Social media is here to stay, and small business owners know that. However, while they recognize the importance of having a digital presence, they still don’t know how to cultivate it properly.
You can drive growth for your business by investing time and effort into optimizing your company’s digital presence. Here are a few objectives that can help you improve your company’s website and social media profiles, as well as your presence on search engine websites.
Set Your Goals Relevant to Your Digital Presence
You need to decide what exactly you want to accomplish with your website, social media presence, and digital presence overall. There are many things you can achieve with your digital presence, such as gaining valuable insight, increasing web traffic, driving sales, expanding your audience, generating leads, and engaging customers.
But, you must have a goal in mind if you want to achieve any measure of success. For instance, your techniques for improving your customer service offering will be different than your approach to driving sales. So, to be able to work toward achieving your goals, first you must know what they are.
Define a Strategy
Your goals are just the beginning. You need a plan that will help you achieve them. For starters, designate employees who will be part of your digital marketing team. So that everyone will know what’s expected, make sure to clearly assign roles and responsibilities.
Decide how often you will post content to your website and social media pages. To make sure your posts will be well-planned out, create a content calendar. It will be a key part of your digital marketing strategy because it will lay out:
- Who your target audience is;
- What type of content you should curate or create;
- What subjects and topics interest your audience;
- When and on what platforms you will publish content;
- The usable content you already have.
- Actively Engage Your Audience
To achieve a thriving digital presence, simply posting content won’t cut it. You can’t log out after creating a post if you want to build a loyal audience—you have to stick around.
Use social media to foster relationships with your customers and prospects. Social media allows you to engage your audience, so make the most of it. To create a connection with your followers, you should:
- Share relevant information;
- Start and participate in conversations;
- Comment on posts;
- Show appreciation;
- Address criticism;
- Ask and answer questions;
- Share user-generated content.
Use Tools to Automate and Schedule Posts
As mentioned, there are some tools that make maintaining your digital presence easier. There are automation tools that allow users to schedule posts.
These tools can also publish your posts automatically. Such tools include BuzzSumo, MeetEdgar, BUgger, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite.
Add Pages for Credibility Content
Thanks to the advent of the internet, the consumers of today have everything they need to make informed decisions when they are spending their money. No matter what industry your business is in, you can rest assured consumers that spend time researching their options before they come to you or your competitors.
To win over customers or clients, you need to have content on your site that builds credibility and trust. In some industries, such as iGaming, trust is more important than in others, so let’s see how the established iGaming brand AskGamblers uses their site to gain the trust of users.
The company has branded itself as a trusted online casino portal that offers real players’ opinions and ratings as well as unbiased game and casino reviews. To make sure they are on the same page with the visitors, they have added an “About” page that highlights their brand values, which include transparency, quality, fair play, and independence.
Since they don’t just expect site visitors to take their word for it, they have added a “Testimonials” page as well. It includes testimonials and reviews by players who rely on their portal as well as testimonials from partnering platforms.
To prove to your target audience that you are trustworthy, make sure to add content such as testimonials, reviews, and case studies to your site. To make it easier, you can use a content management system such as WordPress.
Run an SEO Audit
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Essentially, it’s the process of making search engines such as Google “like” your site. If Google considers your site to be good and useful, it will rank better on its search pages, leading to more web traffic on your site.
To make sure your site is SEO-friendly, conduct an SEO audit. SEO tools such as Moz or SEMRush offer free trials, so you can see what you can improve without having to spend a penny. However, be sure to acquaint yourself with SEO terminology first.
Maintain a Constant Digital Presence
Even with all the tools that can save you a lot of effort, it takes time and patience to build a proper online presence. You will need to dedicate at least 15 minutes of your day to your social media accounts.
Determine the right posting frequency for each platform you use and stick to it. For instance, Don’t post more than once a day on Facebook and Linkedin. Limit posts to 5 times a week on these platforms. When it comes to Pinterest, 11 pins a day should do the trick.
Check Your Citations
Google pays great attention to your name, address, and phone number, and so do similar platforms. This info helps them rank your site for local searches.
To ensure correct business name, contact details, address, and hours are used, review your company’s various listings. This includes Google Business, Yelp, Yahoo, Bing Places, Facebook, and LinkedIn. So you can respond to comments and add branded images, make sure to claim any unclaimed listings.
Create an FAQ Page
On top of being great for your site’s SEO, FAQ content helps site visitors quickly find answers for what they are looking for. No matter how great your customer support team is, many prospe ts may give up on calling or emailing you simply because it’s a hassle.
To keep prospects interested, create a FAQ page. To come up with a list of questions and answers, read social media comments, reviews, and contact form submissions. Be sure to talk with your customer support team, sales team, and IT department as well.
Use a Consistent Voice
The posts and content you publish should be in line with your image and your brand. To boost brand recognition, you need to use a consistent voice. You can talk to people differently, depending on the platform, but your messaging should stay the same.
Since everyone brings their own personality to the web content they make, it’s important not to assign too many people to the task of social and content creation. When it comes to your voice and image, make sure everyone in your team is on the same page.
Takeaway
Tidying up your company’s digital presence is no frivolous task. However, if you take the time to set goals, define a clear strategy, create the right content, and study the right tools, you can expect a great ROI.
