You can establish a brand online overnight, but nurturing it takes many years. Nowadays, the Internet gives a level play field to everyone willing to make an impression—although it’s no secret that not everyone yields the same returns.
This is where the power of influence kicks in. Today’s consumer is smart and data-driven. He does his research before coming to you, and you have ambitious competitors in the same domain. Therefore, it’s vital to constantly monitor what people think of your brand. While algorithm updates decide a lot about what we do online, here are the five simple tactics that are truly Google friendly and sure to get results.
Market your CSR
55 percent of consumers are willing to pay extra for a company that supports social and environmental initiatives. The market has seen a shift from a purely consumer-centric approach to one that is also values-based. Customers now prefer to buy from a brand that is aware of its social responsibilities. To that end, companies have started promoting their CSR activities on their website—and this helps your brand to gain a reputation as a business that balances responsibility with profit.
Make others talk about you
People look for the opinions of others before trusting a brand. In addition to creating fresh copy for your website, leverage the content available to you in the form of testimonials and reviews from established customers. This helps create credibility in the market and establishes you as an expert in your field.
In addition, one of the best ways to improve your influence is by having an industry influencer associated with your brand. Audiences trust these influencers, and you want them advocating your brand.
Create a strong social presence
With 2 billion active users, social networks provide an opportunity to brands they can’t afford to miss. While being active on social networks is vital for creating buzz, prompt response to customer feedback lets them know they are being heard and their issues are being addressed in a timely manner. Make sure you’re being clear in everything you say and backing up your claims with facts—transparency is critical for building trust.
Be consistent
To help people remember you, it’s very important that your brand looks and sounds the same across every platform. Any changes in that look and feel make it more likely that your visitors won’t recall you when beginning the purchase journey, and won’t come back to your site. Keeping your themes, visuals, and messages consistent across all touchpoints is the best tactic to avoid being forgotten.
Amplify mentions
Share your knowledge with your audience regularly to establish expertise that builds your credibility. Consumers tend to research online whenever they’re not sure where they want to buy—leverage this opportunity and spread your content around the Internet in the form of guest blogs, articles, Infographics and press releases.
As I mentioned, there are various ways to boost the online influence of your brand—however, the above tips are proven methods that will bring in definitive results, irrespective of change in the current Google algorithms. To make sure you’re on the right path, make the extra effort to carry out a small A/B test and tweak your actions accordingly.
