How can you create a content strategy that encourages audience engagement?

"The audience is the most revered member of the theater." - August Wilson 3 Questions to Ask on this: What are the key elements of a content strategy that can effectively drive audience engagement, and how can they be tailored to specific audiences? How can creators use data and analytics to refine their content strategy and better understand what resonates with their audience? Are there successful content creators or brands that have consistently encouraged audience engagement through their content strategies, and what can we learn from their approaches and practices?

One thing we’ve had success with creators who I mentor is to include regular cues for engagement. There is a reason why every YouTuber out there asks you to “like, comment and subscribe”. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. So, yes, look into the data, the analytics, do polls, run surveys, etc, but always have a relevant question to ask our audience to comment on. This way, you will get way more comment engagement on your content than otherwise. And the best part is you now have a treasure trove of qualitative data you can analyse for insights, content ideas and more.

To build a content strategy you need to understand your goals first what exactly you want to achieve out of it. It is very important to derive a road map what, who, when and how the content wants to be driven.

Personally, I’d say the approach varies based on your content creation experience. For beginners, the most important thing is to focus on creating content you genuinely enjoy. Authenticity and passion will resonate and result in building an audience, so consistency is key for organic growth. If you have an established audience, then analyze data for insights. Study average watch time, identify drop-off points, and monitor interactions with calls to action. This data will help you refine your content for sustained audience engagement and growth. A lot of the time, your content is great, but the execution just needs a tweak! Follow the data and your audience engagement will start to pick up.

Think about this for a second: there are over a billion users on Meta alone. Additionally, social media platforms have every incentive to show your content to the right audience. There are so many users out there that you will have an audience. The secret to finding them is to create engaging content and to be consistent. Social media platforms rely on signals to decide what content to feature. Without a good hook and a piece of value in your content, users will keep scrolling and the algorithm won't feature your content. Once your content is engaging, it needs to be consistent. If you publish content about 5 different topics, you're giving the social media platform too many mixed signals and it won't find an audience that fits you.

From my experience the most valuable KPIs when working with video are: Video retention, amount of comments, system recommendation (each platform shows it differently) and finally followers if you are on a growth strategy. With these KPIs I create OKRs (objectives and key results) and share these with the content team, so they can create their own and be accountable for their work (mostly remote).

The content you create for building a following is not the content you should create to build a community. You need to be clear about what your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are. It may be followers, leads, clients etc. Do you want more views, likes or comments? What is your daily follower goal? Answering these fundamental questions gives you an idea of the next steps you should take.

I realise this question may seem pointless to someone who is starting out: "I need views and subs, what else". I agree that views are a great indicator. It's literally how many people decided to give up anything else and watch you. Next level of advancement would be to monitor impressions, CTR (for VOD, always in relation to impressions, not solely!) or swiped vs. watched on Shorts, retention. To someone who is using their socials to generate leads/sales, I'd focus on those. There are types of content (dancing challenges, even though they are kinda over, they are a great example) that generate a lot of views and close to zero loyalty/leads.

Defining clear goals is crucial for a compelling content strategy. Beyond traditional metrics, explore sentiment analysis and user-generated content for authenticity. Use social listening tools to gauge real-time reactions and adapt strategies promptly. Embrace innovation by exploring new platforms and technologies. Collaborate cross-functionally, integrating diverse perspectives and expertise. By doing so, you'll refine your strategy dynamically, fostering lasting audience engagement.

Yes, your content should reflect your brand voice, but consider using your customer voice to achieve this via influencer marketing or user generated content (UGC) partnerships for greater authenticity and engagement. When your content reflects your audience, it’s much more relatable. So make sure your audience hears themselves in terms of needs and interests, and sees themselves in terms of diverse representation. Both are key to maximizing your return on the content creation process.

One of the best ways to gauge if your content is valuable and relevant is to ask yourself whether the content you're drafting is something you yourself would be happy to consume. One way to simulate this is to take your draft and pose it as if one of your favorite creators in your space were posting it. You can even use a tool like Canva to bring this simulation to life. Then take a good look and ask yourself, "Would they post something like this? If they did and I saw it on my feed or in my inbox, would I like it?"

