We all know that social media isn’t going anywhere and it’s here to stay. For those that may be new to owning a business, or are a budding entrepreneur, or maybe you are old school and have relied on word of mouth for a traditional bricks and mortar business. Whatever industry you operate in, it’s crucial in 2022 and moving forward to having a broad and building a successful online presence.
Having an online presence is key. Building your online presence will not happen overnight. Yes, it can be time consuming but above all, it will be paramount for attracting new customers and for building trust in your business. In today’s online world some consumers will choose a company based on their reviews or website and it’s not always about word of mouth these days.
If your business is operating nationally or you are looking to go global, if you are serious about growing your business then it’s imperative to ensure you implement a digital media strategy as part of your overall business strategy. If you haven’t considered this then it will be worth making it a priority for your business in 2022.
Your online presence will and should play a key role in helping promote your brand, service/products and reach more customers thus increasing sales of your services/products. Through having a prominent presence online, prospective customers can learn about your offer and get to know you and the business and start building trust in your brand.
What should you do to create an online presence?
There are so many social media platforms out there that you can utilise to promote your business, aside from having a website, you could also have a social media presence on one or more of the following: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and even TikTok, plus many other platforms. You could even be an early adopter and start using some of the new up and coming social media channels that have more engagement. For example, if you are a gamer and want to bolster your follower numbers or maybe you are promoting your NFTs then you could consider newer platforms such as building up a new community on Discord.
Your online presence can have a broad reach and include a variety of social media platforms in which represents your online identities (both personal and business). It’s worth keeping in mind that some platforms will be more suited to your business requirements than others.
A successful online presence can help you promote brand awareness and help gain you more followers, fans, customers, leads and anything else that your business needs to become even more successful.
This all may sound rather time consuming and daunting at first, and maybe you don’t have the time to manage one social media platform let alone several. Don’t worry you can hire specialist companies like Enbecom to manage your social media for as little as £9.99 per month (based on an annual plan), so it won’t break your bank balance.
To effectively build your online presence and grow your followers and business you need to consider these eight top tips.
Tip One: Write down your SMART Business Goals and Objectives.
It can be very overwhelming when you are first looking to grow your online business. So, before you can really start anywhere it would be advisable to reassess your business goals and write them down to incorporate your digital strategy.
So, if you haven’t already done this, it would be beneficial to start by taking some time to write down both your short term and long term business goals. This will help shape your online presence and focus on which social media platforms you should think about targeting, to effectively promote your business.
Having an online presence shouldn’t just be created because it’s something you think you should do or just because your main competitors are in that space. It must be strategic so that it will help you achieve your business goals. When considering your business goals, it’s important to use the SMART Goals framework. This stands for:
SPECIFIC – Be as clear and specific as possible with what you want to achieve.
MEASURABLE – Use specific criteria and also evidence which will prove you’re making progress towards accomplishing your goal.
ACHIEVABLE – Have you set an achievable goal? Setting goals, you can reasonably accomplish within a certain timeframe will help keep you motivated and focused. Ensure its attainable and not impossible to achieve.
RELEVANT – Is your goal relevant, realistic and within reach for your business? If a goal doesn’t contribute toward your broader objectives, you might want to review it. Ask yourself why the goal is important to you, how achieving it will help you and how it will contribute toward your long-term goals. When setting goals for your business, consider whether they are relevant. Each of your goals should align with your values and larger, long-term goals.
TIMEBOUND – What is your goal timeline? It’s always useful to add a start and end target date to your goals. In doing so, you can set yourself a deadline to achieve the goals and it also helps create urgency plus, will motivate and help you prioritise your goals.
It would be a good idea to check in once a month to see if you are still on track and what course of action needs to be taken to ensure your online presence is helping you achieve your business goals.
Tip Two: Check on your current Web hosting.
Did you know that every type of business needs to run on a hosting platform?
There are quite a few options when it comes to selecting a web hosting package. Should you choose WordPress hosting, Bundled, or Unbundled hosting? What’s the actual difference between them all? To answer these questions, it can depend on what your needs are. Whether you are a web developer, development agency, small ecommerce business, entrepreneur, maybe you are just starting out on your own and need to host your first website, business start-up, or a small, medium, or large business.
Enbecom can ensure that whether you are building your very first website or 100th one, your website will run on our hosting platform, without any issues or security concerns and that you have peace of mind, knowing that you are using a reliable and flexible budget friendly UK based company, that have been helping clients with their hosting needs for the past two decades.
To learn more on how to choose which web hosting package would suit your business needs, we have detailed everything you need to know here in a dedicated web hosting blog. This will explain what types of web hosting are available and which will suit your business needs.
Tip three: Build a website or, review your current one.
For most small businesses and entrepreneurs building a website is the priority for building a social media presence. Having a website for your business adds credibility and is your virtual shop window which is available to prospective customer 24/7. It will also provide your future customers with information about your company, what service/product you provide and also, they will be able to find out more about your business, interact, engage and contact you.
