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7 Highly Effective Tricks To Increase Your Blog Post Engagement

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One of the toughest parts of being a blogger is actually getting someone to read your blog. And it’s not surprising–the competition is fierce.

According to MarketingProfs, there are two million blog posts published every day – of which 2,000 of them come from Huffington Post alone.

How do you even compete with that?

If you feel like you’ve desperately been trying to get eyes on your blog with no success, you’re not alone.

Per Moz and BuzzSumo’s research of 1M blog posts, a whopping 75% had zero (0) external links.

Moz BuzzSumo Research Graph

Sometimes the topic just isn’t interesting enough to your audience.

Other times, it’s poor writing.

But most of the time, it’s because you’re not giving your readers the best opportunities to share your content.

Luckily, with these 7 advanced tricks, you’ll boost your blog post engagement overnight.

In this article you’ll learn how to:

  • Make a simple Twitter card tweak for 300% more engagement
  • Use click-to-tweets to encourage sharing
  • Use visuals to boost engagement by 650%

1. Suggested Internal Related Posts

What Are They? Suggested related posts are links inserted into your content which direct the reader to another page within your own website. Internal linking is not only a great way to boost on-site engagement, but Google happens to love them as well.

Good example: Here’s an example from one of our own blogs: “We’ve covered how to automate your blog post ideas in recent posts, but sometimes you just need to pass the ball to somebody else and say ‘here… you do it.'” See how we send the reader back to one of our own (relevant) past articles? This gives the reader more useful information to consume while they stick around on your site.

How do they work? By suggesting other content that you think the reader may find useful, you will reduce the number of visitors that leave your site after looking at just one article.

How to create them: This is probably one of the easiest engagement-boosting activities you can do. All it entails is inserting a hyperlink like this into your content–like this one sending you back to our main blog page. For more on how to use internal links, here’s a bit from Neil Patel

When to use them: You can use internal links on any page within your website, but try to actually keep them relevant and useful. For example, if you write an article about improving webpage speed, it may be helpful to direct the reader to another article discussing hosting services.

 

2. Click-To-Tweets

What Are They? Click-To-Tweets are tweet “cards” you can add into your blog posts that present a preset tweet that your readers can easily click to share. The tweet is created by you ahead of time and presented in a nice framed and clickable embed in your blog post. If the reader finds your tweet interesting, they can click on the tweet button which prompts them to share that tweet on their own Twitter timeline.

Here’s an example of a Click-To-Tweet we included on one of our recent posts…

Turn your chores into #profit says @zenposthq (Click to Tweet!).

As you can see, the “click to tweet” link automatically populates a tweet the user can share to their own Twitter account.

Good example: You can find examples in almost every blog or social media page you open these days, but here’s one we like from our friends at ContentMarketingInstitute.com.

Why do they work? The main reason people love Click-To-Tweets is because it provides your readers customized, unique, and easy social content to share with their Twitter followers. We’re all busy but we’re all looking for great and useful content to share on our personal or company social accounts. This delivers that opportunity to your readers on a silver platter.

How to create them: Clicktotweet.com is an awesome free tool that will do all the work for you. Just type in the message you want others to share, click “generate link”, and then use that link within your content. Here’s a visual breakdown of the process…

When to use them: We suggest using at least one (1) Click-To-Tweet in every one of your blog posts. We say “at least” one because you can include more than one if your blog post is long-form (1,500+ words). They present a higher level of thought and care to your blog post which your readers respect and reward by engaging with the social call to action.

 

3. Mini Infographics / Illustrations

What Are They? An infographic conveys information which may be difficult to understand without a visual aid–and a mini-infographic or illustration does the same thing, only smaller. Their size makes them perfect for mobile viewing (which, let’s be honest, is where most people are consuming their content these days).

Good examples: Here’s a great example from our friends over at CoSchedule.com. As you can see, they organized their 5 tips presented in their blog post into a condensed and highly shareable mini infographic.

Why do they work? Infographics can increase web traffic by 12% and posts that include images receive 650% higher engagement than text-only posts. There are several reasons for this. First, consumers today have a short attention span and they don’t want to take the time to read. More importantly, the human brain can process images much more quickly than words.

