How to improve engagement: 10 tips and 5 examples

To connect with your potential customers, it is necessary to always keep engagement in mind

Engagement is one of the most commonly used terms in marketing to refer to the brand-customer relationship. In this sense, engagement refers to the set of strategies that promote the connection and involvement of users with a company in a lasting and intense way. This, as Luis Maram proposes, could be summarised as "the art of creating unconditional love for a brand".

The apparent simplicity of its definition hides an exhaustive work where many agents and techniques are involved, but also a lot of time and, sometimes, money. Of course, all of this has more than significant advantages, which we will explain below:

• it boosts your brand image. Engagement is very much aimed at satisfying the tastes of your customers, so if your company manages to connect with them by making them share your values, you will be improving the image they have of your brand.
• by improving your reputation, customers will feel part of your company and will create an emotional bond that will favour long-term loyal relationships. This is where interaction plays a fundamental role.

• Increase your reach: If customers feel a special bond with your company, they will perceive your achievements as their own, so they will look for your work to reach their acquaintances through social media or word of mouth, increasing your brand's reach.
• improve the profitability of your business. Any of the above three benefits will lead to increased sales, which is, after all, the ultimate goal of any marketing strategy.

10 tips and methods to implement engagement in your marketing campaign

The engagement strategy is multidisciplinary and needs to reach all areas of your company, which is why we at OCCAM present a small but complete guide with 10 recommendations that you can use in your day-to-day work:

1. opt for mailing as a loyalty channel. The desired reception of informative mailings about the company is one of the best methods to stay in touch with your audience most interested in the brand. In addition, it favours the capture of data about your buyer persona and offers the possibility of recovering inactive users.
2. segment your audience to better meet their interests and needs. In relation to the previous point, you can divide your audience according to different characteristics to increase personalisation and, with it, the identification of your followers with the brand.

3. Make social networks your biggest showcase. Although they are not the only way to achieve engagement, social profiles are one of the best ways to work on your relationship with users. Focus your strategy on creating a community through originality and consistency (just as a good community manager would do).

4. Create your own quality content in different formats and channels. Content marketing is essential to offer value to the customer experience from social networks, mailing, website, etc.

5. Interact and add contact methods that are as instantaneous as possible. For there to be a real relationship between the user and the company, you must work on interaction in different ways, as well as facilitating communication. In this sense, show your followers how valuable their opinions are so that they participate in your actions. And don't forget to surprise them from time to time!
   
6. give your brand personality and values (branding). Use an approachable, humble and human tone in your communications (both public and private) so that users perceive you as something more than a company. In this sense, it is interesting that your brand represents certain values that can connect with the sensibilities of your potential customers.

7. Design a website and/or a mobile application, paying special attention to usability and accessibility.

8. Offer a customer card and/or discounts. Although it may seem old-fashioned, a card (which can be physical or digital) involves the user in the brand. This can be increased through discounts or other advantages presented by the company in the form of rewards, such as, for example, offering €10 discount for every €100 spent.
9. launch sweepstakes to promote your products and diversify your community. This is one of the most common techniques used by companies on social networks, but it can also be used in mailing campaigns to strengthen the interest of your subscribers.
10. look for engagement outside your office. Street marketing or holding conferences and courses are also effective ways to improve contact with your potential customers. In addition, face-to-face interaction offers more guarantees than digital interaction.

5 examples to boost your brand engagement

Now that we are familiar with the concept of engagement and we know how to work with it, we should review some success stories to put theory into practice:

1. another way of living at the hands of Estrella Damm

As a way of transmitting business values, this beer brand launched a campaign through various audiovisual media to raise awareness about climate change. Its success lies in the creation of a visually attractive video and a special soundtrack that moves and impacts the viewer. Here we do not see the promotion of a specific product, but rather a work to improve the reputation and brand image by linking it to a real concern of society. And its reach is remarkable: more than 3,500,000 views and 1,000 comments on YouTube, like this one from Ana: "Thank you for these projects, they are more than necessary".

2. Bankinter or "the bank that sees money as you see it"

A campaign similar to the previous one in that it is aimed at audiovisual media and includes its own emotive soundtrack, but with nuances. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this bank showed society the advantages offered by its services. They gave an image of real concern for the human situation we were experiencing that connected with many people. In figures, we found almost 3,400,000 views and 1,400 comments, such as this one from Javier: "I think this is one of the few times that an advert moves me".

3. Domino's and Heura pop-ups

A far cry from the two previous cases, we can find the use of pop-ups (temporary physical shops) during the joint campaign for a new product between two different companies in the food sector. Thus, they opened two meeting points with the public (one in Madrid and the other in Barcelona) to give away slices of the new pizza for a day. A clear example of street marketing.

4. UniKo's answers

This audiovisual production company, like many other companies, focuses its work on social networks on responding to users who post comments on their films, whether they mention them directly or not. In this way, they generate an atmosphere of proximity that facilitates the creation of a loyal community.

5. Filmin's interactive methods

Another case of engagement on social networks that, in a simple but effective way, is committed to user interaction and participation. In this case, the streaming platform takes advantage of an event of interest such as Halloween to generate bonds with its followers.

Now it's your turn, take note of what you've learned, think about the best techniques for your company and look for engagement!