So, you’ve got a website full of content. Now that’s already an achievement to be proud of, but it won’t help you much unless users actually interact with that content. Those interactions are exactly what we mean when we talk about engagement. Put simply — the more you can get users to engage, the more positive impact your brand gets out of it.
What is user engagement?
First, we’ll start by looking more closely at what engagement means. The Online Advertising Guide defines engagement as “any sort of interaction with content”. That content could be blog posts, videos or social media posts, just to name a few examples. ‘Interactions’ is a pretty broad term – it could refer to a user scrolling on a page, clicking a link, or even just clicking to enlarge an image. But what you really want to focus on here are meaningful interactions, the ones that make a user feel positive about your brand and help them learn about your products.
How to increase user engagement on your website
If you want to increase how much users engage with your content, then you need to give them lots of opportunities to interact. Let them click, respond, watch or listen. Let them try things out for themselves. And remember – make it meaningful! Here are some simple ways you can get users interacting:
Enable comments
Do you have a blog? Then adding a comments section can definitely help to increase your engagement. Once you’ve enabled comments, try inviting users to share their thoughts at the end of your posts. Have they had any experience with what you’re writing about? What are their feelings about the topic? Plus, if you do get comments coming in, keep the ball rolling by responding to those comments. Make it a conversation!
Add social buttons
Social buttons let users share your content on social media in just a couple of clicks. It’s a quick and rewarding way to add an opportunity for users to engage. It’s quick and easy for users too. If they like your content or find it interesting, they can share it. This way, one user engaging with your content can lead to even more users becoming engaged.
Include videos on your pages
Videos can be a really nice addition to your content. Don’t just add any old video, of course. Only include a video if it’s relevant and brings an extra dimension to your text. When users click to play those videos, they’re engaging with your content.
Link to your other pages
If you add links to other pages on your site, you can get users engaged and keep them on your site for longer. Again, the goal isn’t to get users clicking on anything and everything. Try to include meaningful links related to the content they’re already looking at. Internal linking isn’t just good for user engagement, it can help your SEO too.
Create interactive tools or quizzes
Do you want to make really engaging content? Then try creating interactive tools or quizzes. These can really transform your users’ experience, giving them an opportunity to get involved. At the same time, you could use those interactive tools or quizzes to help your users understand what you do, or which product is the best for their needs.
You can add interactive media using dedicated plugins. Alternatively, if you can code you might be able to make them yourself.
Offer downloadable resources
By implementing some of our previous ideas, hopefully your users will be more engaged while they’re on your website. But what about when they leave your site? With downloadable resources – things like PDF checklists and guides – you can keep your users engaged even when they’re offline. Remember to add your URL and branding on any downloadable documents you provide.
Tips for successful user engagement
As you can see, making content that your users can engage with is fairly straightforward. However, there are some things you should keep in mind for the best results. Here are the most important things you should (and shouldn’t) be doing:
Keep it focused
When trying to make your content more engaging, it’s easy to go overboard and add too many things to your pages. If your site becomes too cluttered, users will find it distracting and it will be hard for them to digest your content. Keep things focused by selecting a few of the most relevant user engagement options for each page.
Remember your bigger goals
You can have a lot of fun finding ways to get your users engaged with your content. It’s definitely a chance to be creative! Still, it’s good to remember all of these things are taking up time and resources. Always keep your bigger business goals in mind and make sure you’re engaging users with content that supports your objectives.
Use analytics to harvest data
User engagement is a metric; a kind of data about your visitors and how they’re experiencing your website. So that means two things. Firstly, if you make efforts to increase your user engagement but don’t measure the results, you’re missing a piece of the big picture. Secondly, you can use that data in combination with other site analytics to get a better understanding of your users. Looking at your data is a great way to make improvements to your site, and it can help your business succeed.
Final thoughts
By now you should have some ideas about how you can increase user engagement on your website. Remember – it’s all about giving users opportunities to interact with your content. Be creative, stay focused, and measure your results. It’s that simple!
