PB116: How to Snap Readers out of Passive Lurking to Become Engaged

Note: this episode can be listened to in the player above or on iTunes or Stitcher. How to Move Readers From Passive Lurking to Engagement Welcome to episode 116. I am working through a series that helps you to warm your blog readers up.  In episode 112, I introduced the four stages of warming your readers up. In episode 113, I talk about how to get the first eyeball to your blog. In episode 114, I talk about getting people to give your blog a second look and become interested. In episode 115, I talk about how to get readers to subscribe and connect with you. This is crucial for building an ongoing relationship with your audience. Today, I am talking about the final step which is getting engagement. In the process of getting readers warmed up, we have people who subscribe, but they often never actually comment or connect or engage with us. Today, I will be giving strategies for getting our readers to talk back to us. Next week, In episode 117, I will be going over a case study that pulls together all four stages, and I will be interviewing somebody who has developed a system for taking people from becoming aware to becoming fully engaged. In Today’s Episode  How to Snap Readers out of Passive Lurking to Become Engaged We need to be the community that we want to have. If we want engagement, we need to be engaging. This is the challenge that bloggers have. Help your readers to get onboard - onboarding, helping your readers to get onboard with your blog Set up an autoresponder with an email list Email list of Ytravel Blog Thanks you for joining (Email #1) Tells a little bit about what the email will be used for Sets expectations of when emails will be sent Encourages people to add email to address list Gives free audio download (optin) They invite their readers to apply Email #2 - Similar things generosity How they are going to help their readers Suggestion of 3 links, to get the readers back to the site They point out useful stuff Another invitation to reply Email #3 - They really tap into the pain of their readers and give them a series of posts to help Create engaging content as part of your regular production Ask for engagement Create blog posts that are all about engagement - A discussion post Digital Photography School - How would you photograph a funeral? I wrote a post about this question and opened it up to my readers This goes beyond getting a comment, it shows my readers that I am interested in helping other readers Weekly Challenge - Modes of Transportation On Digital Photography School we issue a weekly challenge to our readers I would do these writing challenges on ProBlogger too Run a poll or survey and share the results in another post Have a weekly editorial strategy and focus on different areas - attention, quick wins, engagement Personal mediums are effective - live streaming is very engaging Engagement is about you, your readers, and your readers to each other When I live stream readers leave comments for each other Twitter Chat having a # party allows readers to engage with one another Real life events - tweetups and meetups and having readers come together Our annual events - the relationships formed are amazing Content Events - A series that goes for longer than a week Engagement levels went through the roof because there was a challenge and then an invitation to share Readers were engaging with one another This brought a lot of life to my blog and built stickiness People respond well to events - fear of missing out, defined start and end Vanessa’s Blog Style and Shenanigans Vanessa’s Last Challenge Event Vanessa runs events on instagram featuring a color or print for someone to wear and show a photo of themselves wearing that Every week of the event traffic goes up and engagement goes through the roof