As your company grows its digital footprint and reaches more audience members, you might think your work is done. That expanding the amount of online content your company produces is really just the name of the game. While this is a great start, there’s much more to just increasing the quantity of content on your site and social media accounts. Creating online content serves not only to reach and inform audiences, but also to construct an online business brand image for your company. This is just as important as reaching an audience. Creating a seamless, consistent online business brand can be tricky to navigate. Here, Biz Online Marketing gives an overview of exactly what it is, why it’s important, and how you can get started today.
What is an online business brand?
An online business brand is a major component of a company’s overall brand management strategy nowadays. Given the increasingly digitized state of business, creating a consistent and memorable brand for your business is essential. Simply put, it is a culmination of who you are, what you know, what you offer, how you offer it, and why you do so/why you’re the right choice for their needs.
This brand is built up of content found on the company website. Beyond the website, content created and/or reposted on the company’s social media pages. Additionally, any work created for or referenced on external sources build up your online business brand as well. Any guest posts, videos, featured articles, or referenced works count as components of your digital brand, so be sure you are producing relevant, reliable content even on external sources.
Beyond communicating who your company is, what it offers, and why, this will also serve to differentiate you from your competitors. Your online business brand serves as your most effective point of difference when the goods/services being offered are comparable.
Why is having an online brand important?
Whether your business already has a well-known brand or not, it’s important to communicate that brand online. According to a search engine survey, 85% of consumers use online searches to find and research businesses. Oftentimes, online will be the first interaction your business has with potential customers. For that reason, its essential to have a clear, online business brand. This way, visitors interact with an actual company personality and culture, rather than just a screen. Beyond making this first interaction memorable and effective, there are many other important reasons to create an online business brand.
Communicate consistency
Firstly, businesses and their leaders experience better exposure online when they have a well-defined, strong, and consistent brand. Consistency in the business’s digital brand image not only helps SEO ratings and figures, but also communicates a sense of professionalism and expertise. If your online business brand is inconsistent, so becomes your overarching brand image. Ultimately, this confuses site visitors and digital onlookers.
Expanding exposure
Beyond establishing credibility, building this image online increases brand awareness. Related to SEO results, brand awareness is how many people know your brand, and how well they know it. An online business brand will consistently appear in the results for appropriately related search topics. Moreover, expanding this brand to different online platforms help increase exposure even more so. Integrating social media links, backlinks, internal links, and external links to related, credible pieces creates a digital network of exposure opportunities.
Creating positive associations
Additionally, establishing a brand has proven to create increased sensations of trust towards the business for the consumer. Moreover, if the online brand is strong enough, the audience can establish a positive brand association web for your business. Positive feelings towards your business and its online presence can increase the number of clients, inquiries, site visits, and even referrals. Of course, your business, its customer service, and the product/service it provides needs to back up this image of competency, trust, and positivity. The online business brand is essential in attracting and generating the interest of the potential client/site visitor. The rest is up to your actual business operations.
Inspiring your workforce
Creating an online business brand is not only beneficial for SEO results and improved exposure or consumer feelings toward your business. It also improves morale, work ethic, and overall internal company operations. With a strong brand personality, both online and internally, employees have a clear, consistent, and unwavering mission to work for. The mission and purpose of the company is easily communicated. Thus, employees have a clear understanding of the importance of their work and achieving company goals.
Overall, it shapes the identity, not only of the company, but of the internal workplace as well. When done right, this can be a very powerful and positive impact for the employees, company leaders, and the business as a whole.
How to create a successful brand online
Creating an online business brand starts with exploring the different channels and mediums that are available to you as a business. This includes the creation of a website, a LinkedIn account, Facebook account, Instagram and Twitter account, YouTube channels, guest posting opportunities on other sites, the options are endless. To start, pick one or two to really focus on. These will be at the core of your online brand.
Once your core is well established, your company can begin to branch out and explore other options or platforms. Each platform is unique in that they are all using different tones, tactics, and content to get a message or information across. Using different platforms will not only diversify your online content, but also the types of audiences you reach. Thus, diversifying your client portfolio and bringing in more business.
Depending on your business’s industry, the branding you will want to create can vary. Regardless of the personality your company takes on, be sure to keep it consistent. While the means and types of content you post can differ, make sure the underlying personality of your company is clear and consistent. As mentioned previously, an unwavering brand image can lead to stronger brand recognition and create positive webs of brand associations. Creating that image and brand before your potential customer even interacts with an employee will make your business all the more attractive.
Wrapping up
Establishing a personality digitally is just as important nowadays as the personality of your business in person. It can greatly benefit your company’s effectiveness of SEO, credibility, create positive associations, and even benefit internal operations. If you’re ready to get started on your online business brand, contact Biz Online Marketing today. Our team of experts will help bring to life your vision of digital branding.
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