How to create them: There are a ton of image and infographic creation tools out there today that allow you to create mini infographics in less than an hour. Our personal favorite is a site called Canva.com. Here’s a quick visual on how to use the Canva tool to create mini infographics.

When to use them: Use infographics to gain impact on your landing pages or website. They can help you explain complicated ideas relating to your business or industry without using too much text. We suggest placing the infographic in the first 50% of your blog post. Readers who just like to skim a blog post will quickly land on your mini infographic and pause to engage with it. This sends a strong social signal to Google that your blog post must add value to the reader.

 

4. Social Posts

What Are They? If you know anything about the internet you already know what a social post is. You probably create new ones every day on your personal or company social accounts. But did you know you can embed those same social posts into your blog content? All the major social platforms make embedding a social post super easy. Once embedded, your social post is presented in a way that makes it visually appealing and engaging.

Good Examples: You can find embedded social posts in most news publications but we believe they are underutilized in blog content. Here are a few examples we pulled from sites like TheNextWeb.com.

Tweet example from SocialMediaExaminer.com

Facebook example from SocialMediaExaminer.com

Why Do They Work? Social posts work so well in blog content because people are used to scrolling through their social feeds all day. Your reader feels refreshed to see a familiar format as they scroll and knows exactly how to engage with that post if they so choose to.

The other great advantage to embedding social posts into your blog posts is that it’s a visual break to the reader. Instead of having blocks and blocks of text the reader has to scroll through, they are refreshed with a social post snippet they can easily and quickly consume. Bonus points if you embed a social post that includes a visual along with it!

How to create them: Simply log into your Twitter or Facebook account and either create a new post or copy the embed code from an existing published post.

When To Use Them: Embedding social posts into your content can be useful for many purposes. The first being as a great way to simply display news presented through a social post. You’ll find this a lot on political, tech, or celebrity-focused publications.

The other great example of using social posts in your blog content is to support the point you are trying to make within the blog post. Find an influencer in your industry that posted about the subject matter you are discussing and embed their tweet or Facebook post into your blog post.

 

5. YouTube Videos

What Are They? YouTube videos are videos that you create and share to the YouTube platform. Topics vary greatly, from behind-the-scenes looks at a business to how-tos and product demonstrations.

Good Examples: We love embedding YouTube videos into our blog content because they not only provide additional context to your point, but they keep the reader (you) on the page longer which is a great signal to Google.

Why Do They Work? Video is dynamic and energizing and it adds a human touch to your content. In blogging, it can be difficult to convey emotion–but video allows your audience to see facial expressions and hear tone of voice, creating a more sincere connection.

How to create them: If you have the money, pay to hire a professional videographer. With so much competition in the marketplace today, hiring a pro will help you stand out from the competition. But even if you don’t, use your smartphone or tablet and shoot your own videos! With today’s technology, you can do some pretty amazing things on your own.

When to use them: Add your videos into your written content to enhance your blog posts and create a new level of interest, or even include them in your email newsletters and social media posts.

 

6. GIFs

What Are They? You may not know a gif by name, but you’ve definitely seen them. They’re little moving images that can be inserted into email messages, blogs, web pages, and social media posts.

Good Example: Of course, we love using our custom branded Zenpost gifs in our blog content. Check out one example below…

Why Do They Work? Besides being another great way to give your reader a visual break when reading your blog posts, gifs are a great way to insert some expressive and animated humor into your content. Many times an expression or sentiment gets lost in text. Gifs provide the added context to your point that helps the reader fully understand the emotion behind it.

How To Create Them: You can easily search an online database like Giphy for almost anything you can think of, but if you want to create your own, it’s not too difficult. Using the same website, you can turn your own photos or videos into gifs, or you can use a program you already own, like Photoshop.

When to use them: Anytime you want to make a point or express emotion without a lot of text. GIFs can add a quick bit of humor, express sadness or dismay, or even get across a feeling of anger (without ever saying a thing).

How To Start Increasing Your Blog Engagement

Internet users don’t have a long attention span these days, and they don’t want to spend a ton of time reading giant blocks of uninterrupted text. Using images, videos, gifs, and other visual content can help break things up in a fun and interesting way (and it can increase conversion and sales!).

Reach out today to find out how we can help spice up your content!

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