Making the Most of Your Presence Online

For most businesses, if you don’t have an online presence today, you simply don’t exist. Well, that is in the eye of your potential customers. Statistics show that more and more people are making purchasing decisions online. They are researching websites, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and comparing your offer, against your competitors. They are relying on referrals and experiences from their friends and no longer are businesses building trust through their own marketing messages alone.

Expanding your business presence online can be daunting, so the team at The Factory has put our heads together and developed a few things to consider.

Decide What You Can Manage to Maintain
The old saying, “anything worth doing is worth doing well,” really applies to the digital space. It is really important to determine what the resources in your company allow for keeping your digital presence current. Having a website that is not up-to-date is not a good sign, nor is having a social media page for the sake of it. Potential customers will be quickly turned off by outdated information and they will start looking elsewhere. Deciding what you can take on and commit to updating every week is important.

Optimised Website
The need for a fully responsive and optimised website is critical to being found online. You can do two simple checks to see if your website ticks both these boxes. Type your businesses industry followed by the town you service and see where you rank in Google. If you can’t find your business name on the first few pages (depending on your industry), then it’s likely your website isn’t coded or optimised. Then view your business website on a mobile phone or tablet. If you have to scroll left or right, then your website is not responsive, meaning that it doesn’t adjust the size according to what device it is being viewed on. This is the time when you could consider developing a new website.

What Is The Right Social Media For Me?
Choosing the right social media for your business and your region is like choosing the right person to fulfill every individual role. Getting it right will lead to greater rewards. Here is a brief outline of social mediums and their best use;
•     Facebook – good all round option for most businesses
•     Twitter – good if your business is connected interstate, nationally or internationally
•     Instagram – great for businesses with a visual product, such as food, clothing, homewares etc.
•     YouTube – great if your businesses produces a lot of videos, TV ads etc.
•     Pinterest – great if you have sensational images of your business such as tourism providers etc.
•     LinkedIn – great network for business people and professionals

Create A Strategy
Gather and find all the resources that you can access to generate interesting and educational content from. It might be industry groups that you are part of, facts you can share about the business and the people within the business to name a few. Most importantly, remember that social media is ‘social’, so be sure not to drive home sales message after sales message, as you will soon find yourself being unfollowed.

If your business decides that tackling the digital space is all too much, then appointing a social media manager is a great strategy! We welcome you to give us a call at The Factory; we would be happy to assist.