Nearly everyone who has some information to share or content to put across the internet has a blog today. And with the growing number of blogging platforms that are free, there are plenty of people who create blog posts on a regular basis.
So as the arena gets more and more competitive by the day how do you make your blogs popular?
How do you acquire a number of views and shares for your blogs?
The answer is simple –‘engagement of the audience’ Now how do you do that?
Reader engagement for bloggers can happen in many ways.
In fact, there are many that get really creative in creating a two-way communication to make the blog sites interactive and to create content that has the readers wanting more at all times. These are the blogs that automatically fetch a great number of shares without the blogger having to ask the reader to share the posts.
When you write your blog you are talking to your readers. But how do you listen to them?
How do you make your voice heard, literally, to give that human touch to the digital content on the blog? After all, there are artificial intelligence systems that can even create content and publish them.
How do people know that it is a live human sitting and drafting his or her thoughts?
Adding a picture on your profile page doesn’t count. Really talk to your audience. Use the convenient options like Facebook Live and others to let your readers see and understand the person that is behind the blog that they had so avidly been following!
Getting your voice heard
While we talk about getting your voice heard there are two newly popular topics in user engagement in blogging – Podcasting and Broadcasting.
Well, these have been popular for ages, in fact, they were popular even before all the digital media started growing. And podcasts have existed way back in the time when live streaming was not a thing!
Broadcasts existed way back when there were no internet or computers. Blending the merits of tech with these timeless information sharing platforms today we have online broadcasting and podcasting.
It is ironical that several years ago when the internet started becoming popular some believed that Podcasting would vanish. But today we see this age-old technique resurface and with a bang.
As a blogger, you could use both of these methods to talk to your readers. Both have their own perks and limitations.
If you really wish to create an impact then balancing a bit of both would do some good for your blog. If you do not have the time to learn and get better at both these methods then weighing their pros and cons should help you pick better.
What is online broadcasting and why is it becoming popular?
Remember the time’s people used to wait for their favorite radio show to be broadcasted?
There was a loyal audience who tuned in to their favorite channels no matter where they were and what they were doing. Using this concept with the power of the internet to reach to a wider group of the audience there are plenty of online broadcasting options.
These allow you to create a live session where you get to talk to your audience. Facebook Live sessions are the best examples of online broadcasting. You can notify your readers about an upcoming broadcast on your blog and also furnish them with the link where they can view the live streaming. This could also be an interactive session.
Most broadcasting platforms also allow users to post their questions real time. So you would be able to view the questions and answer them all.
With online broadcasting, you get to see the actual number of people who show genuine interest in your work based on the number of people that tune in to the broadcast.
This gives a measure of the loyal reader base your blog has earned. Choosing a convenient time slot is one of the major criteria here as not many might be free to access a live stream.
Informing your readers well in advance is one way to help them create some time. Planning regular broadcasts would help increase the number of regular visitors on your page.
Also to update your discussion and to talk about a subject that the reader wishes to discuss broadcasting is one of the best ways. But it takes time to get the knack of talking to the audience, giving impromptu answers to the various questions.
Why podcasting is a popular option for personal and commercial blogs?
If you look at podcasting there has been a steady rise in the number of businesses that use Podcast as an important part of their marketing and customer engagement strategies. This also holds good for personal brands or individual bloggers.
Podcasting is easy and anyone can learn to create and publish podcasts. Today there are plenty of distribution channels that allow users to share podcasts. All you have to do is to find a quiet spot to do the recording and invest in a good quality microphone.
Unlike broadcasting with podcasting, you have the option to go for as many retakes as you want if you find that you would like to change what you had said.
But one major downside of podcasting is that this is not a real-time interactive environment and this is one place where broadcasting scores higher. Also, remember that there are plenty of businesses and bloggers who already use podcasting.
So you would have to get really creative to make sure that your podcast doesn’t sink in the ocean of content that people find on the internet. There are plenty of ways in which you can improve the quality of the podcasts you create and also get your podcasts popular.
If you look into the details both podcasts and broadcasts require a good level of understanding of what your readers might be expecting from your blog.
So getting from that level would be a better way to decide what would work well for your blog.
