With each passing year, as the possibilities for online commerce and generating greater visibility grow, the competition does as well. This means that you need the right strategies to drive your online visibility whether you are a small business, a nonprofit or an independent operator or artist.
You might even be an individual trying to position yourself as an expert in your field while looking for a new job or other opportunities.
While your message will vary according to your brand, there are several online strategies that most people, businesses or organizations can benefit from.
Have a Budget and Stick with It
There’s a saying that you have to spend money to make money, and it is true online as well. While there are plenty of ways to use social media and other tools for free, in order to really boost yourself, you will probably have to spend at least some money.
This can help you with everything from paying small amounts to have your posts promoted on social media platforms to hiring people to help you analyze data or craft a social media strategy. If you want to promote yourself more and money is tight, you might want to consider ways to cut back on monthly expenses.
In addition to cutting the cable cord or cancelling the gym membership, you may want to consider a student loan consolidation. If you aren’t sure what this entails in order to combine existing loan balances, you can review a guide that covers the various options and what you need to know.
And for anyone that already has an active business online, there are plenty of Excel, QuickBooks and Google Sheets templates out there that can help you with the management of your finances, no matter where you might be in the process.
Use Social Media Wisely and Effectively
You can pay to have posts promoted, and you can also check to see how effective this was. But you need to go beyond promotion and give your potential audience a reason to read and engage with what you put online.
This means giving them something of value. This could come in the form of information, and that could mean writing something for another site and linking to it or writing it on the platform itself. If you are a small business, it could come in the form of offering a discount. You could also create content that invites audiences to reply to a question and participate in the ensuing discussion.
Keep in mind as well that on social media, this type of participation creates a positive loop in which the more interaction there is, the more visible your post becomes. It’s also important to make sure you are putting the majority of your attention towards the bigger platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, while also not forgetting about the smaller players as well.
And lastly, social media success is all about user engagement and giving to your audience… not trying to convert every user into a paid lead or customer.
Stay Relevant and Continue to Grow Your Brand
This is tricky because if you come across as insensitive or taking advantage of situations, it can backfire. However, it may be to your advantage to align and engage yourself with current events and concerns in some way.
Another way to approach this is by working with influencers, and these do not always have to be the top celebrities on any given platform. In fact, particularly as an individual or small business, you might be able to better engage an audience using what are often referred to as micro-influencers.
These are users who will tend to be regarded more as real people than celebrities, and the ability of your audience to relate to them could mean that they are more trusted even if their actual reach is smaller. This can lead to more authentic and lasting engagement.
How to Build a Strong Brand with Longterm Growth Potential
With so many different ways to start a business and grow a brand online, it can be tough to decide on what methods and direction is best. For times like this, it’s important to look at the immediate and longterm gains at hand.
No matter if you are focusing on a personal brand or a business, it’s important to first established yourself online. This can quickly and easily be done through the use of a simple domain name, website and then securing all of the necessary social profiles and accounts.
After that, it’s all about making sure you have the necessary content and marketing strategies in place. With the internet growing and being active at all times, it’s so important to make sure you get started sooner than later, as days, weeks and months will soon pass by — and the more you already have in place, the more it will help grow your brand.
In summary, be sure to read through each of the proven examples and winning strategies above in order to create your own online identity, while turning it into a trusted brand in the process.