In the midst of a pandemic, bringing your small business online is no longer a choice but a necessity.
While this change may seem daunting, it might just be the next step to expanding your business. There are numerous benefits that come with a strong online presence.
The difficult part is figuring out how to grow your online presence efficiently and effectively. Building an online presence is more than creating a website for consumers to visit. Here are some ideas to take into consideration when establishing an online presence.
Establish a Social Media Presence
Being on social media is crucial nowadays, and one of the best ways to grow your online presence. Not only does it help you connect and engage with your audience, it instills trust and legitimacy. While it’s important to be widespread in media platforms, you don’t have to be present on each and every channel. Here are the three most popular social media platforms for businesses to use:
Facebook is the largest social media platform with over 2.7 billion active users each month. This is a great place to get started in establishing a social media presence as a small business. Facebook encompasses almost all content formats from text to images, videos, and livestreams. In addition, Facebook has created a number of tools to help small businesses succeed on the platform including automated ads, customizable online shops, personalized marketing plan, among many other resources.
Instagram is owned by its parent company Facebook. While Facebook has an impressive number of users, Instagram thrives in terms of engagement. This photo and video sharing platform is perfect for small businesses looking to engage with the local community, and an especially effective platform for businesses with photographical projects and achievements.
LinkedIn is a business networking platform perfect for small businesses to build trust, increase credibility, and attract new business. LinkedIn offers a great opportunity for you to receive feedback, reviews, and recommendations from past employees, clients, customers etc.
Twitter is a platform for immediacy, best for businesses with an audience under 50. It is the ideal platform to use if the information you are sharing is time sensitive such as breaking news, trending topics, and small announcements.
Youtube
Youtube is an online video sharing platform and currently the second most popular website in the world. This platform is most beneficial to small businesses in helping to demonstrate the products.
Remember, being on social media does not equal having a social media presence. Staying active is the key factor in building a better presence. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are more likely to promote accounts that post frequently and engage in online activities. Social media is the perfect opportunity for you to show off the human side of your company and truly connect with your audience.
Create a Captivating Website
A website is one of the first places people will go to find out more information about your company and it is the perfect way to share your products, accomplishments, and your brand in general. There are many CMS sites to help you easily build and design your website.
There are always improvements to be made whether you are starting from scratch or updating an existing website. Over half of all organic search engine visits are accounted for by mobile devices. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure a mobile friendly layout when designing your website.
Having a blog can also be extremely beneficial as it shows your knowledge and expertise to your audience. Consistently updating and publishing well written blogs will increase search engine optimization (SEO) and drive more traffic to your site. Click here to learn more about search engine optimization.
Stay Active and Engage with Customers
Engaging with customers and being consistently active online is something we’ve hinted at many times throughout this article. Simply having a website, social media account, blogs, etc. is not enough to build an online presence. In order to make an impact, you must be active. Whether it be Google, Facebook, Twitter, or any other online platform, studies show that the accounts are most likely to promote accounts that are highly active. This includes consistently updating your social media pages, publishing content, and engaging with your followers.
Automate the Process
From maintaining an active social media to publishing regular content, it’s fair to say that building an online presence includes a lot of tedious work, and can be hard to keep up with. Automating the process can help your company keep up with uploading regular content across many social accounts. Not only does this save time, simplify the process, and give you greater control over your content and how you share it, it also gives analytical feedback to help you understand your audience, what works, and what doesn’t for your business. To learn more, check out our recommendations on the best marketing automation tools to help small businesses save time.
There is no standard formula to online success. Every business model and strategy that follows is unique.
The ideas listed above is simply a guide to help you in the right direction. Building an online presence takes time and effort, but the results and success will come.
If you would like a more personalized marketing plan, feel free to reach out and consult with us today.
Schedule time to review your current situation with us and discuss possible ways to optimize your brand experience to overcome your business challenges and reach your goals. Even if you choose not to use us, you’ll walk away with some great ideas to implement in your business today.