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In the busy world of CPA firms, many marketers focus themselves growing lists, existing clients, Twitter followers, and Facebook friends, but ignore a metric that creates mobs of raving supporters and new clients. It’s called audience engagement, and it can boost your online brand and presence considerably.

The fact is the majority of our target audience spends less than 15 seconds actively on any given web page. This indicates that as marketers we need to move away from advertising influenced metrics, such as clicks and page views, and start measuring the impact of our campaigns and online presence with more sophisticated metrics that are relevant to the medium, such as activity and reach

The truth of the matter is that valuable audience engagement is all about quality over quantity. Too many marketers skip ahead and underestimate the importance of fundamentally engaging your target audience first. In a competitive market you can’t afford to wait for them to find you.

Below are 5 ways to increase engagement online with your target audience, which in turn creates more value for your firm and your readers and viewers

Know where they are as in platform

In the same way that our favorite football team can be decided by where we live, or our favorite food can be decided by our culture, our preferred method for communicating has a lot to do with our situation in life, our choices and our interests.

For marketers, it is important to know the preferences of our target audience so we can tailor content strategies to the most appealing form possible, increasing the potential for successful engagement.

Social media has changed the way we communicate as a society, and a one-size-fits-all approach to social media engagement is never going to be successful in the same way a blanket advertising campaign is not going to bring the ROI of a targeted one.

The take-away here is to find where there target market is, and how they are communicating.

Know what content they’re in search of

People are only going to come onto your site if you have what they’re looking for. In most cases, this would be fore one of two very simple things:

1. You’re answering their question
2. You have an insight into something they are interested in

For many industries including CPA firms, the Internet is a saturated market. Trying to get started when you already feel like you’re behind the 8-ball can be daunting, so it’s important to do your due diligence on the current landscape and find the gaps that you believe you can fill with valuable content and insight. Offer clients and prospects information that your competitors are not.

Be on the money because time is money

The Internet has bred a generation that’s hooked on instant gratification which means timing is everything. Be extremely conscious of what you can offer and how best to accommodate the demands of your industry to remain current.

Occasionally you’ll receive views/visits when someone accidentally stumbles across your website while “window shopping”, but in general there is a catalyst to every person’s Internet excursion. Knowing the events, trends and ideas that drive readers to your content, puts you in a better position to effectively time your posts and get the maximum engagement out of each one.

Be consistent and reliable

When you’ve gotten your target audience’s attention, the next key step is to remain consistent. Let’s face it, no one likes getting hooked on a blog only for the author vanish for three weeks with zero posts.

In a world where literally everything is just one click away, it’s unlikely that an audience is going to remain loyal to you for long if you abandon them leaving them to think you have nothing new to say.

If you remain consistent in your delivery of insightful and valuable content, your readers will consistently return to consume it. Similarly to knowing what time you should be posting content, it’s crucial to know how often your audience would be willing to engage with you and be eager for new material. A great idea is to map out your content in advance and then stick to it.

The Internet is a two-way street

If you can commit to a blog post once per week or posting a video once per month that’s great, but don’t forget how important sporadic engagement can be to the audiences that are in conversation everyday. Remember to listen and respond to your audience’s spontaneous conversations as often as you are trying to generate your own.

Engaging with your audience by way of answering questions or giving the odd hint or tip is a sure fire way to ensure a reciprocal kind of loyalty to your site – and it makes you and your firm human. It cannot be stressed enough that social media must be an inherently social activity. The conversation door swings both ways.

The Internet is a big place and there are many potential clients to be found if you use interface to your advantage.

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If you are struggling with your online and social marketing efforts and would like more information, let us know. We can help.