When building your website, it’s important to keep in mind that you need a clear message about what your business is all about. It would also be beneficial to have clear navigation and an ‘opt in’ page to capture prospective customer emails and build an email list which you can use for future promotions.
You must also ensure that your website is mobile friendly, has quick-loading pages, responsive site designs and that you ensure all website images are optimised.
You should also consider Search engine optimization (SEO) for your website, as this process when done correctly, will help to increase chances of people finding your website and help increase your website traffic. SEO can also help to enhance brand recognition for your business’s online presence.
Mastering SEO, by ensuring to include keywords and metatags, will help boost your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). This will ensure search engines can locate your website and potentially list you on the first page of a search.
Don’t worry if you are not an SEO expert or haven’t the time to create or update your website. The good thing about building a website in 2022 is that you don’t need to worry about writing code or have any real technical skills. Today anyone who can type and knows how to use a computer can create their own website in a matter of minutes. Adding your great content is as easy as typing in a Word document.
If you don’t have the time to regularly update your website with weekly blogs, you may want to consider getting expert help with writing new content. There are many social media plans that can help you with all your social media requirements from daily post on Twitter an Facebook to regular compilation of blog articles, adding new products to your e-store, and adding photos to other social media platforms like Instagram. To find out more, here is some information.
What you want to promote or sell online will shape the look and feel of your new website. One of the easiest ways to get started and choose what you want is by using a drag-and-drop site builder which can have various ecommerce or blog features. You can choose from professionally designed set templates or build your own from scratch with the drag and drop features. Weebly is a great website builder and is very versatile with over 40 million entrepreneurs and small businesses using Weebly to build their online presence with a website, blog or e-commerce store. Weebly’s drag and drop website builder makes it easy to create a powerful, professional website without any technical skills. You can learn more about Weebly and which package would suit your business or blog requirements on our site.
Alternatively, if you haven’t got the time to set the website up yourself and want some help with creating your new website with content writing, Enbecom can help create a website for you along with sourcing your domain name and web hosting.
We also support the WordPress website platform in a big way, with dedicated hosting plans which included loads of pro tools to build and launch a website.
If you already have a website, it would be worth having a Website Healthcheck to ensure everything is running ok. Just like a car needs a regular MOT test and service, or we need to visit the doctors to ensure we are in good health, so too does your website need regular check-ups. It’s worth giving your website an annual full-on check-up to make sure it’s as effective, powerful, and reliable as possible. Learn more about the Website Healthcheck.
Tip Four: Optimise your website on a regular basis.
Once you have your website up and running, it’s important to ensure that you update your website regularly with new content and blogs. Don’t get caught up in thinking that you can’t add a blog to the website as it’s not ‘perfect’ – it’s never going to be perfect. Just remember to add and you can improve content as you go.
Tip Five: Keep it consistent.
However you communicate with your audience whether it’s via a blog on your website or through Instagram or any other social media platform. Make sure you are consistent and valuable as this can really help build up credibility, an authority in your industry and in doing so, you can build a following and trust in your brand.
Your online growth and visibility depend on you having regular and good quality content. It’s key for you to provide added value first to your followers/customer base and will help you build your online presence.
Tip Six: Be social and engaging.
Being social doesn’t mean you have to be on every single social media platform, as not every social media platform is suitable for every person or business need. However, being on a couple of social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook can help. As we have already mentioned, consistency is key. So, if you decide to utilise social media, you need to be creating new posts on a daily basis and be engaging with your comments. This helps build the trust between your business and your followers/customers and start forming some good relationships.
If you’re not able to manage your social channels by posting regularly and being a part of the conversation, then it’s going to be hard to increase your following. Don’t worry though as there are companies like Enbecom who can help you out by managing your social media for you.
Tip Seven: Automate your posts or outsource.
Its key to ensure you keep active with your online engagement. Staying active and present on social media takes time and dedication. However, in 2022 there is so much choice when it comes to using automation tools which will automatically publish and schedule posts up to a month in advance. Check out these tools such as Buffer, SproutSocial or Hootsuite to name just a few. Enbecom can also manage your social media schedule too.
Tip Eight: Reviews are important.
Depending on your business you may benefit from reviews. Many of us like to check out the reviews on somewhere before we go out to eat there and some of us may head over to TripAdvisor to check out the latest food reviews. Or for business use we may check on google or TrustPilot. It may be beneficial to encourage your customers to review your business to help instil confidence and trust with prospective customers.
Go for it now…
Just start today and also ensure to monitor your results!
You may have been putting things off and it could be overwhelming with what you need to do is just get started. You can look at your goal and start implementing the strategies to help your business boost your online presence. It’s also beneficial to test which of your ideas work and monitor the outcomes and analyse your data. You can use metrics from different sites like Google to see if your SEO is working well. You can set goals if you’re building a subscriber list to see if you reach your target and other click-through rates. Increasing your brand awareness online may take a few months, so be patient as you work toward your long-term goals and good luck. Remember: if you need some help on where to start, then contact us today.