Connecting with your target audience is a prime goal for any blog or brand. After all, content serves to persuade, inform and convert: if it isn’t leaving a good impression, then what is the point of creating it? Because of this, verifying that your content is meeting expectations is key.

Not only should quality content be received well by audiences, but it should aim to encourage other actions as well. From interacting with your brand on social media to purchasing a product, every blog posts and page should strive to generate one or more desired actions from your audience.

To encourage this in the new year, let’s look at a few great ideas for engaging your audience and getting optimal results from content.

Solicit Their Feedback

If you’re looking for more engagement from your audience on your blog or social media pages, then consider asking them to weigh in directly. In many situations, pinging users with overt requests for feedback yields real results. Not only will this help boost the natural level of engagement and commentary coming from your audience, but it will also potentially provide you with key insight into the opinions of your audience.

Whether it be soliciting simple opinions on a particular post or asking them for feedback about the brand in general, requesting feedback is one simple way to boost engagement.

Spy on the Competition

Unless you are a complete and utter anomaly, it’s virtually guaranteed that you have multiple competitors online. These brands vie for the same audiences and traffic – and there is a statistically high probability that at least one of these brands is doing better than you. What exactly are they doing to engage their audiences and retain their attention?

This is where a bit of good old-fashioned spying can come in handy. By assessing recent posts on their blogs, social media pages and even email marketing campaigns, you’ll likely find some new ideas for stimulating the interest of your target audience.

Ask for Guest Submissions

The simplest way broadly-speaking to increase engagement is to invite your audience to participate with the brand itself. One such method is providing the audience with the ability to provide guest submissions. This can take many forms: from guest posts written by fellow bloggers seeking a bit more exposure, to user submissions on social media in the form of artwork or YouTube videos.

The sky is the limit when embracing the notion of guest submissions – and given many will want everybody to see their own submissions, it can also help boost brand awareness and traffic through the promotion of others.

Create Community Forums

Last but not least, creating a consistent space where audiences can interact on an individual level continuously can help build a stronger sense of community and more engagement. Forums are great for this purpose in a way that comment sections and social media platforms are not: by providing dedicated spaces that don’t fade from prominence with time, you can ensure that your brand is pinging users with fresh content in an interactive setting. While some may view forums as an old-school solution, many brands continue to find notable success in using them.

Now more than ever, building a lasting community in the digital realm is important. In order to stand above the competition, harnessing the power of your audience is critical. By using the tips mentioned above, you can build the basis for a stronger brand through increased engagement.