The amount of marketing channels is growing, but consumers are becoming more and more immune to traditional advertising. It’s not enough anymore to buy a billboard on the highway or make an ad on TV.
The only chance for survival is engaging with customers in their environment.
Engagement Marketing encompasses all possible interactions between brands and customers that are relevant for the brand business goals – from short text messages to social media posts that go viral, from email campaigns to customer reviews.
There are no more shortcuts. Brands have to be engaged with their customers now more than ever before, or they will lose out on the opportunity of a lifetime.
Today’s world is tough and competitive, truly a dog-eat-dog society. This analogy directly applies to the marketing industry because, to be successful, companies have to fight for every customer they can get.
For example, many readers could be thinking of an ad they received on their phone or computer screen recently; likely it was an ad for a new brand of clothing, shoes, or even food.
Although all of these ads are trying to sell something, they do so in the most creative way they can because that is exactly what it takes to engage consumers.
Sometimes advertisements will display an app where customers can click and be directed to more information about the product they are viewing.
Marketing professionals and experts are working hard to explore new and innovative ways to give rise to engagement marketing.
Your Targeted Audience is Craving for Content
Whether you’re marketing your business or blogging, you need to realize that people are gluttons for the written word. If they can read something, then they will. That’s why there’s such an emphasis on written content in all marketing campaigns; it generates more leads than any other type of medium, and it works quite well when targeting the right audience.
Don’t think that written content is more important than other types of media; it’s just the most popular and widely accessible.
Video and audio content, for example, still attract large platforms, but they’re less universal and therefore not as effective on a global scale as good old-fashioned written words.
Sure, those videos will likely yield more engagement, but they’re also not as approachable for many people in the world.
Most of the growth in content marketing is coming from North America and Europe; Africa and parts of Asia still don’t have access to video or audio media on a large enough scale for it to be effective against written words.
There’s a reason Google has been working toward bringing WiFi to far-off places – it realizes that written content is a powerful tool, and if more people have access to it, there will naturally be a boom in the number of leads available for marketers, making their jobs a whole lot easier.
Consumers Love to Engage With Their Favorite Brands
It’s no secret that consumers are becoming more interconnected with their favorite brands than ever before. With the evolution of technology, social media platforms have become extremely popular, allowing global corporations to “socialize” with customers through these platforms to create a win-win scenario for both sides. It is also evident that social media works for another reason -It allows consumers to publicly discuss their opinions about specific brands, retailers, and experiences.
This raises the question: How does social media affect the way brands engage with customers?
- Social media is not only beneficial for connecting with current customers; it also gives marketers valuable insight into their target audience(s), which will ultimately decrease costs and boost the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
- In addition, social media is only going to continue growing as time passes. A study from Pew Research Center states that “72% of online adults use some form of social networking site”. This statistic shows that staying connected with customers through these platforms is vital for any business.
- It is also evident that social media aids in customer retention, which can lower costs associated with acquiring new customers. With the use of tools such as Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics, marketers can track what consumers like and dislike about their brand.
- As previously mentioned, this allows marketers to readjust aspects of their company to provide a better experience for their customers.
- Additionally, social media allows marketers to directly interact with their customers through the use of contests and giveaways.
- By implementing this strategy, companies can create incentives that encourage consumers to share certain posts or tweets.
Audience Demand Transparency
It is a new social media age for brands, where many of them are becoming generally more transparent in their messaging. And this isn’t going unnoticed by the audience.
From The New York Times:
In a world that has been intoxicated with transparency and authenticity, marketers must struggle to keep up. Even if it means sharing information about product recalls or redesigns.
In this new world, marketers can’t wait until a campaign rolls out to reveal. Which celebrities are endorsing their products or how much money is spent on media buys.
In The Wall Street Journal:
The brands that get social media right will probably be the ones that aren’t afraid to pull back the curtain and share insights about what’s worked and what hasn’t.
Marketing strategists believe that today’s consumer is less receptive to ads than ever before. So it’s no longer enough to create a compelling advertisement and hope for the best. Instead of merely showing off new products. Brands must dazzle audiences with additional content: behind-the-scenes videos or sneak previews on social media.
The Huffington Post:
Advertising and marketing agencies and brands and the like…can’t come out and say, ‘Hey, you know what? We want to be completely open with the consumers.’ You can’t just say that. You have to show it. Brands can no longer get away with tweeting out ads without any context or value and hope that people will follow, like, or retweet.
It’s not just social media. The Wall Street Journal:
Brands across many industries are starting to embrace new tools — some of which can be as low-tech as phone calls and face-to-face meetings — to keep constant contact with consumers, answer questions, and react to complaints in real-time.
In short, the days of advertising campaigns driven simply by media buys and publicity stunts are over. In today’s society, brands need to prove that they’re being transparent with their audience. Offering value through content and responding quickly to consumer feedback.
Conclusion
Do you remember a time when only brand recognition and expensive advertisements were the keys to getting your message across?
Did you ever wonder why it is that despite spending billions on advertising campaigns? Do many brands still struggle for market share?
Is it because “engagement” is too much of a buzzword these days, or because there’s a deeper connection between engagement and how people relate to brands?
A brand is only as good as its ability to be memorable for its potential customers.