Building your brand online is necessary for the growth of your company. I have another article titled “Building Your Brand: 14 Tips on Creating a Brand Fit for You.” But this article focuses on the online aspects you may have overlooked.
Sophie Elizabeth Smith says, “Branding is the oft-ignored side of digital marketing—a strategy that produces real results over the course of months, years and decades instead of minutes, hours and days. It’s slow, traditional and long-term.” Even though the results of branding may be slow to come, it will have long-term effects. Authenticity will help build trust and recognition from customers.
When you’re building your brand online, you’re engaging with digital marketing. The following 5 tips will help you to build your brand online:
1. Select and build your platforms
You may not need every social media platform out there in order to build your brand online. Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, Reddit—there are so many platforms, which can be really overwhelming. Select the best ones for your brand and focus those when you’re first starting out. Laura Lake writes, “If you are going to have a personal brand you will need a website in order to create your virtual platform. Your website should be your name. You will also need social media accounts that represent your brand.” Decide which social media platforms will enable you to best share your voice online.
2. Be real on social media
In order to build your brand online, you’re going to want to show the real side on social media. Jonathan Long argues, “Don’t use social media as a 100 percent marketing channel. It’s fine to throw an offer out there or promote your company occasionally, but focus on showing the real you.” If you seem authentic, people will more likely become customers. You’ll look more human and less like a robot.
Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
3. Work at different times
Building your brand online means that you need to communicate with customers. Warren Knight says, “I . . . make it an important task every day to communicate in real time with those who communicate with me. This is crucial to building your brand, as when someone asks you a question, they want an answer almost immediately.” When you work at different times instead of only scheduling content, you’ll be able to address concerns and questions of people interested in your brand.
4. Don’t stray off topic
As you’re building your online brand, you’re going to want to stay on topic. Tara Clark argues, “Once you focus your persona to the appropriate platforms, it’s important to keep that persona targeted to your brand and audience . . . . [R]emember to focus on what your audience will be interested in, on the value that you can provide to them, and staying consistent across online platforms.” Instead of oversharing information that customers may not care about, focus on topics that will connect your customers to your brand. Consistency is key here.
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
5. Monitor building your brand online
Did you know that you can monitor your brand online? Paula Clapon explains, “A big part of managing your personal brand is knowing what people are saying about you and being able to connect with them on the many different channels they spend their time on online.” She suggests trying brand monitoring tools, social engagement tools, and content tools, such as the following:
Thank you for reading my tips for building your brand online. Do you want help building your brand online? Let’s get started! Email me at katieanndecrescenzo@gmail.com.
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