Businesses today are challenged to keep up with the advancement of the digital landscape. If you’re a business owner, you want your brand to have a strong online presence. Your visibility across online platforms will influence growth in your business, leading to increased profit and public support.
New apps and trends are introduced regularly, making the internet an intimidating place for those who aren’t well-versed. Luckily, you don’t have to be a web expert to take advantage of the many tools available to you. The following strategies are good starting points for growing and maintaining your brand’s online presence.
1. Leverage Social Media
Social media platforms are incredible tools in expanding your brand awareness across the web. Be strategic in the profiles you want to create by considering the content you want to share. Apps like Instagram and Tiktok focus on visual content and are great for selling physical products. Other apps like X (previously named Twitter) and LinkedIn prioritize written content and are ideal for those keen on sharing thought leadership.
Focus on quality instead of quantity by only using the apps that best fit your business goals. Having active profiles on all apps will take a lot of time and effort, and in the end your social strategy may suffer. It’s important to optimize for a select few. If not, your audience may also notice the repetition and will pay less attention if you’re frequently sharing the same posts. Diversifying your content is the best route to take to gain the most engagement and growth.
2. Publish A Blog
Today, many businesses spread their thought leadership through the publishing of written content. When starting a blog, you want a content strategy that aligns with your own goals. If you run a financial company, for example, you can cultivate articles that center on financial wellness. This focus brings in consumers who have a specific interest in your area of business.
Creating a blog not only helps you share your own insights, but it builds your audience as well. Using search engine optimization techniques in your blog will make your content discoverable to those browsing the internet. Use this strategy by targeting keywords your audience would be searching for. These keywords will bring your articles up in search engine results, making your content more visible to those new to your business.
3. Collaborate With Influencers
If you’re looking for another way to expand your social media reach, influencer marketing is a good option. This strategy is often successful because influencers will share your business with audiences who are already engaged and trust them. This extra trust makes it easier for content creators to sell products and share your brand in a positive light.
Keep in mind that with that there are risks with this strategy. Influencers don’t always have a full team behind them for checks and balances, and they are responsible for their own reputation. If they make a public decision that ruins their image, it may affect your business negatively as well. Do your research and work with someone who you can confidently support and trust.
4. Solidify Your Image
Your online presence as a brand will require maintenance and continuous effort.
Consistent branding and behaviors from your business will help you uphold your brand’s reputation.
5. Branding that Engages
When someone thinks of your brand, certain images will come to mind. For this reason, you want any visuals people associate with your business to be positive. Create strong branding across your channels by using colors and images that will please the eye. It may be beneficial to hire a graphic designer to do this for you if you’re not confident in your creative abilities.
Engaging visuals that span across your social media and website will establish good places for consumers to learn about your brand. Consistent branding will also create brand recognition among your followers. People who engage with your business will be able to connect the dots, and pick your brand out from a group with the right design.
6. Practice What You Preach
Your actions as a business are equally as critical to your brand image. Make decisions that are not only ethical but align with your mission. If your business boasts about its support for mothers online, but doesn’t offer maternity leave, this will be confusing for the public. Policies that contradict your public goals can make it difficult for people to trust your brand.
It’s also important to be genuine in your actions and don’t lean too much into pleasing the general public. Easy actions like changing your brand colors during pride month are often seen as performative. These changes won’t mean much if you’re not putting in additional effort to support the cause. People aren’t afraid to call out brands for these types of behaviors online, and it could tarnish your reputation quickly.
A Major Part of Your Success
The right content strategy paired with a strong and consistent reputation can do wonders for the success of your brand. Creating engaging content will grow your audience, and building trust with your customers will keep them interested in your business. The effort you put in to maintaining your online presence as a business can boost your brand’s recognition and contribute to your overall growth as a company.
