Being noticed in the marketplace can be difficult when hundreds of competitors are going after the same customer. Traditional marketing is still a great way to gain some new clients. However, have you really considered your social media efforts? One of the greatest benefits of social media is the boost from people talking about your brand online and the added visibility that equals opportunity. When you do the right things on social media, you are discovered and will generate new business.
Establishing a strong social brand is the first step to making social visibility effective. Your brand consists of the key marketing message you want your target audience to hear and the image (logo, symbol, personal image) you want portrayed. The reason we are all familiar with major brands like Walmart, McDonalds, Nike is because they have spent millions and millions of dollars marketing their brands to us so they can stay top of mind. However, small businesses don’t have the million-dollar budget to get exposure. Because of the internet and Social media, your business has the opportunity to grow with a much smaller budget.
Social sites
- Make sure your brand image is consistent across all social platforms so that you’re easily recognized. Be sure you get a vanity URL
- Build your audience by joining group discussions, writing sharable content; engage followers by inviting conversation, providing informative/useful content, and incentives. The more you engage with social followers the more visibility you have in their newsfeeds and timelines. This increases your exposure well past the number of followers you have.
- Post pictures and videos to get more people liking your pages. Pics and vids get more engagement than just text alone.
- Social media helps with your search engine ranking. When you type in a brands name, their social pages are usually on the first page.
- Targeted advertising: For a small fee, you can create ads that target by age, gender, location and interests. I have a client who launched a new line of hair products. The marketing strategy we developed included spending $5-$20 / month to reach 1500 to 2000 women age 25+. By investing a small amount of money each month, she has been able to increase traffic to her online store and grow her FB fans. This is a very affordable way to get exposure and drive traffic to your website or social pages.
Blogging
- Frequently create content that would be interesting to your audience and post it on your blog. Develop a list of keywords and use them strategically throughout your blog posts because every post that you create is like creating a web page that is rich with key words. A blog that’s linked to your website helps with exposure on search engines.
- Become a guest blogger on someone else’s site. People are always looking for content ideas. Connect with a page that targets the same audience and form a relationship. If they have many subscribers, you will increase your exposure.
Social Influencer
- Become a social media influencer by nurturing and growing an online community of people who respect your opinions and find the info you share impactful. By becoming one, you will have brand ambassadors who will do the marketing for you.
- Connect with other social influencers. This is a great way to grow your reputation and build credibility. Build a relationship with them before pitching to them to share your online content. Try to get an introduction by one of their connections. Comment on their posts and share something they posted.
Host a Podcast
For 3 years, I hosted an internet talk radio show on BlogTalk radio. I chose that platform because it had a built in audience that I could expose my brand. Every week I did a 30-minute show that averaged 300 listens each month. My archived shows are still running on the site and as of today, my brand has been exposed to 100,000 listeners in the US and Internationally. Not only will you get exposure, but also it helps to establish your credibility.
Personal Brand
Brand yourself as the clear choice for your customers when they need your products or services. Each one of us has a unique and distinguishable attribute that can be packaged into an individual brand. With personal branding, you can position yourself to become known for your passion and expertise. Simply put, personal branding is the process of marketing yourself to others.
I have a client out of Houston who is in the private charter jet industry. It’s a male dominated field and hard for females to become successful. She came to me because she wants to be known as the go to person amongst her colleagues and target audience. My team and I are currently positioning her personal brand as a sophisticated and confident expert in private jet travel. Her clients are CEOs and the wealthy and we are marketing to them that they can count on her to provide them with a luxury jet to meet their unique needs.
When I was coming up with a brand for my company, I knew it had to be unique and catchy so potential clients could remember me over the hundreds of marketing firms in the area. The Marketing Lady is simple yet effective! When people see my logo, hear my name, or experience one of my events, what comes to mind is marketing savviness, experienced, and a company that walks the talk.
Standing out from the crowd with a unique brand will help get customers to understand, trust, and become loyal to your business. This will bring you a much higher level of success in return. Creating visibility for your brand is important to getting people to start talking about you, thinking about you, and spreading the word about you.
Contact us for a free 30-minute discovery session to learn how you can leverage your social presence to stand out and get noticed!
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