“Your brand name is only as good as your reputation.” – Richard Branson
Did you know that your online presence can either make or break you? In this new digital world almost every business can be found online, and judged by how well they manage their online reputation. Yes, it can be time-consuming but it is a very important part of managing your business.
Wherever your brand name is represented online, could be where your potential customers are hanging out. Facebook, Google, Blogs, Twitter, Instagram, Websites, YouTube are just to name a few; your reputation lies where your logo is represented.
When talking to small business owners about the importance of managing and updating their social pages regularly, I often hear this…
“Why is it so important to manage and update all my social channels, it’s just social media… right?”
Wrong! Never under-estimate the importance of having an updated, clean and creditable social presence on ALL of your online channels. Social Media is huge when it comes to managing your online reputation. Your fans seek out and join your business page because they like what you are offering.
Basically your brand is your reputation and you want to make yourself look good everywhere so that your customers can trust in your services.
Here are 5 ways to create an amazing online presence:
1. Website Maintenance & Credibility:
How many times have you visited a website only to have clicked on a broken link, frustrating isn’t it… Always maintain your website by keeping the content up to date. A great way to prove credibility is to include testimonials from previous customers. This shows that you are a business that can be trusted.
2. Become Mobile Friendly:
Google is starting to penalise websites that are not mobile friendly, so when designing your website make sure it can be accessed on any mobile device (mobile phones and tablets). Your biggest customer could be the one sitting on public transport trying to access or buy from your website on their mobile device; make it easier for them.
Time & Resources:
Try and post new content regularly. Invest time and resources when starting up a new social networking business page otherwise you could end up losing potential customers. For example It won’t look good if you have an Instagram account but your last post was from August last year. If time and resources do become an issue, it may be better to close down the account until you can manage it better or hire someone externally to help – This is one of the area’s I help my clients with.
4. Great Content:
Always post interesting content that is relevant to your fans on all of your social platforms. If your fans start hiding content on Facebook, it is considered spam and Facebook will start to penalise you, which means your posts will show up less and less in your fans newsfeed. Try posting blogs, articles and images relating to your industry; it will show that you know what is going on.
5. Acknowledge Feedback:
When a fan writes to you on social media, respond that same day. If the comments are negative, reply as quickly as you can, then try to remove the conversation off social media by offering your business email so that you can converse more personally. If they have taken the time out to review your business/product, show your appreciation by thanking them. When someone comments on your blog post, always reply back to them.
There is a so much information out there regarding this topic, so this is just a few handy tips to help you get started. Always act authentically, know who your target market is and where they are hanging out, keep your content up to date and you’ll be on your way to creating an amazing online presence for your business.
Good luck!
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