LookupPage Blog | Professional Web Presence and Visibility

Create Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face

Any good politician knows to really get votes they must go out and meet the people; the same is true with creating an online brand presence.  While online chat rooms, webinars and social media sites are great they do not substitute for real face-to-face meetings.  For those with a small business that brings customers into a physical store this online brand presence building strategy is easy.  They have been doing it all along.  For those, though, without the luxury of customers walking into a physical store finding ways to interact in reality can be more challenging.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Host a Speaker

Hosting an industry leader at a local conference center is a great way to meet one’s customer base and open channels of communication.  Industry leaders often have lecture series and, depending on the industry, can be relatively inexpensive to book.  By offering a reservations-only luncheon with guest speaker any small business can begin to meet their customers and potential customers away from the computer screen yet still build the powerful online brand presence.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Discussion Groups 

This is, by far, the most inexpensive way to meet customers and others in one’s industry community.  Every industry has news and issues confronting the industry.  Libraries, churches and community centers often are home to industry discussion groups that meet monthly or even bi-weekly.  By engaging customers with discussion face-to-face it is easier to transfer the communication to the online arena which is exactly what one must do to build a strong online brand presence.

Online Brand Presence Face-to-Face – Trade Shows and Booths

For those small businesses unable to bring in a speaker or host a discussion group the booth can become their best friend.  By having booths at all expos and trade shows which remotely relate or appeal to their industry and target customers they can begin to meet customers and answer questions in person.  Especially for those small businesses with a handful of employees getting out and meeting customers and showing them the business is committed to their satisfaction is crucial for getting ahead.  Once a physical connection is made it will be easier to entice them to engage online which in turn builds online brand presence.

These are just a few ideas of how to create and bolster an online brand presence for small businesses.  With many of us confined to computers most of the day it is easy to forget how important human contact is for making great impressions and capturing customers.  Online brand presence is only possible if the customers are interested in one’s business.  Often times building that interest takes work only face-to-face can accomplish.

Schedules Important to Online Brand Presence

Most small businesses now understand the value of social media, blogs and website content when creating and maintaining their online brand presence.  Once all of those components are up and running, however, it is easy to become overwhelmed and begin to fall behind in updates.  Before ever committing to various online strategies an online marketing plan must be created including goals and strategies.  Most important in the plan should be schedules. 

Each individual piece of the online marketing plan runs on a different schedule to maximize online brand presence.  Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter should be updated at least once a day. Blogs should have at least one post per week, preferably three to five.  Websites should be updated as information chances and at least once a month to keep content fresh.  Industry forums should be visited on a regular basis with comments added.

With all these different schedules anyone can see how a small business can quickly lose track and inadvertently lose online brand presence.  That is why setting up concrete schedules for each arm of one’s online marketing campaign is absolutely necessary to meet goals.  As goals are met or are changed schedules must also be reevaluated.

 Businesses should pay close attention to analytics in order to revise schedules as needed.  For instance to keep engagement at its peak and online brand presence at a maximum a business might discover that posting comments on social media three times a day is ideal.  Any more posts and the numbers remain the same; any fewer posts and the numbers drop.  In that case the social media scheduling should be changed to reflect the analytics.

While keeping up with scheduling is crucial to the success of online marketing and building an online brand presence small businesses must not forget their goals.  Social media, blogging and a business website are all great tools at gaining a great online brand presence but are not the same as sales.  The focus of any online marketing plan should always be to gain and retain customers – not get as many ‘subscribers’ on Facebook as possible.

With so much at stake in today’s company and more and more small to mid-size businesses focusing their marketing online all businesses, regardless of their industry, must bring their A-game to truly build an online brand presence.  By starting with the basics of developing a solid marketing plan and realistic schedules reflecting the goals of that plan a true online brand presence can be attained.

Don’t Forget Email for Enhanced Online Visibility

It appears that with all the hoopla regarding social media and blogging that many companies have forgotten their first method of building an enhanced online visibility – email.  While it’s not as glamorous as Facebook or Twitter it has the ability to make a substantial impact on a business’s enhanced online visibility if used correctly.  Typically email address lists are voluntarily provided by customers making the chances of emails being read much higher than other forms of online marketing.  Also, much more can be said in a newsletter sent out en masse via email than with a tweet or post.

Enhanced Online Visibility through Email Address Lists

Most businesses have been collecting email addresses of their clientele for years, if not decades.  Email is much better than physical mailings for newsletters and updates because people tend not to change their email address as often as physical addresses.  Also, there is no cost to distribute email newsletters.  This fact alone makes email distribution a good investment.  Although these reasons are compelling enough for companies to focus on email address lists there is an even better reason – email addresses are given voluntarily, almost assuring the recipient’s interest in one’s business which will ultimately help build enhanced online visibility.

