Marketing has taken a new turn with social media and email marketing. They are effective tools for your brand to maintain a positive online presence.
The Untold Secret to Mastering Your Online Presence
Have you ever wondered the impact a solid online presence can have on your business? It is indubitable that we are in the digital age where your absence online will cause your business more havoc than good. Marketing has taken a new turn with social media. Apart from the fact that social media platforms avail users to interact with one another, they are also a good way to seek many potential clients and customers looking out for your products or services online.
With the exponential growth of social media since almost two decades ago, it hasn’t reached the peak of its popularity yet. You may have to examine the following statistics from Statista:
- The number of social media users in the United States and the globe is expected to reach 257.4 million and 3.43 billion, respectively, in 2023.
- Marketers attribute the reasons behind their employment of social networks in their campaigns to increased exposure, improved traffic, increased leads, and growing fan loyalty.
- There are 2.6 billion monthly active Facebook users as of Q1 2020.
- With 160 million active users as of April 2020, the United States tops the list of countries with the most users on LinkedIn.
To avoid being displaced by competitors and stay relevant within your industry, you need to master your online presence and maximize its numerous benefits. The following tips will help you achieve a positive online presence.
Brand yourself
In a world where new businesses are emerging every day, gaining customers and generating profit are becoming more difficult than ever. Before you go online, it is necessary that you have a logo, tone, voice, mission statement, etc., that set you apart from other businesses and also help you to build a loyal fanbase. This is known as branding. It simply involves how you want people to perceive you when they relate or interact with your business.
What is the significance of your business name? How do you want your brand to come up online? What is your brand’s character or theme? How well will it resonate with your (potential) consumers? What relationship exists between your logo, color combination, or font and your brand’s mission statement?
Whether you are aware or not, your business is a brand. However, consciously building will help you to be able to connect the dots between your product or service and the target audience.
So, how do you create a brand?
The concept of brand building is to create awareness that can translate into leads and sales. The following steps will help you create an effective brand.
1. Identify the purpose behind your existence
It is expected that your business is created to fill a certain vacuum in the market space based on emotive and rational needs and concerns. What are these needs and concerns? How do you intend to address them? Why should people care about your business? The ideas you get from all these questions will form the foundation of your branding. They will also inform your choice of slogans, value propositions, tone, voice, messaging, and stories.
2. Research competitors and target audience
Understanding the current market is critical to establishing a successful brand. If you expect something different, then you should create something different. How well can you convince customers to buy from you rather than your competitors? Google and analyze competitors within your industry. Carry out online and offline survey to know where your target market buys from. Also, examine social media pages of the brands your target audience follows and embraces with open arms. Through this, you will discover your “lowest hanging fruit” customers.
3. Establish a mission statement
This revolves around what your brand is passionate about. Knowing what values your business provides and sticking to them is a good way to build a successful brand online. Think of this as a situation where people ask you what you do, and you tell them, “I am a freelance writer.” Similarly, when people ask you what you do, your brand mission statement should give the necessary answers. For instance, Nike’s mission says: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” The brand focuses on providing sportswear to every “body” that has a body.
4. Choose a compelling business name
A business name impacts every other aspect of your business elements and activities. You would want to use a unique and difficult name to confuse existing brands within the same market. This makes it a huge commitment. You may also have to consider using a broad business name that can capture your business if your product or service lines need expansion in the future. You can use a business name generator for a variety of business names.
5. Build a brand story and messaging
Creating a brand story gives you the opportunity to relate with your customers on a more human level. It helps to establish a more direct emotional connection with them. In other words, ensure that your choice of words strikes an emotional chord in them. Most importantly, the language of your message should be simple and clear. Avoid ambiguity in its entirety. It is also important to maintain consistency in your marketing messages across all online channels you have set up for your business. These may include your website, blog, social media pages, and email marketing campaign.
6. Have a slogan
Slogans are taglines that can be used in your social media bios or as a website header. They are usually brief, descriptive, and in the form of a mantra that people can easily remember when they come across your business name. A few words as a slogan are enough to make a strong impression. Slogans are not permanent; there might be situations that will necessitate you to change your slogan. You can play around with your mission statement to generate ideas for your choice of slogan.
7. Design a logo
When you think of building a brand online, a business logo is an essential aspect. It serves as the face of your business. For a logo to be catchy, it doesn’t have to be complex; a simple text can perform the magic of creating a unique and identifiable logo. Think of the logos of HP and Dell. A logo could also be a combination of text and image, as in the case of Walmart. While selecting your preferred logo, make sure that the colors and fonts work in harmony to convey your brand.
Stay active on social media
You cannot think of a well-rounded online presence without the mention of social media. One of the ways to keep your business relevant is through social media. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have contributed significantly to businesses’ efforts to connect and interact with new customers or clients and foster relationships with returning customers or clients.
Additionally, there have inbuilt features that allow you to directly respond to queries, discover feedback, and gain insights into your target audience. It is not enough to create content and post it for people to read. You need to engage your audience. People associate themselves with brands that show interest in how they feel and how such brands’ services impact them.
You can ask for their opinions on a particular subject of discourse or topic area. Or even ask them to share their experiences with your product or service. When someone leaves feedback, acknowledge its receipt. Thank them for stopping by to drop the review. Audiences that create time to relate with your business are worthy of being appreciated and celebrated.
When creating content on your social media pages, you don’t have to be too formal. In fact, you are expected to be friendly and conversational in your tone. You can go the extra mile of injecting teases in your posts. Be real and show the humanity part of your business; it helps to make your business more relatable.
Email marketing
Another secret to a positive online presence in the age is email marketing. Despite the potential of email as an effective tool in building a brand, only a few small businesses utilize it for such a purpose. Email marketing affords you the opportunity to stay connected with your loyal customers. To achieve your goal of increased exposure online, create and grow an email list. It will enable you to engage with both current and potential customers regularly.
It is important to create an email marketing plan and develop a strategy that motivates your target market to subscribe. Some of the tactics some businesses employ to build an effective email lists include offering a free, helpful, and downloadable guide or ebook, providing a free tool whose access requires the user to supply their email, and offering exclusive offers and discounts to users who subscribe to email.
The goal is to have leads and customers that are interested in your content.
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