Digital Profit Success

How to Create a Brand That People Will Love

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If you want to make a big impact on the web, then it’s simply not enough to have a social account and a blog. You also need to make sure that there is a brand behind that social media account and blog – something that ties all of your posts and comments together under a instantly recognisable single banner and something that people will feel is more than the sum of its parts.

And you need to realise that a brand doesn’t just mean a logo. In order to have a real brand that has a base of raving fans, you need to know what it is that makes something like this work and the best way to approach building yourself an image and then gaining exposure for that image.

So What is a Brand?

So if a brand isn’t just a logo, then what is it?
Well, one obvious thing that a brand also needs is a catchy name. Your business/company needs a name and in all likelihood, this name will also be the name of your website. Having a brand like this for your website is one of the best things you can do right away to start getting attention for your business as it is easy for someone to search for your brand name and land on your website.

Google has actually stated that brands are far more successful at search engine optimization these days (although this is always subject to the ever changing algorithm!), while from a user’s perspective brands are also a lot more memorable and professional sounding. In other words, calling your website ‘FitLand’ will work much better than ‘FitnessAndHealthArticles’ as this is far too generic and not recognisable.

You also need a visual language. Once you’ve created your logo, you’ll have a basic color palette and maybe some images that will relate to your business and that will form the basis of these logos. Now you need to take those colors and shapes and work them into everything else you do. If your logo is red, your website and your social media pages need red accents. This consistency increases your brand recognition so don’t miss this step out!

Your Mission Statement

Another crucial component is creating a mission statement for your brand. Ideally this should be done first as it should underpin all your branding so it is probably the most important step.

So what is a mission statement? Basically it is a short paragraph or line that states what your business is about, what you do and why you do it. This is your goal, your vision and your commitment.

From here, you then have a more inspiring vision that you can use in order to inform your other choices – such as your choice of logo and name.

Now your logo and brand actually stands for something and when that’s the case, people can buy into it and really get behind you.

Creating Your Facebook Page

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When you begin the enormous task of promoting yourself on social media, you need to ensure that you choose the appropriate social media channel for the specific message you’re sharing and for the audience you’re targeting. In other words, if your business is all about gardening then you might have a slightly older audience, in which case a channel like Instagram may not be the best place for you. Of course, you should always do your research.

The only real “must have” channel is Facebook; almost every business should have a Facebook page. This is simply due to the fact that it is the biggest social network in the world in terms of users and also comes with a number of powerful tools that you can use to promote yourself further.

So how do you go about creating your Facebook page and what can you do to help it thrive?

Facebook Pages – Some Advanced Features

Creating a Facebook page isn’t really that different to creating a profile page. Once you’ve set up a new page, all you then have to do is to start populating it with the usual information and some good eye catching images. That means a profile picture and a cover image – and these should should be something crisp, large and grabs your attention.

But, as always, the devil is in the details and there are a lot of cool additional things you can do to get more exposure and success for your new page…

Insights

You should definitely check out the ‘Insights’ tab along the top of your page. Here you can see which of your posts is performing well (and which aren’t) and how many new followers you’re getting on a regular basis. This information lets you see what’s working so you can do more of it!

Publishing Tools

Likewise, the publishing tools option is a great way to do things like drafting or scheduling post. The latter allows you to spend a day writing some posts and then schedule them to be posted automatically at pre-determined date and time.

Call to Action

There’s a link just over your cover image in the bottom right. This is your call to action button and you can use it to send visitors to your website, shop or even a squeeze page. It’s definitely worth adding and using!

Store

Did you know you can actually add a store to your Facebook page if you’re using WooCommerce or Shopify! This is a great way to increase your Facebook ROI!

Become a Local Business

If you have a physical business such as a high street store then be sure to let your visitors check in! Click the ‘About’ button, choose ‘Page Info’ and then insert your address; it’ as simple as that. Make sure to tick the option to let people sign in!

So there you have it; a few simple tips to ensure you get your new Facebook page off to a flying start…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 5

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As mentioned in the last post, the final reason for using social media marketing is:

Control

One of the biggest benefits of using social media marketing is that you have full control of what you present to your audience about your company, brand, and website.

You can tailor your marketing plan to meet specific goals and not leave anything to chance. There are a myriad of tools and apps that allow you to track and test your efforts. Take a look at Klout, SumAll, BuzzSumo, and TweetReach, if you want to enhance and tweak your campaigns as required to constantly improve your efforts to boost conversions.

In summary

So there you are. The 5 top reasons why your business needs social media are:

• Reach
• Relationships
• Showcasing your stellar content
• Traffic
• Control

There is no better time to take advantage of all social media marketing has to offer. If you have an online business and you don’t have a social media presence then you are far behind the curve and at a severe disadvantage from you competitors, it’s really as simple as that. And social media itself is also evolving with the increasing popularity of live video streaming platforms such as Periscope. Blab, Meerkat and Facebook Live. If you don’t keep up you can quickly get left behind!

There are many training courses online to help get you started, and educating yourself on crafting your social media marketing is critical to your overall success.

If you have the cash you could think about hiring a social media marketing expert to set up and manage your campaigns for you; just take care to choose a competent professional as it will not be cheap, but could be worth it if they bring the results your business needs to succeed.