Enhanced Online Visibility through Email Content

Many people think newsletters are a thing of the past.  With instant information at everyone’s fingertips why would anyone take the time to read old information in a newsletter? People still read newsletters because they do not think about the business or industry until the newsletter pops up in their inbox.  While those deeply involved in an industry or company may have run across the information distributed in the company newsletter it is safe to say the average customer has not.  Weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly newsletters give a nice synopsis of a company’s activities and industry news without overwhelming customers.

Enhanced Online Visibility through Email Updates

Yes, it is true that updates can be given on Facebook and Twitter but for many customers an email account is checked more often than a social media account. Or even if the social media page is seen by the customer they may accidentally overlook a company’s update.  If a customer cares enough to keep a company’s email notifications and newsletters in their inbox and not spam box they are much more likely to read the updates than in any other venue on the internet.

There are many other reasons not mentioned in the post regarding the benefit of email in building an enhanced online visibility.  Although there is not enough time to give a real discussion to the tried and true email method of distributing information and, in turn, building an enhanced online presence, it is safe to say it is worth considering.  There is nothing wrong with an aggressive social media marketing campaign but companies would be wise to not forget about the power of the company email when an enhanced online visibility is the goal.

Build Online Brand Presence Quicker with Smarter Blogging

We talk a lot about the importance of blogging to create online brand presence and while that is true there is a component of the blog that is often times overlooked.  In short, a blog is a social experience which builds community around one’s service or product.  If a business views their blog this was online brand presence is greatly enhanced.  If they see their blog as a way to increase search engine rank or make a sale online brand presence will be slow in attaining.

A blog might seem like a lonely task, information only going in one direction, from the writer to the audience, but in fact it is an online conversation.  A recent article explained just how important the social aspect of blogging really is to building an online brand presence.  Within the article several tips were given for small businesses to keep in mind when writing blog posts.

Online Brand Presence through Blogging – Communicate

The audience is every bit as important as the writer as a blogpost is a conversation not a lecture.  A post should pose questions to the audience and expect answers in the form of comments.  One relatively new way to engage readers and promote comments is to add social media buttons to each post.  These are small Facebook ‘like’ and Twitter ‘tweet’ buttons that allow readers to send a link to the blog post to their respective social media account.  This is one of the best ways to create and maintain online brand presence available today.

Online Brand Presence through Blogging – Content

While the content will be ultimately determined by one’s industry there are certain topics that readers do not want to see in a post. Small businesses should refrain from technically complicated (above their average audience’s knowledge) information, bland industry news and vulgarity.  Controversial topics are great if they are not too divisive.  Controversy can be a great conversation starter or it can be damaging.  Topics should be part of the overall social media plan with controversial topics one possible strategy to increase online brand presence.

Once a small business gets the hang of writing a blog and is beginning to see involvement from their target audience it is time to take their writing to the next level and seriously begin working on their online brand presence.  By becoming aware of subtle manipulations to one’s company’s blog can make the time invested writing and maintaining it well worth it. Building and creating online brand presence is a job all in itself and when a business works smarter they reach their goals quicker.

Social Media Tools Aid in Building Enhanced Online Visibility

As more and more small businesses begin to realize the benefits of launching an online marketing campaign with social media as the primary strategies to increase their enhanced online visibility a new industry has been created.  Social media tools are now available for a variety of tasks to aid the small to mid-size business owner in streamlining their social media marketing tactics and interpreting analytics.  For a business to truly see an enhanced online visibility taking advantage of these tools would be most beneficial.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Adding Multi-Media

There are a slew of new social media tools aimed at helping account holders integrate music, video, pictures and even voice recordings into their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media accounts.  Research has proven that pages rich with multi-media generate more interest and engagement with the community.  With so much at stake in online marketing businesses would be wise to use every tool at their disposal to help create their enhanced online visibility.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Time Savers

As a small business gets more fluent in social media and their audience grows they will quickly find themselves devoting a large amount of time to the websites.  Best practice dictates that to have a successful social media marketing campaign a business must be constantly available to respond to comments and post comments regularly.  If successful this will require a lot of time especially if several sites are being utilized.  There are many new and exciting social media tools on the market now aimed at this time issue.  They streamline the updating and monitoring process by funneling all activity from multiple websites into one, easy to understand dashboard.

