Alexis Kestler
Building strong brand engagement is absolutely critical for business success in 2023 and beyond. As a social media marketing expert with over 10 years of experience driving results for Fortune 500 brands, I cannot stress enough the importance of fostering emotional connections between customers and brands.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover:
- What is brand engagement and why it matters
- 10 awesome brand engagement campaign examples
- Proven tactics to increase brand engagement
- Step-by-step instructions for calculating key brand engagement metrics
Let‘s dive in!
What is Brand Engagement and Why It Matters
Brand engagement shows the depth and strength of a customer‘s relationship with a business. It goes far beyond superficial metrics like reach and awareness.
Truly engaged customers are more likely to:
- Make frequent, higher-value purchases
- Enthusiastically recommend the brand to friends
- Forgive mistakes
- Actively participate in loyalty programs
- Leave positive reviews
In short, engaged customers spend more, trust more, stick around longer, and provide free word-of-mouth marketing. Developing strong engagement helps future-proof businesses against rising competition – engaged customers become brand advocates.
According to Gallup research, fully engaged customers deliver a 23% premium in terms of share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth over the average customer.
That‘s why brand engagement is a key goal for all marketing strategies.
Now let‘s explore 10 stellar examples of effective brand engagement campaigns.
10 Cutting-Edge Brand Engagement Campaign Examples
Studying real-world examples of impactful brand engagement campaigns across industries provides invaluable inspiration.
Let‘s analyze 10 impressive examples driving measurable results through thoughtful engagement initiatives:
1. Netflix
The streaming giant Netflix focuses intently on personalization and catering recommendations to individual user preferences. By analyzing viewing history, Netflix presents each user with customized genre rows and shows that match their unique interests.
Over 75% of what people watch on Netflix comes from these personalized recommendations – driving increased stream time and subscriptions.
2. Spotify
Similarly to Netflix, music service Spotify creates customized playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar for every listener based on their individual listening data.
This personalized experience helps match users with new artists and tracks suited specifically for them, facilitating discovery.
Nearly 30% of listening on Spotify happens through these personalized playlists.
3. Sephora
Beauty giant Sephora has built a highly engaged online community enabling crowdsourced peer recommendations. Users can access Sephora’s library of makeup tutorials and reviews with ratings and comments.
Shoppers engage with content created by people of similar styles, budgets and preferences to get advice from those who understand their needs.
4. Uber
Ridesharing app Uber focuses intently on providing a seamless end-to-end transportation experience through rigorous driver onboarding, extensive rider safety features like GPS tracking, and 24/7 customer support.
This emphasis on reliable simplicity leads to excellent engagement and retention. Uber has provided over 10 billion trips worldwide since launching in 2009.
5. Starbucks
Starbucks allows customization in drinks while also encouraging connections between baristas and customers. Staff take initiative learning customer names and orders, facilitating personalized experiences and welcoming vibes in stores.
This cultivated an iconic brand and the leading global coffeehouse with over 50 million weekly customers.
6. Salesforce
Enterprise software provider Salesforce incentivizes employee learning through gamified online training. Their Trailhead learning platform features points-based encourage progression through role-relevant courses to unlock expertise.
Over 2 million learners engage daily with Trailhead to skill up while having some friendly competition with peers!
7. HomeGoods
Home furnishing chain HomeGoods effectively leverages user generated content to spur engagement with the #HomeGoodsFinds campaign.
They encourage people to share pictures of completed living spaces styled using HomeGoods products. This shows followers creative room ideas and inspiration.
The hashtag has amassed over 700,000 posts and counting!
8. Purina
Pet food brand Purina delights animal lovers through their Pets at Work program enabling employees to bring pets to the office. 13 Purina facilities feature onsite dog parks, veterinary clinics and pet care staff fostering an extremely pet-forward work environment.
85% of associates feel their productivity increased after adopting the pet program. Talk about employee engagement!
9. Duolingo
The popular language learning app Duolingo boosts engagement through gamifying lessons using points, levels, streak counts and more. Making practice fun motivates progression – over 40 million monthly active learners use Duolingo.
10. LinkedIn
Business social network LinkedIn encourages participation through content sharing, commenting, joining industry groups and expanding professional connections.
These member interactions provide value driving LinkedIn‘s astounding engagement – their 730+ million members are 38.8% engaged monthly on LinkedIn, higher than rivals.
So those are 10 stellar examples of leading brands implementing innovative engagement strategies effectively!
Their tactics like personalization, gamification, UGC, and community foster emotional connections between brands and audiences. And the proof is in the hard business results – increased revenue, lower churn, bigger market share.
Now let’s get into battle-tested tactics to boost engagement for businesses of all sizes.
8 Tactics to Increase Brand Engagement
Here are the most effective methods for driving brand engagement based on my decade of managing engagement initiatives and millions in social ad spend:
1. Create Valuable Content
Content that entertains, educates or inspires your audience helps build brand love. Increase reach and engagement by consistently producing high-quality, relevant content tailored to what your followers intrinsically care about.
