by Christy Liu
In the current period of uncertainty, many businesses need to pivot and leverage the digital space to expand their reach and promote their offerings. With people still practicing self-isolation, digital platforms have been growing in traffic and activity. As a lot of attention is put online, it is important for businesses to ‘get online’ to reach your target audience digitally.
“In fact, according to Adaptive Marketing, 97% of consumers use the internet to find a business.” (Hubspot, 2019)
I understand that some of you may feel overwhelmed when considering the digital space. Some of you may be facing financial challenges as well. I’m here to break it down into a few ways that are useful and free!
Clarify Your Business Fundamentals
Before I dive into the platforms and activities to grow your online presence, I recommend revisiting a few important business fundamentals that can strengthen your messaging.
Your WHY: Why do you want to do what you want to do?
Your Target Audience: Who are you trying to provide value to?
Your Value Proposition: How are you going to help them?
These core questions are some of the first steps to providing you with the direction for the type of content to provide and the channels to focus on. Once you have a solid foundation, you can start growing your online presence and develop strong relationships with your audience.
5 Free Ways to Grow Your Online Presence
1. LEVEL UP YOUR INSTAGRAM GAME
When it comes to social media activity, Instagram has one of the top number of daily active users. As of June 2018, Instagram has reached the 1 billion monthly active user mark (TechCrunch, 2018). If your target audience is on Instagram, you will want to engage with them further through posting consistently, sharing content on your story or on IGTV and directly interacting with individuals.
Do your research on the hashtags and content that your target audience is looking for. Plan out a content calendar that considers both your story and feed. Build out your highlights so that people can navigate your profile quickly through relevant categories. After posting your content, be sure to keep in touch with your followers and reach out to other people. You want to build genuine relationships with your community and share your story along the way!
2. ENGAGE IN FACEBOOK GROUPS
Earlier this year, according to The Verge, Facebook is putting more effort into building a “privacy-focused communications platform,” by focusing on groups and events. There are currently 400 million active users on Groups (Facebook, 2019). Groups tend to be a very large community of people who share similar interests ranging from entrepreneurship to digital marketing. There are many active entrepreneur communities on Facebook. You can grow your online presence by interacting with members, sharing your story and offering your advice!
3. HOST WEBINARS
This period for many people is a time for self development to build one’s knowledge and skills. Grow your network and build a strong brand rapport by holding webinars to share tips and any interesting information to people. Become a speaker for relevant communities, established organizations or you could even start your own group. Leverage event platforms such as Eventbrite and Meetup to promote your webinars. With the digital world knowing no boundaries, you can reach a mass audience while further building a positive impression of your brand.
4. WRITE AN EBOOK
A great way to showcase your knowledge is by writing your own eBook. Conduct your research online and discover the questions that people are asking as inspiration for your book. Create templates and share useful tips. Sharing your knowledge with others is always appreciated! You can then promote your eBook through your own newsletter or channels such as Facebook group and Instagram.
5. GROW YOUR BLOG
People love reading articles that are relevant to their needs and interests. Blogs help drive traffic to your website as well as boost your search engine ranking when relevant keywords are used. There are so many outlets to gather trendy and highly demanded topics. You can conduct some research through forums, social media searches, keyword ranking tools and more. Focus on quality over quantity and encourage discussions and sharing of your articles!
The methods I recommended are some of the top methods for boosting your online presence. Many people I have come across have found success for their businesses through sharing relevant and helpful content to their target audience.
If you are already actively applying several of these methods, remember to audit your content schedules to ensure they are optimized for the current active times of your audience. People’s behaviours and interests may change frequently and you want to gather updated insights consistently and shape your digital strategy around them.
My biggest passion is to help entrepreneurs navigate their business journey. I’m always excited to share my insights and provide support when needed. At COUA, we help early stage entrepreneurs build their businesses from the ground up through business strategy coaching, brand design and web development. Connect with us at www.couainc.com!
Christy is a Co-founder, Designer and Marketing Strategist at COUA Inc. She helps early stage entrepreneurs build sustainable and profitable businesses from the ground up through business strategy coaching, brand design and web development. Connect with her at www.couainc.com.
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