Enhanced Online Visibility – Analytics

After all the hard work small businesses put into their marketing some form of analytics must be available for review.  This could not be truer for those wishing to affect enhanced online visibility through an online marketing campaign.  Several social media tools provide customizable analytics ideal for the small business.  With information presented in easy to understand formats one doesn’t have to an expert to make sense of the information. 

After a company becomes comfortable with social media (one site at a time, please) they should investigate social media tools and determine which could benefit their business and make social marketing goals more attainable.  With so many tools available now and the number increasing regularly there is a social media tool available to help any business in any stage of growth build their enhanced online visibility.

Language Matters with Online Brand Presence

Everyone, by now, understands the importance of online brand presence and the various vehicles to help build and maintain it.  The most popular routes to boost one’s online brand presence where it needs to be are social media, blogs, and website content.  All three rely heavily on the written word yet companies are more and more often neglecting the English language.  There is no quicker way to lose respect from one’s audience and actually hurt online brand presence than by getting lazy with grammar and spelling.

Social media has been quite a blessing in terms of improving online brand presence.  All of the wonderful aspects of social media that make it so appealing are what make it so easy to lose control of proper grammar and spelling.  First of all, misuse of language is rampant on sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Even the most devoted English grammar-abiders can’t help but fall victim to the ‘everyone else is doing it…’ mentality.  While one’s audience may misuse homonyms and misspell common words frequently companies must take the high road and stick to writing good copy all the time to increase online brand presence.

The casual tone of blogs and social media also lends itself to the misuse of grammar.  While there is absolutely nothing wrong with dropping the formality, something which is a great tool for building an online brand presence, when posting on the company blog certain rules must still be strictly enforced. There should always be a distinction between conversational tone and bad writing.  Fragments should be avoided at all costs.  Misplaced modifiers should not exist and all words should be spelled correctly.  Tone has nothing to do with these issues.

Errors found in website content are perhaps the most disturbing. The website is the company’s online clothing.  It should display the best the company has to offer.  When customers and potential customers see misspelled words and grammatical errors within the website it damages online brand presence and sends the message that the company is not professional.  No matter what the company sales or offers in services correct grammar and spelling must be used on all web pages.

The trend to let grammar, spelling and punctuation slide is upsetting. The entire profession of editing exists to catch such errors and is now being disregarded in lieu of fast and easy.  While it might be fast to throw a Facebook post up without review it’s a company’s online brand presence that suffers if it isn’t up to par.  By taking just a little bit of time to review and edit all writing, even a simple Tweet, companies can guarantee they present a professional image and, in turn, maintain their online brand presence they worked so hard to attain.

Building Online Brand Presence through Social Media, Part 2

In part 1 of this post we looked at three very basic rules to remember when building online brand presence through social media accounts.  These rules apply to businesses of all sizes in all stages of their social media development.  Online brand presence is carefully cultivated over time and with thorough plans, not just appearing overnight to a few lucky chosen. 

With that in mind we can jump right back into some basic rules all businesses must follow if they hope to reap an increased online brand presence through social media use.  Today focuses on three rules that are unique for social media marketing but no less important.

Be Active

Online brand presence is such a finicky thing as are one’s customer base.  If one were to study the companies with the largest, most influential, online brand presences they would find they were constantly doing something.  Of course a small business can’t compete with the likes of Coca-Cola or Playstation but they can make themselves available to their customers by responding quickly to comments and posting interesting comments which leads to the next rule.

Initiate Conversations

Facebook and Twitter are vehicles for conversations, not an arena for sales pitches.  Customers can turn to a business’s website if they want to learn about how wonderful a product or service is.  Online brand presence is, also, not directly about sales.  It is simply getting the word out about one’s business.  By posing thought-provoking questions and posting intelligent, interesting questions customers will respect and admire one’s Facebook or Twitter page resulting in the highly coveted online brand presence.

Take the Time

This cannot be stressed enough.  When businesses complain that their social media accounts are not building the online brand presence they were expecting time is usually the reason why.  Businesses need to post a comment at least once a day and respond to comments within a maximum of twenty-four hours.  There are a variety of online solutions for being notified when a comment is posted.  If a business cannot make the time to do social media correctly then perhaps they should explore other ways of building online brand presence.

The rules set forth in this two part post are very rudimentary yet still highly accurate in creating an online brand presence using social media.  It’s easy to get distracted with all the applications and customizations Facebook and Twitter offer a business, but at the end of the day if the goals aren’t met and online brand presence isn’t gained the job just wasn’t done right. 

