When every digital plate is overflowing with information, brand building becomes a vexing challenge.
This tells us that building a strong personal brand online is just as important (if not more) as building your company’s brand. Personal branding is a system of defining your business to yourself, your team as well as your esteemed customers.
It is a way to singularise yourself and show the world what is it that you possess that makes you better, noteworthy and more reliable than the others out there.
Online branding will not only determine the views and principles of your company but also how you make money. It is very important for a business leader to have an influential presence on the internet.
You need to take the front and centre spot as you connect with your community based online.
Social media will allow your company to be leaps and bounds ahead of the traditional media by framing relationships directly with customers.
By telling them great stories and connecting with them in real time, your brand would become a hub for a community of consumers.
Building a strong personal brand can add leverage to attracting customers to your company while you are being yourself as you highlight your knowledge and expertise.
As easy as it may sound, the process of building a robust personal brand online is not a cakewalk. First of all, it is crucial to understand the concepts of branding yourself.
Understanding Your Brand and Your Customers
It is extremely important to make sure that there is no lapse in understanding between how you see your business as a brand and how others see it.
Know what you want to be known for. There should not be no disparity between your brand and your reputation online.
Be authentic. Discover the real you and build your brand on your strengths. How you discern your brand should be exactly how your viewers perceive your brand online.
After a complete understanding of your brand it is also important that you understand what your customer wants and needs.
The messages that you portray online must match with what your business offers and also at the same time be relevant for your target audience.
Companies who understand the potential of online branding know exactly how to utilise the internet can go from zero to hero.
Communication is the keyword here. Make your brand adopt an identity and keep them engaged through effective online communication.It inspires confidence, trust and positivity for your business.
Choose Wisely
Consider how you want your messages to be communicated. Social media is one of the most relied platforms to boost your brand.
But for additional flexibility, maximum awareness and control, a personal website can be more resourceful.
There are numerous digital marketing channels to choose from. Considering the variety of options that the internet provides you with, make it a point not to engage yourself on every platform that the internet provides.
If you choose to do so without a social media manager, you’ll end up over-stressing yourself and have issues to manage your time.
Whether it be through reading, writing or through visuals, decide on a medium depending on how you love to communicate best. You could opt for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.
Make sure to choose the right channels for both you and your audience. Be very selective when it comes to choosing your platforms, be ruthless with your time and get clever with your strategy.
Let The Blogging Begin
Blogging is on fire. It has taken the world of marketing to a whole new level. Blogs are hugely beneficial for brands.
Google just loves fresh and unique content on websites that are constantly updated, and that’s why blogs help you rank well in search engines. Strong blogs can help your brand build authority in your niche.
If you’re just sharing product and sales pages, it will be extremely hard for you to get traction. By sharing informative blog posts about your industry, you’re likely to get a lot of traffic and social shares.
Blogs provide for great content to share on social media networks.
If your content is filled with quality, it will show fans of your industry that you know your stuff and therefore are the brand to go with for their business needs.
Online Branding Content
If blogging is fire, consider content as fuel. The better the quality of your fuel, the longer the fire burns. Every word matters.
Write in such a way that it makes your content different to the millions of pieces of content readily available online.
‘Quality’ content is king. Therefore, make your content stand up and stand out. What you write is more important than just writing.
Valuable content works like a magnet in attracting potential customers. Your content should focus on your target audience as it is a great way to show them your experience and expertise.
Your brand grows along with the growth of your skills.As your name becomes more familiar to your target audience, they will return to you for advice over and over again.
Going Social With Media
Social media has become more vital than ever. It is a channel that allows you to connect with numerous targeted audience. Social media is the new voice of global conversation and intends to remain so for a very long time.
Social media can cater to a variety of service that you require from sales to customer support. While providing you the perfect platform to reach your potential customers, it helps you build your brand as well.
You must find the network that align with your brand’s image and goals. It doesn’t matter if you write about driving a BMW, post an awesome picture of you being the best dressed corporate or tweet about your latest vacation abroad.
If it doesn’t parallel with your brand’s image and goals, everything goes down the drain.
If you’ve decided to opt for Instagram or Facebook, be sure to take advantage of all the traffic going by. I’d suggest so because your profile on either of these domain is prime real estate.
These are platforms where images speak in volumes. A sharply dressed photo of you with your company logo will work as a good magnet.
Your profile description conveys your visitors who you are, what you’re about and most of all, what they can expect from your company.
Become a hashtag ninja and fall in love with live streaming and video snippets.
Be Consistent
Apart from being a brand that has a face, you also need to be approachable online. Consistency is crucial if you want to build trust and confidence.
Utilise a carefully chosen set of core principles and messages and focus on them throughout all aspects of the brand’s execution.
Depending on which channels you’ve opted to communicate with, make sure that you communicate with your audience appropriately.
Regular posting is extremely necessary on any social media site. Instagram is a bit more time consuming as it doesn’t allow third-party apps to post automatically.
Instagram specialist are beneficial if you want to go pro. Updating your Instagram feed at least thrice a week is a good idea. If Twitter is your focus, one tweet a day is a must.
Don’t make it a one dimensional platform. Don’t limit yourself to simply broadcasting, posting an update, tweeting and the like.
Make it a conversational platform. Set aside certain amount of your time to have conversations with your community online. Let them get involved, highlight their shared stories and ask for their ideas and opinions.
You on your part can also share stories, stories about you, your brand and most importantly about the people behind your brand that makes your brand succeed. Recognise the contribution of every person.
Soft Spot For SEO
Include a Search Engine Optimisation campaign for your website. If your website has friendly SEO it will ensure that the related search queries will bring your site to be at the top of the results pages.
Most consumers do their online research before they make a buying decision.
Their decisions are not only affected by high rankings, but also by how well you are answering their needs – not to mention by what other people have been saying about your product or business and the content they’ve consumed on your page.
SEO can help you to identify the proper keywords and understand why you might use them. This in turn will assure that appropriately-tailored landing pages will give you returns with the highest impact possible for the goals of your online business.
For most potential customers who search for information online, high rankings means high quality. It would be a big mistake for any brand to overlook the power of SEO.
You should understand how internet users see your brand online. If required, make changes in order to get your message out to them in a manner that you would want them to receive it.
Be open to change – your brand is at stake and you need to do whatever is necessary. How you express yourself online, the character and traits you portray and your capabilities will be a determining factor to your brand.
Conclusion
The importance of brand recognition cannot be understated in the global market. You need to count on multiple tactics to ensure that your brand name is known to potential consumers.
Regardless of the number of methods that you’ve decided to imply, internet marketing needs to be a part of the plan.
That’s how you will leave a mark with your exceptional branding strategy online!
Author Bio
Anna Barton is often called as a “Problem Solver” by her colleagues and friends because of her knack for brand management. She occasionally likes tailoring article related to her field to keep everyone abreast of the developments in the industry.
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