HubSpot research found companies who blog 6+ times monthly generate 67% more leads!
2. Feature Authentic User Content
Spotlight user-generated content like reviews, testimonials and social shares. This authentic third-party content builds trust and credibility better than branded messaging ever could.
3. Utilize Personalization
Cater messaging, product recommendations and touchpoints to match individual preferences using collected customer data and analytics.
Personalization makes people feel truly seen and valued. Segment audiences for tailored interactions when possible.
4. Host Live Video Events
Webinars, vlogs, panels and Q&As allow real-time engagement between brands and audiences. Even short live videos see much higher comment rates and watch times – connect through streaming!
5. Incentivize with Loyalty Rewards
Gamify experiences using points systems and loyalty programs with exclusive perks and early access for engaged brand devotees. Make VIP members feel special through tiered benefits.
6. Respond to Feedback
Actively listen and thoughtfully respond to questions and concerns across channels – social media, reviews, forums. Speedy responses cultivate approachability and trust.
7. Partner With Microinfluencers
Work with relevant microinfluencers to promote your brand to their engaged small but mighty networks full of potential brand advocates.
8. Continuously Analyze Performance
Track engagement metrics over campaigns and time periods. Uncover what content types, channels and tactics perform best. Optimize based on hard data!
Combining initiatives like these drives consistent engagement gains and memorable brand experiences. Optimize based on what resonates for long term success.
Now let’s explore measuring brand engagement…
How to Calculate Brand Engagement with Examples
To determine campaign effectiveness and spot areas needing refinement, diligently monitoring the right metrics is mandatory.
Here are the most critical brand engagement KPIs to track with calculation examples:
Social Media Engagement
Platforms like Instagram natively provide data-rich analytics on content resonance. Assess performance by calculating:
Engagement Rate = (Likes + Shares + Comments) / Followers * 100
If my last post got 50 likes, 20 shares, and 10 comments with my 10,000 followers, my engagement rate is:
(50 + 20 + 10) / 10,000 * 100 = 8%Benchmark against industry averages for your channel and vertical – 6-10% engagement is solid for Instagram. Analyze competitor content as well.
Website Engagement
Calculate visitors website stickiness using:
Average Session Duration = Total Time on Site / Sessions
With 50,000 total hours (3,000,000 mins) on site over 300,000 sessions last month, my average is:
3,000,000 mins / 300,000 sessions = 10 mins per session Compare monthly to see stickiness momentum.
Bounce Rate = Bounces / Site Entrances
With 2000 bounces out of 5000 visits this week:
2000 / 5000 = 40% Bounce RateTop sites range between 26-40% bounce rates depending on vertical.
Email Engagement
Assess email campaign resonance through:
Click-through-rate (CTR) = Clicks / Delivered Emails
If my campaign was sent to 50,000 subscribers, and got 12,000 clicks:
12,000 / 50,000 = 24% CTRBenchmarks range between 2-25%+ depending on industry and list size.
Unsubscribe Rate = Unsubscribes / Total List Size
If I had 200 unsubscribes this month, out of 100,000subscribers:
200 / 100,000 = 0.2% Unsubscribe RateSub-1% is positive!
Brand Sentiment
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) identifies customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend:
NPS = Promoters (9-10 rating) - Detractors (0-6 rating)50+ = Excellent advocacy. 30-49 = Good.
Track testimonials, reviews and mentions to complement quantitative NPS data with qualitative insights.
Monitoring metrics religiously spotlights campaign strengths, engagement wins to double down on, and areas needing tweaks. Dashboards compile data automatically for regular review.
Now wrap powerful analysis into strategic recommendations.
Key Takeaways and Next Steps
The days of brands interrupting audiences with spray-and-pay ads are over. To thrive in the 2020s attention economy, building genuine emotional connections through engagement is mandatory.
Utilize the analysis of high-impact examples, proven engagement strategies, and measurement best practices provided in this complete guide to start momentum.
Here are my top recommended next steps:
1. Audit your existing content and campaigns. How well are they resonating and driving measurable engagement from target personas currently? Identify strengths and gaps.
2. Survey your audience. Gain qualitative insights into brand perceptions, desired content themes, and engagement preferences through quick feedback polls and interviews.
3. Set S.M.A.R.T engagement goals. Establish quantifiable objectives on key metrics aligned to business KPIs.
4. Map an editorial calendar. Outline upcoming initiatives balancing channel mix, content types, and engagement tactics.
5. Build communities. Develop dedicated spaces for your biggest fans to congregate and interact. Think forums, insider clubs, exclusive events.
The companies realizing meteoric growth today have moved from interrupts to relationships – building communities, not just selling products.
Now over to you! What engagement tactics resonated most? Are there any questions on the brand engagement strategies and measurement steps outlined? Let me know in the comments!
