Whether you’re starting a new company or trying to bolster the digital presence of an already established one, you’ve come to the right place.
The idea of social media and digital presence as a whole can be a daunting one for any company, whether established or start-up. But since the world revolves around the internet these days, solidifying your company’s digital presence is something every business needs to do. And it’s more than just the odd Facebook post or ad. The right strategy for your digital presence can help you generate more leads and higher sales, while with the wrong strategy, you’ll end up spending time and resources without seeing any pay-off.
Keep reading to learn how to grow your company’s digital presence, and do it in a way that will benefit you and your business.
What Is A Digital Presence And Why Is It Important?
To put it simply, your digital presence is how your business or company appears on the internet. It’s what shows up when someone Googles your company name. It typically includes your website, any social media accounts you have set up, your listings in business directories, online reviews, your company info like phone number and location(s), and any mentions you’ve had in online media.
If you’ve been wondering what’s so important about your company’s digital presence, you may have been living under a rock for the last couple of decades, but let’s get into it anyway. Think about it this way. When you have a question that you’d like an answer to, where do you turn? Do you open up your grandma’s set of encyclopedias, or go to the library? Or do you open up your computer or turn on your phone and type your query into Google?
If someone Googles your company and they can’t find you online, there’s a good chance they’re going to go with a competitor that they can find. So now you see why a digital presence is important. Without one, you’ll be losing business to a company that sees the value in the online world.
Steps To Creating Your Online Presence
If you’re an already established company looking to update or strengthen your online presence, skip to the next section. This section will mostly include steps to creating a digital presence for start-ups or companies that don’t have one yet.
Create an outline: According to PinkPoint, before you even open up your computer, the first thing you need to do is create an outline stating your purpose. It should include the following:
- In two sentences, write down what your company does.
- In a single sentence, write down why your company can do it better.
- Create a list of your products or services.
- Answer the following questions: what is your ideal buyer persona? What pain points do your customers typically have? What is your company culture (casual/friendly/formal)? Who are your competitors? And why have you started this company?
Set up your domain (and choose your name if you haven’t already): There’s a good chance you already know what you plan to name your company, but if you don’t, here is where you do that. Once you’ve got the name in mind, open up GoDaddy and start searching for available domain names. Keep in mind that it’s good practice to be flexible with your company name because there might not be a domain name available that matches it.
Create your website: Whether you plan to build your website yourself, hire an agency or freelancer to do it, or rent a website from places like Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy, you should have all the tools you need now to get one up and running.
Set up Google Workspace: Google Workspace is an all-in-one suite of tools for cloud computing, productivity, collaboration, and software. Here, you can create a custom email address for your business, as well as use “collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.”
While you’re at it, it’s a good idea to also set up Google’s other tools, like Analytics, My Business, Search Console, and Tag Manager.
Create social media presence: Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay, and your social media strategy can oftentimes make or break your business. However, under no circumstances should you set up a social media account if you have no plans of using it. Your digital presence should include Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter at the very least. But adding Instagram and YouTube can help as well. In our digital age, many people would prefer to watch an informative video rather than read an 800-word blog. So keep that in mind when crafting your social media strategy.
If you’re unsure how to proceed with creating a social media strategy that will work for you rather than against you, you may want to look into hiring a marketing department to do that for you.
How To Boost Your Company’s Current Digital Presence
If your company is already established and you’ve signed up for all the social media sites, but your digital presence is still lacking, you may need a little help to boost your digital presence. That’s okay. Everyone needs a little leg up sometimes.
There are a few ways to help solidify your online presence, and any combination of the following should do the trick.
Publish blogs: Adding blogs to your website can be a great way to use SEO to your advantage and jump to Google’s first-page search results. Brainstorm with your team some titles for weekly or bi-weekly blogs to publish. Use keywords that people often search in Google, and write compelling copy that others want to read.
Podcasts: Podcasts are not only a great way to get potential customers interested in your company’s product or services, but they can also be used for marketing purposes.
Offer webinars: Offering webinars or mini-courses can help to pique the interest of customers. It will help them learn more about your company and your industry, and they’ll get something out of it as well: knowledge. Everyone likes to learn something new. Put your expertise to work for you.
Giveaways/Contests: Who doesn’t like to win something? Use social media to advertise a giveaway or contest that your company is doing. This will not only send people to your various social media pages, but also to your website where they can sign up for newsletters and other freebies.
Advertise on social media: While we’re talking about social media, don’t forget to advertise here. But you can’t just click the ad button and be done with it. You need to have a reliable social media presence. Interact and engage with your followers. Ask leading questions that will make them want to comment, share, or otherwise engage with your posts.
For more information on using marketing to solidify your digital presence, read HubSpot’s blog entitled “The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategies & How to Improve Your Digital Presence.”
Now that you’ve read through our steps to get started and further solidify your company’s digital presence, it’s time to get out there and put them into practice. Good luck!