How to Build a Cohesive, Online Brand Presence
The ability to be found online has never been more vital to businesses than it is today. These days it’s not enough to simply be online when your competitors are as well. SEO, PPC, and paid advertising are all strategies you can employ to increase brand awareness, but they won’t help you if your brand itself is lacklustre.
So, how do I build a strong brand presence?
Start with a CI document
Your Corporate Identity document outlines your brand messaging, values, and design. If you’re an eco-friendly vegan brand, for example, then some of your messaging could be about:
- Sustainable sourcing
- Veganism
- Healthy lifestyle
This is the messaging you stick to. Reposting a video of a steak recipe would be totally off-brand and upsetting to your audience.
The design part should outline which colours, fonts, and design styles you’d like to stick to, including when it is acceptable to use each aspect. Your logo should definitely be included here!
Have a well-designed website
If you want to be known and found online, a website is an absolute must. Your website helps to establish you as legitimate and is where people go to find your offering, contact details, and more.
Start with an attractive, functional website that follows current best-practises (you’ll need to update this as SEO demands change). Then make sure your messaging is clear – visitors don’t want to figure out what it is that you offer. Next, the navigation needs to be easy to use. Users should never feel lost on your website.
Next-level brand authority: Have a blog page on your website. Writing blogs on topics that interest your target audience adds value to their lives, supports SEO, creates trust, and will help establish you as an industry expert.
Meet your audience where they’re at
Find out where your target audience hangs out online. If you’re a B2B targeting an older demographic, then LinkedIn and Facebook are your go-tos. If you’re an e-commerce with younger customers, then Instagram is the place to be. Consider other avenues besides social media marketing, like email marketing.
Now the cohesive part comes in. Make sure that across all your channels the design and messaging are in line with your brand. We’re not saying post the exact same content everywhere, but make sure everything falls within your corporate identity document and values. We’re talking about:
- Profile picture
- Cover page
- Content (images/videos/gifs)
- Messaging
Next-level brand authority: Take part in social media guest posts and takeovers! This is when you collaborate with other brands and feature on their pages, thus increasing brand awareness and authority.
Keep a good reputation
It’s not enough to have a good reputation these days – you need to maintain it. Monitor all the online platforms you’re on for reviews and recommendations. Respond to all reviews, good and bad alike. Even if you do get a bad Facebook review that you unfortunately won’t be able to remove, how you respond to it could change public opinion.
Next-level brand authority: Have a reviews/testimonials page on your website. People generally want to hear from others that the product or service is good before they spend money themselves.
Be flexible
Every now and then some viral post, meme, or news starts trending online and it’s all anyone can talk about. If it falls within your brand identity, and isn’t offensive, we recommend jumping on the bandwagon – especially if it’s news that affects your industry. Write a blog or a post sharing your thoughts on the matter and post it as soon as possible.
The same can be said for memes – remember the #dollypartonchallenge? Being quick off the mark to comment on these viral topics shows that you’re in the know and will help to spread your brand further.
Next-level brand authority: Use the relevant trending hashtags to increase reach (and therefore presence).
We hope you find these tips helpful! Let us know your thoughts in the comments 😊