A great product or service is essential to attracting customers, but is it enough to retain them?

Companies are no longer competing solely on products or services. Now, they're competing on customer engagement and experiences, too: Fully 80% of customers say the experiences provided by a company are as important to them as its products and services, according to Salesforce.

Customer engagement goes far beyond transactions. Outreach calls it "an intentional, consistent approach by a company that provides value at every customer interaction, thus increasing loyalty."

So, how do you increase customer engagement?

Here are three ways you can engage your customers and earn their loyalty.

1. Build a community

Customers need a place to engage. Social platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn are great places to bring your customers together.

Invite them to follow your company's social profiles for updates and announcements, or ask them to join an organized LinkedIn group. You can even give customers incentives to engage in such groups through social contests or rewards for social shares.

A step further would be to implement a hub or an active community, such as Influitive, that can help increase conversation on a platform where customers are encouraged to engage with the brand, company, and each other.

Creating communities like those also provides user-generated content that your company can share on social media or its website.

2. Deliver engaging content

Today, customers don't just want high-quality content; they expect it. "Content marketing is important because it answers your audience's questions and helps you build trust, develop relationships, improve conversions, and generate leads," writes HubSpot.

Content tailored to customers' interests, preferences, and favorite services or products can help keep them engaged with your brand.

The content you create doesn't have to be complex. Consider creating simple, useful content, such as a blog post that answers frequently asked questions or an infographic that highlights how to use your product.

3. Provide rewards and incentives

Simply providing the space for engagement may not be enough, however. That's where rewards and incentives come in. They can help drive customer behavior while also compensating customers for their time.

Providing small digital incentives for social shares, referrals, testimonials, and reviews can help increase engagement and simultaneously expand your customer base.

Curious how you can deliver incentives? Our customers use Reward Link, the fast, easy way to email recipients a choice of digital gift cards. Reward Link also provides customization and tracking, so you don't have to worry about keeping track as you would with physical gift cards.

Interested in exploring the power of digital rewards to increase customer engagement? Request a demo to learn more.