 

 

Building Online Brand Presence through Social Media, Part 1

One of the most popular ways to build online brand presence is to participate in social media.  We have suggested this repeatedly and gone to great lengths to help small businesses really gain a name for themselves and create an online brand presence while doing it.  Still, though, many businesses are faced with lackluster results and no increase in online brand presence after creating and paying diligence to their Facebook or Twitter accounts.  Faced with disappointment and frustration they may decide to quit.  Instead of throwing in the towel we want to return to the basics for a few moments. 

It’s easy to see how perhaps in all the excitement of a new Facebook account a business could forget what they learned in Marketing 101. For that reason we will review some very, very basic ideas of how to create online brand presence through social media using the exact same principles one would use in any other marketing device.

Have a Plan

We see all too often businesses jump head first into the social media pool without ever developing a plan.  An online brand presence does not come about by serendipity but rather through careful planning.  When approaching a social media website every business should develop goals in writing, then strategies for achieving those goals, followed lastly by tactics.  Goals should focus more on the online brand presence then sales.

Know the Audience

It’s tempting for businesses to want to drive the conversations on one’s social media account page.  After all they are the experts are they not?  The truth is that to really build an online brand presence businesses must let their customers set the tone for the conversations, and the topics.  By studying trends within the customer base businesses can anticipate the hot topic and steer it in their direction while appearing to let the customer hold the reigns.  That is smart marketing.

Remember Manners

If one was at a trade show they would never think of cursing at a customer or competitor.  Nor would they use vulgarity.  Some businesses forget how to behave online although the results can mean disaster for an online brand presence.  Whoever is responsible for handling the social media accounts should have stellar social skills and remember what they post lives online for eternity. 

Enhanced Online Visibility Developed through Social Media Content

After setting up a company blog to build an enhanced online visibility it can become difficult to find quality content to post especially if posting daily. The same situation can occur in social media posts like on Facebook and Twitter.  While creativity is a wonderful virtue to possess in the world of social media and blogging and goes a long way in achieving an enhanced online visibility there are certain rules for content that should always be adhered to.  Below is a list of some of the most common rules every company should obey at all times when posting a blog or social media comment.

1)    Enhanced online visibility should be a positive thing.  That means that all of a company’s posts need to stay on the sunny side of the street.  While times may be hard and the economy sinking one’s posts should always focus on the positive.  No matter what the topic there are ways to see the glass half full.  This is one of those times to let that creativity fly.

2)    Companies should avoid foul language, crude humor and trash talk at all times to create an enhanced online visibility.  There are, of course, a few exceptions – companies specializing in the vile and vulgar – but it is safe to say most companies’ target audience will not appreciate crass humor and profanity.

3)    Posts are not for selling products. Rather they are for selling solutions.  In fact, they are not for selling at all.  Social media is such a wonderful tool at building enhanced online visibility because it allows companies an ongoing and intimate conversation with their customers and potential customers.  That conversation is about sharing idea not pitching a product or service.

4)    Companies should keep a close eye on what trends their customers are following.  By allowing the customers to determine the topics they will be much more likely to participate in online conversations. Enhanced online visibility is deemed achieved by engagement of customers not the number of sales.

These are just a few tips for developing the much desired enhanced online visibility that companies so desperately desire.  It is possible through social media to create and maintain an enhanced online visibility while increase sales numbers but it takes hard work.  Companies utilizing social media and blogging should educate themselves on all aspects, not just content, before committing to this new and revolutionary enhanced online visibility tool.

Jump into Social Media for Online Brand Presence

For small businesses wishing to build an online brand presence participation in social media is a great way to do it while keeping the costs low.  In fact, the only cost involved with social media as an online brand presence building strategy is the time it will take.  Anyone who has ever been involved in a small business understands just how valuable that time can be which is why there are some simple guidelines to remember when taking that leap into social media with marketing as the goal.

1)    Start Small and Slow – Before biting off more than one can chew in regards to social media marketing for online brand presence they should commit to one website.  It doesn’t matter if the person updating has personal experience with the website or not when starting a page for a small business all the rules change.   We’ve talked in other posts about what should be included in social media posts and how to best attract and keep fans.  Learning to look at social media through those lenses takes some time to get the hang of.

2)    Update Often and Concisely – The often part of this tip is simple.  People want instant gratification and they love fast. Honestly, a small business should be posting at least once a day for maximum online brand presence growth.  The concise part of this tip is a little more difficult.  Communication is a skill that comes naturally to some and not so naturally to others.  One would hope that the designated ‘poster’ in a small business would have stellar communication skills but that cannot always be accomplished.  No one wants to take the time to read a rambling post.  Say what you mean and say it in as few words as possible to build online brand presence.

