Five simple ways to engage your audience

In case you’ve been asleep the past year…

Houston’s economy is BOOMING.  There are dozens of job opportunities, competitive startups popping up and companies willing to spend money on outside services.  So, what is your business doing to recruit new talent and promote its product and services?

Below are five ways to engage your audience, whether for recruiting purposes, engaging employees or communicating to an audience.

1. Social media outreach: Does your company have a LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter or Google+ site?  If not, consider this – Not only does a company’s presence on these sites improve search engine optimization, but it also allows a company to see what’s trending, engage with stakeholders and have direct interaction with its followers.  If you want to reach out to your audience, make it easy for them and use the tools at your fingertips to interact with followers. Tip: Use social media to show your community involvement. “Paige PR cares about Toys for Tots. For every ‘like’, we’ll donate $5 to the organization until the end of the month.” Not only does this create a following, but it shows the followers you’re committed to the areas you serve.
2. Host a workshop, provide a service… for FREE.  We all want business, but if you’re trying to establish yourself or attract new clients, why not offer contacts something they can get value from?  A workshop on a topic that touches people in your industry, a piece of work that will help get the ball rolling, or business insight may be just what a potential client needs to begin working with you.  (Don’t forget free drinks when offering a business event.  You want a good turnout, don’t you?)
3. Utilize free services. We’ve all heard the saying, “You’ve got to spend money to make money.”… But the truth is, not really.  Like I mentioned above, there are dozens of social media and business sites that you can utilize to connect to existing and potential clients.  Consider this: sites like Brand Yourself, or basic industry listing websites not only give you one more free listing, but they also help with search engine optimization.  And yes, people do use these sites, I know from experience.
4. Use the tools you have in place. Are you using your website to convey your most recent news? Or linking it with your social media accounts?  Or is your website outdated and lacking new content?  If it’s out of date, recognize that most companies update their websites every two to three years, and ‘news’ should be updated on a regular basis.  (Nobody cares about the new hire six months ago…)  Also, you want potential clients to feel like you’re innovative and relevant don’t you?)  This may be a good time to review all those outdated brochures as well.
5. Audit yourself.  Is all that print ‘stuff’ still necessary?  What tools are your competitors using to engage new clients?  It never hurts to step back and look at all the tools in place and see if you’re utilizing them to their fullest potential. If not, do you really need all that collateral?  Sometimes, less, more effective pieces, is actually more.