Building an online presence is very important when it comes to marketing, thought leadership, and branding. Social Media Promotion is probably easiest and free to start, but can take your brand in greater heights if done correctly. It should therefore not be taken with a grain of salt and should be carried out with graceful wisdom/skill.
With a very relevant and visible social media presence, you would be able to accomplish more as an influencer or a thought leader.
Some of the advantages of having an social media presence are as follows
- Having an audience of your own
- Access to user-generated content
- Ability to monetize your audience
- Become a force to be reckoned with
- Build your business
- Contribute to society.
Having an online presence 20 to 25 years ago was way too expensive and complicated. Then only big business had websites and social media wasn’t a thing back then.
However, with the advent of social media and a little amount of invested time, you can set up a social media account for yourself or for your business establishing your presence online.
Steps to take when building an online presence
Why do you want an online presence?
before you embark on this beautiful journey, you should ask yourself a simple question. Why do I need an online presence? Answering this question will give you a concrete reason to always stay committed and active. Successful brands have a very active online presence and over the years they have grown their reach, in turn growing their profits through social media all because they knew what they were building it for. Likewise, if you want to build your online presence. You have to define your why and set realistic goals.
Decide on a social media platform
pick your major social platform specifically one where availability isn’t an issue and where your ideal target audience is.
I wouldn’t use email marketing to establish a brand that is centered around toys for kids.
A common mistake would be to start building your online presence on several platforms all at the same time. Your divided efforts will not just have much impact.
Focus mainly on one, even though you open several, the momentum and presence you are able to build with your major platform will be beneficial when building others.
Target audience
Itemize the features of your target audience. Are you targeting college graduates or employed workers?
- Curate your message to speak directly to your audience. Optimize your content for the benefit of your users.
Growing your online presence
After you have successfully set up the perfect social media account or revamped your old one. You are set for growing your online presence and getting that social proof that would add value to your business as a brand, thought leader or a marketer.
Deliver real value
Sure there are a ton of social media accounts, but the ones that actually get engagement and visibility are the ones that deliver real value.
Make sure you are consistently creating and publishing engaging content for your followers.
There is just no substitute for valuable content.
Focus on creating value not selling and you will find yourself with 100,000+ followers in no time.
Listen to and converse with your tribe
The biggest mistake startup brands make is that they don’t listen and engage their followers. You’re just starting out and you don’t reply comments when you just have 100 followers, you don’t listen for topics that are important to your followers, you don’t consider feedback as being important. focus on listening to your audience and followers to grow your online presence.
Create a consistent calendar
To keep things organized, and updated you may want to create a posting calendar that specifies how frequently you make posts and publish content.
This would help you retain your followers by keeping you always in their minds.
This strategy can also help when you want to automate your social media presence.
Use visual content
Live, video, vibrant pictures, infographics, are all killing it right now.
Leverage visual content to grow your online presence by making live videos which have been shown to;
- convert more prospects into sales.
- Developing infographics that are just damn awesome. Portray your message and results in a beautiful way
- Publishing pictures that are optimized for your brand.
Use link building
Once you’ve established your social media presence, the next thing to do will be to get the word out. Build links on the internet that points back to your site. You can do this by advertising, creating content, influencer marketing, and placing your link in very strategic places.
One final tip would be to always be on the lookout for social trends, and try not to be too rigid. Social media is dynamic and is constantly being updated. To stay relevant you have to stay trending.