3)    Keep It In-House – It may be tempting to immediately contract out the work of building and maintaining an online brand presence to another company specializing in online marketing.  While there are plenty of successful and highly qualified companies one can turn to for these services it’s recommended that small businesses try to do it themselves first.  Social media is a very intimate means of marketing and customers and target customers want authenticity that can only be given by one of the team.  An essential part of online brand presence is authenticity.

These are only three tips to help small businesses kick-start their online marketing campaigns in an effort to further increase online brand presence.  The most important tip of all is to remember that social media is only one aspect of marketing.  It is a communication medium that helps the business connect with customers and future customers.  It does not make sales happen.  If social media is viewed as an opportunity to build online brand presence and not as a one-stop-shop of marketing it can be a success for any small business.

Take a Second Look at the Company Website for Online Brand Presence Hindrances

Creating an online brand presence is no easy task just as maintaining that same online brand presence requires devotion and time.  Many companies contract out their website design or have an in-house team take charge of the process and don’t give it much more thought.  Unless one has hired a leader in website design with a proven track record in brand building, particularly online brand presence, they should not assume that their website is good enough.

Unfortunately the look and feel of a website associated with a brand plays as much an influence in determining online brand presence as social media presence, blogs and web content.  A website’s aesthetics should match the brand’s goals, beliefs and overall theme.  All too often website designers get caught up in using a successful website design as a one-size-fits-all template when the truth is that each brand should be looked at with fresh eyes.

Sometimes the remedy is simple.  A company can greatly increase their online brand presence by changing some colors, fonts, and adding a few pictures.  Other times it takes a complete overhaul of the website.  If one is not happy with their company’s online brand presence hiring a professional specializing in branding isn’t such a bad idea.  The trained eye can pick up many subtle components of a website that others never consciously notice but react to emotionally nonetheless.

One tiny adjustment that everyone can do to their website that has been proven to increase online brand presence is add photographs of people.  If one questions the validity of this marketing tool they should look at highly regarded national and international brands’ websites.  Photographs of people are splashed all over the place.  The same holds true for social media sites and blogs.  People like to look at other people, plain and simple.

So before blaming web content or small budgets for one’s lack of online brand presence try looking at the website for a change.  If it was designed by someone without the training and experience working with creating and building online brands it probably is flawed.  Flashy graphics are cute but they won’t keep customers coming back for more.  By focusing on the website as a whole representation of one’s brand – color, fonts and all – an online brand presence can really begin to form. 

This is not dismissing web content by any means.  That is still the meat and potatoes of any website.  Customers and potential customers don’t visit websites for the graphics or catchy slogans.  Successful websites with the goal of increasing online brand presence understand that all the components of the website must work in harmony to create on overall brand image.  That is the only way online brand presence is achieved.

 

Focus on Others to Build Your Own Enhanced Online Visibility

Let’s just assume that everyone has their blog up and running, is posting on it every day and makes sure to make the posts thoughtful and well planned – all in the name of building an enhanced online visibility.  Maybe the numbers aren’t as hot as you’d hoped they’d be or you’re running dry on content.  Whatever the problem may be you’re feeling frustrated with the whole blog process starting to wonder if enhanced online visibility is ever going to happen and if it does is it even worth it.

Don’t fret. Yes developing your enhanced online visibility is most definitely worth all the hard work you are putting into the blog whether you realize it today, tomorrow or months down the road.  In an effort to give a new perspective to the company blog this post is devoted to increasing your enhanced online visibility by focusing less on yourself and more on others.

I know it seems counter-intuitive to say that but in reality it works.  Enhanced online visibility depends on others being interested enough in your product or service to know you exist.  A blog is a great way (as we’ve established many times) to accomplish this.   But not all blogs are equal.  One of the ways a blog fails miserably is by focusing only on itself. 

“Look what we are doing.” 

“Aren’t we cool?”

There is only so much of that kind of posting that people can take.  That is why focusing the majority of posts on other companies, other providers of service, other anything related to your industry will beef up the enhanced online visibility.

It doesn’t end there though.  Part of focusing on others is responding to comments.  If a fan of your blog takes the time to comment it is only polite to pay notice.  Not all comments are relevant but many are.  By just checking the comments once or twice a day and making a quick comment back blog traffic will increase followed by enhanced online visibility.

These are not difficult tasks to perform for someone already posting daily or every other day.  Sometimes it is even easier to stop trying to think of more wonderful news to write about your own company and look instead for advancements in the industry.  Enhanced online visibility is not easy to create and time must be dedicated for it to be done right but in the end it is most definitely worth it.