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Optimize and Maximize the Technology and Audiences

In my last article, I ended it with a question asking readers if they would help a homeless person if one asked them. I received no responses. As I pondered this fact, it soon became clear that had I widely published the article and promoted the fact that it existed, there would have been comments, possibly forwarded links and maybe even tweets or re-tweets about the article.

This highlights the importance of engagement, which implies an emotional involvement or commitment on the part of the article writer and the audience. Without getting the content to the audience, there can be no engagement.  In order for the engagement to be fruitful for the audience, there must be content that is both interesting, thought-provoking and visually stimulating.  Interactive elements go a long way towards helping to maintain interest.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama supporters used social media avenues, coupled with requests for supporters to also engage their friends via Facebook, Twitter and their preferred social media. The strategy was overwhelmingly successful and charted a new course for the use of these tools.

In publishing and promoting articles, it is important to know and understand key things about the viewers. For my topic of homelessness, I need to utilize various tools to know where my audience is based, where their interests are and what social channels they utilize. In short, engagement also relies on knowing the ways in which audiences communicate and where.

In evaluating resources to help interest more people in helping the homeless, tools such as charts, graphs, videos and other interactive elements go a long way towards attracting and maintaining reader interest.

In determining content for future articles, it is key to utilize tracking tools such as Site Stats by WordPress or Google Analytics that provide website visitor information. This information allows later publications to be tailored to the interests of the audience.

Who knows? You may also get stats about the interest people have in helping the homeless. Clearly, engagement is the way to go.