For several years now, we’ve been hearing that content is king. It’s obvious that most businesses are getting the message as the amount of content circulating on the internet is enormous.

Ironically, though, as businesses have increased the amount of content that they’re distributing, the overall engagement level with content has declined. According to a recent study by TrackMaven, while the amount of content on the internet increased by 37 percent, the engagement rate decreased by 17 percent. So what’s happening?

While there have been a number of theories tossed around, the driving force seems to be that while people are using more channels to get content, they’re only wiling to consume as much content as they can handle. Even though brands are producing more content more frequently, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people are going to consume more content, too.

One thing is for sure: the amount of content marketing isn’t going to be decreasing any time soon. So, as a business owner, what can you do to stand apart from the pack and increase the engagement level with your content?

Here are some proven strategies for effectively reaching your audience and provoking a response:

Personalize your content.
Marketers that take the time to understand their audience, the types of content that they like to consume, the places that they consume this content, and how they prefer to interact with such content have not only experienced more engagement, but also a 19 percent average increase in sales.

Keep your content short and sweet.
The attention span for today’s consumers is continuing to decrease. The typical person will only read 50 percent of an article before clicking elsewhere. Therefore, the shorter you make your blog posts, the more likely you’ll retain their attention.

Ask and address questions on social media.
Think about the questions relevant to your business and industry that are on your customers’ minds. Use social media to ask and address these questions. Your ultimate goal with doing so should be to drive interested traffic to your website to provide them with more in depth information surrounding the subject matter.

Create a community forum.
People love to offer their opinions, which is why your company can have a lot of success with sparking engagement by creating an online community forum.

Make the most of visual content.
Anytime you can use visual content such as images, video, and/or infographics, you’re going to grab your audience’s attention. Use this visual content in a strategic manner to earn a response from your audience.

Take advantage of these proven tactics to help escape from this decreasing engagement crisis. Doing so will allow your business to stand out in the marketing space and experience a positive ROI from the content that you’re creating.