How To Maximise Your Online Presence* (Paid Collab)

Growing your online presence is extremely important.

No matter if you are running a PR blog, a one-person agency or even own a larger company – you will need to pay attention to your customer service, your branding, and public relations as well as your marketing. Today, people often start their industry research with the internet, or one of their search engines. Another growing trend is asking for recommendations on social media. If you are able to maximise your presence on these platforms, you can win the numbers’ game.

Social media, for better or for worse, is a massive part of our everyday lives now. And having an online brand for yourself is really important if you want to set yourself apart from the rest. My super good friend Orlagh is something of an expert in creating your own personal brand, and I’d definitely recommend you read this blog post she wrote on exactly that.

But how can you maximise your online presence while growing your personal brand? Getting your name out there is incredibly important in a saturated market, but it’s also bloody difficult too. To help you along the way, here are 3 tips I’d recommend to start you off.

Try niche forums

It’s important that you get to know your audience and learn about the problems your potential clients are facing. It is crucial that you are present in forums and comment on blogs, share your expertise on your own site, and join discussion groups on various social media platforms. (Hosting my own #powerandinfluence chat with Ella really helped to grow my Twitter presence and following, and that in turn increased the views to my blog – so this stuff works, and it also allows you to meet great people too). This will help you make the most out of your online visibility and get your brand recognised by your target market.

If you’re looking to get your name out there, and position yourself as a bit of an expert – I’d also recommend Quora too. It’s a Q&A website which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. From weight loss to SEO, I use it for just about anything; and it’s not just good for finding answers too. If you’re confident you can help another user out with a question, you’re always welcomed to leave a helpful comment. If doing so, I always leave a link to my website too so people can (and do) find me.

Have an easy to share website

When you are getting your website designed, it is important that you make every post easy to share and comment on. The more interaction you have on your pages the better traction you will get online and in search engines. You will need to add sharing buttons and different prompts to get people to interact with your brand online. When you talk to a Web development agency ask them about the different software they can install to encourage communication with your clients.  

Become an SEO guru

No matter how good your content and your website is, if nobody finds it, there is no point spending money on it. I’ll say it time and time again, but SEO is singlehandedly the most important step in growing an online presence and should be at the forefront of all your digital activity. 

Make sure that you are using relevant keywords in every content and on-site SEO setting, so you can attract the right people to visit and engage with your website and content. You can no longer win the game with a one-page sales site.

Have an easy to recognise brand

If you studied business studies at GCSE or A-Level, this’d have bored you to death – so I’ll keep it short.

When it comes to public relations, it is important that your brand is unique and easy to recognise, no matter if someone comes across your business card, your site, or one of your social media posts. You should choose your brand colours carefully, and ensure that you have a consistent tone and style. If I shout “purple chocolate” at you (not sure why I would, but that’s beside the point) you’d automatically think ‘Cadburys’… And that’s exactly how branding works. Pick a theme and style that’s memorable and bespoke to you, and you’re on to a winner.

Keep social

When you are trying to get your brand noticed online, it is important that you keep your social media accounts updated. This can be a challenging and time-consuming task, however, and you should always make sure that you consider your audience before posting something. The good news is that there are some great tools that can help you to get your social media posts organized and tracked, so you know what’s doing well and which type of content your followers are most engaging with. And then post more of it!

When building your reputation and brand online, you should always take the needs of your audience into consideration. Put yourself in your potential clients’ shoes, and find out what their most urgent and most important problems are so that you can offer a solution to them, and so you can tailor your brand messages to their needs.

*This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are honest and my own*

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