing Loyalty Programs That Work
You know when you walk into your favourite coffee shop and they hand you that slightly grubby loyalty card with three stamps on it. Suddenly, youâre planning your next two coffees. I mean, who doesnât want a freebie, even if youâre technically âearningâ it by spending more than you planned.
Loyalty programs have been around since the days of trading stamps and airline miles, but thereâs a difference between offering free stuff and actually convincing people to come back for more. A successful reward program feels less like bribery and more like an invitation. That sounds a bit grandiose, but thereâs an art to making people feel rewarded without training them to wait for a discount before buying again.
Give too much away and you risk undermining the value of your product; donât give enough and itâll come off stingy or irrelevant. I suppose the answer is nearly always somewhere in the middle. And context matters - young buyers might be dazzled by tiered points systems with rewards they can usually show off on social media, while older ones might care more about exclusive events or getting first dibs on new releases.
Sort of. I suspect most businesses are guilty of launching programs that nobody uses because they get lost in cluttered inboxes or ignored at checkout. To stand out, companies need to keep the communication crystal clear (and maybe occasionally funny), remind people what theyâre working towards without badgering them, and make rewards feel like an event instead of another chore. Surprise freebies work wonders, as does asking regulars what rewards would excite them most - not everyone wants branded merch.
Done well, loyalty incentives turn fleeting interest into brag-worthy relationships between brands and buyers. Make people feel seen as individuals - not just numbers on a spreadsheet. The way I see it, the customer who feels appreciated is one whoâll talk about your store for years. Itâs amazing how often something so simple gets forgotten when it matters most - which is why we need to get it right.
Measuring Engagement Success: Metrics to Track
I remember working with this brand back in the day. They were always focused on growth but they didnât know what that really meant. They just kept saying they wanted to grow, you know.
Thatâs when I started talking to them about metrics. And the importance of tracking numbers. Not just following them, but keeping a close eye on them and knowing when to change things up if youâre not seeing what you want to see. This is the best way to make sure your efforts are paying off - and if they arenât, then itâs time to start experimenting with something new.
Letâs talk about how you measure engagement success. Because that's one metric that can get tricky - and sometimes even elusive. The thing is, there isnât a clear-cut answer to this question because the reality is evidently that it depends on your goals as a business. When I say engagement here, Iâm referring to social media engagement but also website engagement and content marketing engagement.
For social media platforms, engagement rate is typically defined as likes and comments (or reactions) divided by the number of followers. Social media managers tend to track overall engagement rates for posts and profiles using an average of these values across posts within a certain timeframe or for particular campaigns - like monthly campaigns or giveaway campaigns. With email, you want to look at open rates, click-through rates, and even unsubscribes if you want the whole picture. For your website or blog (or even YouTube channel), youâll need metrics like traffic growth, time spent on site (or watch time), bounce rate, etc.
The way I see it,, to indicate whether your content marketing strategy is working. If youâre seeing more eyes on your website from new people than before, then chances are your content is quite a bit working - itâs bringing people in. But are they sticking around.
Thatâs what âtime spentâ will tell you - if your audience stays for long enough, it means theyâre engaged and interested in what you have to say or sell.