The content that you create and how it aligns with your personal brand is very important. Asking yourself the question of what will my followers take away from this video is essential in every piece of content that you create. This is because they are watching to gain something from your content, whether that be comedic relief, a learning lesson, etc.

I don't like abstract words "valuable", "relevant" because they have little meaning without examples. Valuable = I decide to click on those and nothing else. Be honest with yourself trying to understand if your content is truly something that a stranger needs to prioritise over anything else. Viewer is egoistic, so another great "check" is a question "so what" that a viewer may ask after having viewed your video thumbnail and title. The value for a viewers needs to be very clear ("value" does not often mean "education", it can also be entertainment).

The easiest way to think about creating relevant content is to focus on sharing lessons and stories. We teach new creators to “Be the show, not the commercial.” The main problem we see is that new creators focus too much on selling their products and services. No one wants to consume and share commercials. However we love learning and sharing stories.

Remember most systems today use AI and its NLP tools, so building strong descriptions full of keywords is very important for the platform. Also learn about categories or verticals on each platform. Choose one that matches your content and try to get learnings from other creators of your vertical. Eg: Food, Gaming, Fashion, beauty, Lifestyle. ¿Which is your vertical?

I'm really not a fan of "SEO optimisation". Given that any platfrom can now generate w hole script of your video instantly, how much new information can a keyword or a tag you've created add? Not much. Focus on the user and have your titles and designs spark/provoke emotions/curiosity. As they say in scriptwriting, add "tension" there. Don't use purely descriptive titles. Compare "How to learn to surf" vs. "I tried learning how to surf in 30 days. Here is unexpected thing that I learned". SEO can be a means to actually target what people search, but again it's not the only traffic source that exists. to capture th traffic of those navigating YouTube Home page or those scrolling LinkedIn feed requires tension building skills.

Understanding what are the best ways for your videos to get discovered across all of the different social platforms is very important. I always stay up to date-as a creator through LinkedIn and also email newsletters of what is working the best in terms of optimization on all of the platforms.

SEO techniques are crucial. Considering how the SEO recommended keywords are featured in the content naturally helps to create the content.

One thing I found is to keep it simple and sweet. Of late people want bite size knowledge. Using simple language. Also telling them to share the knowledge, like , comment and subscribe for more updates.

Give a good vali reason for people to interact with you. Be very respectful of their time and make sure your calls to action are not shallow and provide a reason to interact. Purely "subscribe" does not give any reason or value, while "subscribe not to miss my next episode about X" or "subscribe to support my channel hit 2M subs and be able to invite better guests to my interviews" have a more clear reason.

Here are 5 common taglines you can use to encourage engagement: "Like this video if you want to see more videos like this" "Subscribe for free for more videos like this" "Share this video with someone to help them out" "Comment any questions you'd like me to answer in a future video" "Please like this video to help spread the word" Pick a tagline that suits you, and be sure to repeat it at the end of every video - or experiment with a few different lines to see what works with your audience.

You can encourage more interaction and feedback from your followers and audience by asking them the following questions in the caption of a video or even on a live stream: - What kind of content do you like seeing? - What kind of content do you want to see more of? - Comment on this video if you want to see more videos like this

Analyzing and improving your content as time goes on is one of the hardest things about being a creator and influencer. To improve your content and optimize your following, analyzing each month what videos did well, what videos did not do well, and what content got the most engagement is essential. This is because you are able to then take that data and information and cater your content for the next month based on what is working well. If you don't do this, it will be much harder to grow as an influencer.

Content interest changes in the target audience. One of the aspects I'd suggest keeping in mind is to periodically revisit how relevant the content is to the target audience. As an example, some technology topics come and go. How do you keep abreast of this and support your target audience?

Be yourself. That is the easiest way to create an audience that will engage with your content. If you try to be someone else, copy someone else’s content, try to be like another creator, people will see right through that. Be yourself. Make content that makes you happy and people will be attracted because your unique self shines the brightest.

↔️ Integrating recurring content series or episodic content into your strategy fosters anticipation and routine, encouraging audience loyalty. By creating a sense of continuity and expectation, you give your audience reasons to return and engage consistently, building a stronger community around your content ↔️