With the advent of digitalization and the constant evolution of technology, everything and everyone can be found online. The internet and social media have become a massive part of anyone’s life. It is used for education, purchases, health, human interaction, and much more. Research conducted in 2022 showed that 63% of the world’s total population has an internet presence.
Knowing this, businesses should do everything they can to utilize this enormous opportunity. One way to do so is by building a strong online presence. It helps you gain brand awareness, build relationships with customers, inform people, and strengthen your brand. Unfortunately, building an online presence is not easy. Most companies out there are beginning to realize that being active on social media and the internet is a key part of a business strategy. You need a clear strategy to move to the online space for you to make it effective. In this blog, I will go through how to build an online presence, and how I have built my entire content strategy for SensoriumArte, showing which platforms will share which content, and how I will inform and entertain people through our blog.
Master Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The first step to showing up online when people are searching is to master SEO. It is a must-have digital marketing strategy, as it focuses on improving the visibility of a website in search engine results. It can help with an increased amount of website visitors, due to your page ranking higher for relevant search terms.
SEO can be divided into on-site SEO and off-site SEO. On-site SEO is all about the content. It is all about keyword research, including all types of links, and making sure Google can look for all important details. Off-site SEO evolves more around the technical side of things. It is all about setting up everything in the backend.
with SensoriumArte, I have done my best to write captivating copy, which will hopefully help me rank for certain keywords. I have also made sure to have about 40 blogs ready filled with educational and informational content that I will post to increase the chances of getting some inbound- and outbound links.
Harnessing the power of Social media
For most businesses nowadays it is a necessity to be active on social media. Social media has proven to be a very popular way to conduct product research, get influenced by people, and communicate with friends. Because of this, it presents the perfect opportunity to connect, engage, and interact with a vast audience across the world. With billions of daily active users, social media platforms offer an unparalleled opportunity to reach your audience.
One of the most important lessons to learn with social media is that each platform is different. While around 25% of all Facebook users are aged above 45, TikTok only has about 13%. Knowing this, you need to make sure to incorporate different strategies for your content distribution. Let me tell you how I have done that.
Building a content strategy to maximize impact
With SensoriumArte, I have tried to make changes in my content strategy based on the platform. while the essence of my content is similar throughout all channels, the way I present it is different.
TikTok is a video-only platform. It is known for having an increased chance of virality compared to platforms like Instagram and Facebook. While TikTok was first known for short-form content that usually wasn’t longer than 20 seconds, it is now also adapting slowly to somewhat long-form content, with videos of 3 to 5 minutes not being unimaginable anymore.
For SensoriumArte, I have my content strategy aimed toward giving people a behind-the-scenes look at me building my brand. TikTok has a history of appreciating content that shows these types of clips. I can show a week in my life as an entrepreneur, or share footage of me unpacking my test orders and setting everything up for our launch on September 16th. While I like this content a lot, I am not usually a person who likes to be in front of the camera. So it definitely will take some time to adjust to the idea of being the face of a brand. But for SensoriumArte, I’m proud to do so.
While Instagram uses both video and photo content, my strategy here is to use this channel mainly for photo content. While TikTok will show the uncensored life of a small business owner, Instagram will be centered around showing the quality and features of my product. While I will share some elements of my journey, it will mainly show beautiful shots of the soundwave art and the different occasions that can be used as motivation to purchase an art piece. I want to build a feed that people are impressed by. To me, Instagram sounds like a perfect fit.
Last but not least, Facebook. I must admit I had quite some difficulties figuring out what to do with Facebook. While to me it feels that Facebook is the least popular of the 3, statistics still say otherwise. There is also a different audience that’s active on Facebook and worth incorporating into my targeting strategy.
For Facebook, I decided to offer a combination of three elements. Educational, quality, and behind-the-scenes. The educational part will be mostly about me sharing my blogs on Facebook, adding an intro to give people information as to what they should expect. The quality aspect is about sharing quality images that can impress people. The behind-the-scenes aspect is all about sharing the most important elements for building the business, to inspire and help others. While this may seem like I do a bit of everything and end up targeting nobody, it might work well for Facebook. The benefit of having all types of content is that you can make a shift as soon as you realize something is not working.
As you can see, social media takes up quite a significant amount of my time, and one could even say that social media is where I put my priority. Not only is social media a good way for a startup to create some momentum, but it is also perfect for creating a trustworthy bond with your customers, building credibility, and showcasing your brand.
After all, chances are the first place people go looking for your brand is social media. And if they can’t find you there, they may lose trust and start feeling unsure about the brand.
Email marketing
Another effective digital marketing strategy is incorporating email campaigns to reach your audience. Email marketing is immensely underappreciated. While many people look at email marketing as one of the older methods that aren’t effective anymore, many businesses have proven otherwise.
Email marketing uses a direct and personal approach, connecting with individuals and customers on a deeper level. Through carefully crafted email campaigns, it is possible to deliver targeted messages, valuable content, and exclusive offers right to the inboxes of your subscribers.
Email marketing provides the perfect opportunity to build a loyal and engaged community. There are many software tools out there that help you customize and design high-quality emails. One of the main benefits of all these email tools is that you can perfectly target specific people based on all types of factors such as age, purchase behavior, order spent, last purchase date, and much more.
As far as email marketing goes, I want to start with the basics. I want to make sure I welcome anyone who enters their email and becomes a subscriber. I want them to get a tracking code after they place an order, and I want them to be aware of any discount I may have. I will most likely share my blogs as well as send reminders for when they left their design behind.
Since email is a form of organic marketing, it is a cost-effective marketing strategy to incorporate. By consistently delivering relevant and meaningful content, you can establish trust, credibility, and brand recognition.
Advertising
Of course, advertising can’t be left alone when we talk about building an online presence. It generally is a faster solution to building an online presence because it’s paid traffic. If your ad shows up in the top search results, you will be able to build brand awareness, increase your online visibility, and potentially generate some sales.
Advertising is something you can implement both on Google or the internet and social media. For you to decide which tactic is the best, it is important to determine where your audience can be found. If your audience tends to search for more information through Google, it might be interesting to try out Google Ads. If your audience is younger, maybe influencer marketing or advertising on social media can be the key to success and brand awareness.
I have no clear plan yet in terms of paid advertising. As a small business owner, the financial situation is never easy, and paying thousands of dollars on ads can be tricky. I aim to find influencers that I feel resonate with my brand and send out free PR packages. If they like it, they might share it on their socials. A huge benefit of collaborating with influencers is that many consumers look to them for advice and inspiration because they are so trusted.
Engage and interact with people
Finally, you must always stay in touch with your audience. Whether they are existing customers, or just followers tagging along. These people are going to make or break your business. Treat them poorly, and you deserve to get negative feedback. But if you are kind, work hard, and give the customer what they want, they will go the extra mile for you.
You can do this by engaging with people online. Whether it is through posting relevant content, responding to comments, or holding a live Q&A now and then. It will help you get noticed by potential customers, and build trust, loyalty, and retention.
I will do my absolute best to be the person that engages with my audience. Especially in the beginning, I want to know what the people are thinking, where they would like to see improvements, and which elements they particularly enjoy.
In summary, digital marketing is a great way to establish an online presence. By building a content strategy that incorporates a wide range of strategies, you will be able to attract different audiences with the same core message. So no matter your circumstances, always work on your digital presence as you won’t regret it.
