As per Google, more than 90% of consumers conduct local searches using the internet. If the vast majority of your target market is on the internet, it is imperative that you are on it as well. To succeed in marketing your business, it is crucial to have a strong online presence. This is regardless of the size of your business or the industry you are in.
For outbound marketing to be successful, you need a presence online to reinforce brand recognition and the services you offer. Having communicated your product or service to your audience, make sure your web presence showcases the benefits of your product or service. This is because most of your potential customers will begin their journey with you.
Inbound marketing also relies on quality content because it introduces a brand to customers who were not aware of it before.
In this article, we’ll mention why having an online presence is important, the first things you need to look at when building your online marketing efforts, and strategies that can help you build a strong online presence.
Importance of Having a Strong Online Presence
Engaging customers is vital to a business’s success. In recent years, consumer behavior has shifted toward finding goods and services online. Salesforce reports that 84% of consumers research online before making a purchase, with the most popular channels being websites (75%) and social networks (39%). To grow and increase brand recognition, businesses must have a solid digital strategy.
Online communication is one of the most effective ways to connect with consumers. By doing so, you can easily communicate who you are as a brand and set yourself apart from your competitors. In addition to your website, you need to have a digital presence across all channels through which a consumer can contact you. Although this includes your website, it also includes areas beyond your control, including what people are saying about your brand online and on social media. To ensure your brand is seen in the best light, make sure your online presence is strong.
3 Important Online Aspects to Focus On
Below mentioned are the three things you need to look at when building your online marketing efforts.
Website
Every business, regardless of size, should have a website. Regardless of how basic the copy is, it needs to include the information potential and existing customers require.
You can easily set up a basic website with an application like WordPress. WordPress is a free platform for content creation and management with an option to upgrade to a premium version. Depending on your business, you may even want to include an online store given the rise of online buying and selling.
Social Media
You must have a strong social media presence to generate additional revenue and build customer loyalty. This enables clients, potential clients, and others to easily interact via a channel that is important to their daily lives.
Every business doesn’t necessarily have to use every social media channel, but researching your options is definitely worthwhile. As an example, almost any business can use Facebook and Twitter – these platforms are effective for sharing information, tips, photos, and videos.
Besides Twitter and Facebook, you may also find Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Foursquare useful. Do your research to determine whether or not these channels are suitable for your marketing needs. As an example, Instagram is a photo-sharing platform, which is suitable for companies that sell aesthetically pleasing products such as jewelry, food, and furniture. Take into account your target audience – there are over 150 million Instagram users, the majority of whom are women, between the ages of 18 and 35.
Search Engine Optimization
Once you have a website and social media platforms, it is important that they are search engine-friendly. Search engines are used almost universally by consumers to research products, services, and businesses. This can be taken advantage of if your website is optimized for search engines with help of (SEO).
How to Improve Your Online Presence?
Below mentioned are a few strategies you can implement to solidify your brand’s online presence:
Create a Mailing List
Creating and growing your email list is an excellent way to establish your online presence. You can reach out to customers using an email list regularly.
Your email list can be cultivated through subscription-based content. Furthermore, you should incorporate a call-to-action (CTA) on your website and social media platforms so that you can promote your email newsletters. You can collect leads’ email addresses through a newsletter – it also lets you know your leads and customers care about what you have to say.
Provide Value
Ultimately, your company or brand strives to make money. However, creating value and customer-centricity is required before you can make money.
You can create value by providing free content on the Internet. Additionally, it will increase your online presence, which is helpful for your customers.
Write down the complaints and needs of your customers. To be more precise, identify the type of buyer you are targeting. Create content that will respond to their questions. For example, what information will be helpful to your prospects? Your content strategy will be based on this information.
Become an SEO Expert
Due to the constant changes in search engine algorithms, optimizing your website for search engines is the best way to increase your online visibility.
Rank high online by mastering SEO. It makes your site visible to potential customers. There are two types of SEO – on-site and off-site.
Content is the key component of on-site SEO. Make sure you do keyword research, add inbound and outbound links, and develop content that is relevant to the searches of your target audience.
In off-site SEO, you’ll be concerned more about the technical side of things. For instance, it’s important that your site is well-structured, simple to navigate, and fast to load. In addition, establishing credibility with backlinks can also be very helpful.
