If you had to define what content engagement is, how would you do it? 

This is the question the Content Marketing Institute asked a roster of experts.

The answers were extremely varied, each bringing more depth to the definition, how to trigger engagement, and ways to measure it.

One of my favourite definitions, which actually opens the article they published, is directly aligned with Toast’s mantra of always making sure content has “utility and reach”. Tim Ash, SiteTuners’ CEO, simply said: 

«Engaging content simply means ‘useful to the visitor.’»

This is a definition that really sticks with our approach at Toast, but globally, each corporation, brand, media, will have its own version.

Why?

Want to get your content team up to speed on this? Organize a team workshop or one-on-one coaching with an expert of our team. You can also book Alexandre to come and speak at your event!

Because how engagement is seen and driven by content depends a lot on business objectives. One might want more time spent on-page, while someone else will focus on cookie acquisition, while a third will measure email sign-ups.

It all depends on your market, the customer journey and where that content you are producing fits in there.

One of the things we focus more and more with our content at Toast is the “next step”. What do we want people to do after seeing our content and interacting with it? Can it happen right away? And if not, how can we plant cues so that when the opportunity comes up they will be able to recall their interaction with us and act on it? Think of the situation where you have a long buying process, where you want people to remember you and your product as they get to the decision stage.

This is all part of making sure your content is engaging (so people will actually interact with it), but also memorable (so that people will act on it in the future).

Those are two distinct objectives in a content marketing strategy. I will invite you to read the CMI’s article, which gives you plenty of material to work with on the engagement stage. And to read more about memorable content, I wrote about it a couple weeks ago, you can always jump back to the blog on our website to read it again.

Struggling to get content out the door? A good content strategy required good prodution partners. Discover our capabilities in video, audio and editorial-SEO content production.