Social media sites are vastly popular for one primary reason: they are sociable. Friends, family, customers and businesses have a platform of which they can use to interact with each other. Blogs can offer a similar experience as long as you’re willing to participate and interact with your visitors. Although your blog may not have the popularity of sites such as Facebook, social interaction can increase the popularity of your content. If you operate a business-minded blog, providing this platform for your customers can be greatly beneficial. According to Bianca Wright at OpenMarket.com, “Offering customers a way to interact in their channel of choice is the business imperative of the increasingly demanding customer environment.”
Comments on Pages
The comment section of your pages is a place where readers can share their own thoughts about the particular subject of the post. It can also give you a platform in which to engage those readers personally. By interacting with the creator of the blog post, readers feel more connected to the material as well as being validated as an important contributor by the developer. This could turn a one-time visitor into an ardent fan of your site. People enjoy discussing topics that interest them and providing that interaction fulfils a need within the reader.
Social Media Widgets
Blog widgets connecting to social media sites is a common practice to encourage interaction. Depending on the platform you use for blogging, these widgets can be easy to install. If you use WordPress or other content management system, these can be quickly added to your site in less than a few minutes. For other sites, it may consist of copy-and-paste of coding to add specific social icons and buttons to pages. In either regard, these widgets can prompt visitors to share the information making it a topic of conversation while encouraging visits to your site from others in their circles.
Proper Structure of Your Blog Post
By properly structuring the blog post, you can encourage social interaction either within the comment section or through social media widgets. According to RGBSocial.com blogger Matthew, “Providing a simple, clear and concise call to action (CTA) is a simple way to encourage your audience…” A call to action usually consists of a question asked of the reader pertaining to the topic of the post. This may prompt the reader to respond with their own thoughts and ideas opening the floor for conversation within the page itself.
Integrating Chat
Live chat has been incorporated into many websites. It’s a way to offer information while giving your visitors a sense of importance. This is especially useful if you’re operating a business or eCommerce site. Although this aspect of interaction is usually opted by professionals, it could be a way to further engage your visitors in real-time.
By offering a method of interaction on your blog, you improve the time users could spend visiting your site. This could have lasting effects such as further site exploration or taking advantage of ad revenue and affiliate banners should these be incorporated into the blog. Interact with your visitors and they may become long lasting fans.