Engage In Online Activities
Being active online is critical to appearing online. Posting regularly to your websites, social media accounts, and other owned properties is part of this.
For instance, social media accounts should be used to engage viewers. There may be a topic of conversation in your industry that you can engage in.
Join New Social Media Channels
When new social media platforms emerge, take advantage of their features. Being an early adopter has several benefits.
As a first-time adopter, there will be less competition if you’re early in the game. Also, these websites usually begin for free and generate a lot of engagement. It is important to always be in the know if you want to be an early adopter.
Be Active on Social Media
Nowadays, being active has become the norm. Globally, social media is now used by 3.2 billion people, making it a critical part of reaching your target audience, regardless of the platform.
Instilling trust in your prospects and current customers through social media is important. Seeing that a company lacks a social media presence causes users to lose trust and doubt its existence.
Furthermore, social media is an excellent way to establish credibility, build a reputation, and show off your brand. When potential customers research your business, they are likely to search social media for information about what you’re posting and what other people are saying about it.
Create Your Own Website
To appear online, you need a website. In addition to social media, many people will go to your website for more information about your business.
This is the place where you can showcase your business through fonts, colors, texts, videos, and photos. Your goal is to present a solution that speaks to the pain points of your buyer persona.
Personalize Your Brand
The process of building an online presence is similar to the process of building a brand. Companies often use the personification of their brand to build their brand.
Users are more likely to engage with your company if you have a clear brand reputation, whether it is by commenting on your social media page or joining your email list.
Create Content
You have more opportunities to appear online when you create more content. Being visible on search engines, online social networks, and websites like YouTube is all about establishing an online presence.
Decide where you want to appear online and start producing content there. Would you like to be on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Etsy, or Amazon?
Based on your customer research, prioritize the sites where customers spend most of their time and start brainstorming the content that would best fit those sites.
Make Use of Online Advertising
Using online advertising can help you build your online presence more quickly. When your ad appears at the top of the search results, your brand awareness and visibility will automatically be increased.
There are a variety of search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo where you can advertise. You can also use social media for advertising. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are all popular platforms for advertising.
Be Where Your Audience Is
If you want to be visible online, you must know where your customers are. Putting all your effort into Twitter is a waste of time if your customers are on Instagram. As a matter of fact, Instagram should be a central part of your marketing efforts.
Your online presence will grow stronger if you’re present where your target audience is.
Influencer Marketing
To remain relevant in your niche, you must interact with the most influential figures in it.
For example, if you’re a beauty brand, consider looking up beauty influencers on Instagram and YouTube. Influencers are often trusted to tell the truth about products and services to promote them.
Aside from that, influencer marketing will get your brand’s name out there. You will appear on the web more often if more people are talking about you.
Become Competitive
Being competitive is important in the process of establishing a presence on the internet. Check out the strategies that your competitors are using and determine if they’re a good fit for your company, as well.
Competitive analysis can provide you with content and strategy ideas. A lack of knowledge about your competitors will prevent you from competing with or one-upping them.
Establish Relationships
Establishing relationships with those within your industry is crucial to increasing your online presence.
For example, it might be a good idea to establish a relationship with a podcaster or blogger who covers your industry, since they may feature you on their podcast or blog. It’s even possible that they may ask you to contribute to their podcast as a guest.
You can increase your visibility online by establishing relationships with others in your industry.
Automate Your Business Processes
Last but not least, creating an online presence is extremely time-consuming.
Your system will run more smoothly if you automate some of the processes. For example, content can be scheduled for publishing on social media.
You can also curate content from other people, providing your audience with valuable resources without having to continually create new content.
Wrapping Up
The physical world only allows you to exist in one place at a time. But the internet allows you to exist in multiple locations simultaneously, allowing you to reach your target audience in the places where they spend most of their time. We hope the above-mentioned strategies will not only help you establish a strong online presence but will also cater to the growth and prosperity of your business.
However, you need to have a reliable internet connection like the one offered by MetroNet Internet to put these strategies into effect. MetroNet not only offers high-speed fiber internet connection, but its fiber-based MetroNet TV services and efficient customer service make it one of the top internet service providers in the United States.