To learn more about live streaming and being on the cutting edge of social media marketing you should take a look here: http://ezrd.me/r/?rd=083Q5UWeb

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 4

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Traffic!

If you are still trying to build a following using organic traffic and you scream when Google keeps destroying your rankings with one of their ongoing updates, then stop NOW.

Social media can bring you a steady, long term, reliable a stream of traffic to your sites and blogs, without having to worry that some algorithm will come along and wipe you out.

And if you have a little money (and it doesn’t have to be a lot) you can pay for traffic using ads to either drive people to your opt-in pages or to increase Likes to your fan page. Both are good strategies and should be included in you social media marketing arsenal.

In the final post in this mini-series we will look at control…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 3

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Showcasing your stellar content

Social media is a great place to show off your best content, and highlight all your brand has to offer. It doesn’t really matter whether you use text, images, video, or a combination of them all; the beauty of content marketing is that you can tailor your campaign to ensure that it is laser focused on your target audience with the very best content, products, and services that your brand has to offer.

Adding content marketing to your social media strategy allows you to meet many objectives, including building brand recognition and reputation, increasing customer engagement, providing a better customer experience through valuable information and any other goals that your marketing requires so neglect showcasing your content at your peril.

In the next post we will look at traffic…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media? Part 2

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As mentioned in the last post, the next reason for using social media marketing is:

Relationships

Social media allows you to reach people on a far more personal level than any other form of marketing. Listen to any good social media marketing expert and they all say the same thing; “social media is about building relationships.” You can use these relationships to steer the conversation towards your calls to action. When you connect with people and they connect with you, they are much more likely to follow you and/or your brand and everything that it has to offer.

In the next post we will look at content…

Why Does Your Online Business Need Social Media?

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Online marketing is a continually evolving space and social media is becoming a more prominent part of the majority of online marketing strategies to increase business growth.

There are a number of reasons to increase YOUR use of social media to engage and reach potential customers and I will cover a number of them over the next few posts.

1: Reach

Why does a business that is using social media marketing spend so much time planning, posting, testing, and perfecting their social media strategy? One word; reach! Look at these statistics:

• There are 3 billion active Internet users and over 2.1 billion of them have social media accounts.
• YouTube has over 1 billion users. Did you know that this is more than a 1/3 of all web users?! Just think about the hundreds of millions of hours available on YouTube and how these generate billions of views.
• Facebook has nearly 1.4 billion users, and that is 47% of all Internet users. Do you know how many Likes are generated on a daily basis? 4.5 billion! And did you also know that nearly 75% of Facebook’s revenue comes from mobile advertising. 936 million Facebook users login in at least once per day and over 50% of marketers found a customer on Facebook in 2013.
• Twitter has 316 million monthly active users that generate over 500 million tweets every day!
• Google+ has 363 million users that hit the +1 button over 5 billion times per day.
• Pinterest has 100 million users and the majority of them are women (85%). 47% of Pinterest users purchase a product based on pins, with the average sale being $58.95. Some other Pinterest figures; 67% of pinned content is linked a business site and 82% of Pinterest users would rather follow a brand than a celebrity.

So are you impressed by these statistics?

These stats are just one reason to use social media marketing in your business and they really do highlight the reach that social media can give to your business, whether it is online or brick and mortar. In the next post we will look at relationships…

How You Can Help Your Customers Get To Know You

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If you are trying to build a personal brand in order to build trust and authority in your niche, then one way to achieve this is to get your visitors to feel as if they know you. By doing this, they will be far more likely to trust your future posts and far more likely to want to listen to you when you suggest buying a product.
Think about it: who would you be more likely to listen to your recommendations to purchase a product; a friend or an advert? Obviously it is the friend and that’s because we feel as though we know them and can trust their judgement. If you can be seen in the same way by your audience, then your suggestions will carry much more clout and your offers will be much more persuasive.
So how do you go about establishing this level of trust? Well here are a few options…

Write in the First Person

Try to write some of your messages in the first person. This is rather different to what you may have learned in school. Most schools will teach that writing in the third person is preferable for business as it sounds more professional and authoritative but the point here is that you want your readers to feel as though they know you and as though you are personally recommending something. And you can do this by writing in the first person. Use ‘I’s and ‘Me’s and generally write as though you’re talking to that person; write as if you are writing a letter to your mother!

Be honest

And don’t just write in first person, make sure you’re being honest too. If you have concerns about a product, let your audience know; believe me, they will appreciate it. Not only does this fill in your personality but it also shows that you’re willing to ‘tell it how it is’ and boosts your integrity. The same goes for talking about issues in your personal life which has the added bonus of making you more relatable; you can be seen as a fellow traveler along the journey.

Use images or photos

Including images of yourself is a great way to help people feel as though they’re getting to know you. Remember that a picture paints a thousand words and it is always nice to put a face to a name. If you’re writing about the benefits of a certain exercise, then why not include an image of you performing that exercise? This is also a good way to get graphics for your site without paying the high prices charged for stock images.

Go on camera and shoot a video!

Why not go one step further and put yourself on camera?! If you are confident enough, then going on YouTube is a great way to reach a larger audience in a way that will leave a more lasting impression. Video is infinitely more engaging than text so if you have the confidence, go for it!