The continuing evolution of social media networks online branding and the growing popularity of user review websites and more informative search results makes it easier than ever for people to do their due diligence on your business.
Luckily, this doesn’t mean that you are at the mercy of third party websites.
You can implement these five digital strategies to improve your online branding credibility for your business:
Content Marketing for online branding
A well thought out content marketing plan is vital for building online branding authority. The goal is to consistently publish relevant and valuable content that will demonstrate your expertise to your customers and the search engines.
At the end the end of the day, there’s no better way to achieve authority and credibility than by being exactly what you say you are and delivering the products or services you promise.
It’s vital that your brand’s content, whether it’s a static ‘About Us’ page or an in-depth blog post, accurately represents what you’re about – down to the very core. If your content consistently matches the way you conduct business, you’ll build strong and natural brand authority, and begin amassing an army of advocates.
Social Media Marketing
A great deal of your online branding credibility hinges on your social media presence. Constant monitoring and engaging with customers through the social sphere ensures you are ready to make the most of positive feedback or resolve any negative comments quickly.
Let this stat serve as a reminder that how and what your brand says on social media matters. Don’t take it lightly when an unhappy customer complains on social media because before you know it, you could have a disaster on your hands.
Social media is real-time public relations, so take advantage of that knowledge and develop a purposeful and meaningful presence.
Video Marketing
Demonstrating your expertise using online video makes your content more engaging and memorable especially if you can inject some personality. It also has the benefit of being mobile friendly.
When you implement video marketing, you’re doing two things simultaneously:
- Creating highly engaged content that captures your brand’s personality and
- Proving your digital savvy using mobile friendly content.
Video content isn’t exactly easy to produce, either, so you’re also showcasing your brands skills and the lengths you’re willing to go in order to connect with your audience. When you earn respect, you earn trust, credibility and authority.
Personalized Marketing
Based on email, websites and social media activity, personalized marketing is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. By using customer driven data you can personalized each shopper’s experience, making it easier to earn their trust.
Consumers can easily find out about you, so we’ve been discussing the power of personalization and how to build credibility by showing customers that you’re paying attention.
As long as you’re upfront with why you want customers’ information and are careful to always present content that’s relevant to their interests, they’ll actually trust you more for personalizing your marketing efforts.
Reputation Marketing
Rather than just letting review sites dictate your reputation actively participate in the review process so you can improve customer feedback. Publish favorable reviews on your own site and properly rectify disappointing customer experiences.
When it comes to reviewing sites and platforms, monitoring is more than half the battle. If you know customers will use a certain site to review your product or service – for example, TripAdvisor, if you’re a hotel or restaurant – having a branded presence on that site, is a great way to engage with your customers.
You can say thank you for positive comments and mend fences or solve problems when you get negative feedback. Instead of viewing review sites as a thorn in your side, use them as an opportunity to lend further credibility to your brand.
In conclusion, the wealth of content on the web means your business is sure to be part of the online conversation, your goal should be to guide your customer through their buying cycle with great content and then be in a position to turn reviews good or bad to your advantage.
