Remember that Reach toothbrush commercial with the flip-top head character? The argument went that, if we could all flip our heads back and open our jaws so our teeth were flat, nobody would need a special toothbrush—but since we can’t, we all needed the Reach.
Theories of learning work on essentially the same principle: if you could open someone’s head and pour information into it, active learning techniques would be unnecessary. But because we don’t have flip-top heads, engaging people with active learning is essential when we’re trying to communicate—and especially if we’re trying to get those people to take some kind of action.
Here’s how you can keep your prospective clients (on your website, blog, social media pages, and email lists) engaged with your marketing message.
Ask & Ye Shall Receive
To build the kind of community online that will help boost your search engine rankings, expand your online visibility and ultimately increase your sales, try these active learning techniques…
- Provide excellent content. First things first: if you want to develop meaningful online relationships, you must provide your online community with something worth relating to. That means posting content that is informative or entertaining, timely, and well written. Developing your unique voice (or your unique spin on things) is one simple way to provide content that nobody else will have.
- Ask for a show of hands. One of the easiest ways to get readers to interact with your online materials is to take a poll. In a single click, they can vote on an issue that matters to them (and by extension, to you!). Once you have these results, you can write about them in future marketing materials and use them to guide your offerings.
- Start a conversation. Nobody’s going to respond to a person who seems to be talking to herself. If you want comments on your blog or social media page, start a conversation with your network. This can take the form of asking direct questions, commenting on others’ posts, or addressing to individual questions you’ve gotten in a public forum. The point is to demonstrate that you are interested in actively engaging your network.
- Take a survey. Surveys can glean you valuable information about your prospective clients—but getting people to take a survey is itself an art. Save surveys for when you and your readers have already established a relationship, and consider compensating survey-takers for their time in some way.
- Use the resources available to you! If you haven’t ventured beyond a company blog and a Facebook page, it’s time to explore how expanding your online presence could lead to improved interactions with prospective clients. Each online platform provides a venue ideal for a certain type of communication, and avoiding some of those venues could translate to missing a big part of the conversation.
Keep in mind that, in order to thrive, an online community must be nurtured just like any other community!
What online communities do you feel most attached to?
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