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Online branding is simply leveraging all of the opportunities that are available in the digital world to position, package and promote your brand. Having a strong online brand or online presence helps you to build credibility, trust with your audience and will help to position you as a thought leader in your area of expertise — essentially creating social proof for your brand.
This can be through your brand or company website, LinkedIn profile, social media platforms, newsletters, blogs and podcasts. Your online presence even may include old images, profiles from company websites, published articles, recorded speaking engagements and even that video from that one time you thought you could be a good stand-up comic.
Here’s the thing, people are already searching for you online, and because they cannot find you, they are going for the next best option that shows up on the first page of their search result even if they may not be the ideal candidate. Why? Because they are showing up in spaces where you may not be.
Related: What the Theranos Story Teaches Us About the Dark Side of Personal Branding
If you still are not convinced that you should be looking at building your online brand strategy, let’s start with these 10 reasons why your brand needs to be online.
- Platform – Being online gives you an immediate platform. When you take your personal or professional brand online, you are creating a platform to provide value by sharing your knowledge and expertise. This allows you to be positioned as a thought leader in your field or industry.
- Amplification – Online access means brand amplification. You get to be seen, heard and experienced in a bigger way to a much wider audience and people can really get a “feel” of who you are by how you choose to show up.
- Visibility – With so many opportunities online, you can now become the star of your very own show. You can utilize multiple channels to share through video such as IG Lives and IG Videos, LinkedIn Lives, YouTube, Podcasts and so much more. Your audience can see the personality behind the offer and behind the brand leading to trust and connection.
- Connection – People are in the business of buying goods and services. They are also in the business of feeling, connection and emotion. Building an online brand helps you to connect with your audience in a real way that ultimately leads to a community of like-minded individuals.
- Searchability – Is your brand searchable and is the right content coming up for you in an online search? As you start positioning your brand online, ensure that you are using the keywords that your ideal audience would search for to find your product or services. Ensure that online profiles on active and inactive accounts all have relevant information.
- Collaboration – The opportunities to collaborate are endless in an online world. From speaking on virtual stages, guest speaking on a podcast, or inviting other experts to partner with you on a signature event. Start following, connecting and collaborating with like-minded professionals in your field to expand your reach and grow your audience.
- Builds trust – When people like you, they will trust you. When they trust you, they will recommend you. Showing up online allows you to connect with your audience in a way to generates trust and likeability.
- Expands your reach – With so many platforms to choose from, getting online automatically increases your opportunity to expand your reach. People no longer need to come to your physical location to get information, buy a product or recommend your services. Everything happens online and if the experience is great, your chance for shareability also increases. When you are online your reach multiplies.
- Lead generation and new clients – You have the opportunity to attract and cast a much wider client and lead generation net when your brand is being positioned online. The key thing is to ensure that you are always sharing immense value. Build trust, make the connection — the sale will come.
- Make money – When you have positioned your brand online, offered great value, created the social proof that showcases your knowledge and expertise and built a community, you can start saying hello to multiple opportunities to make more money. But first, people need to know you are indeed the right candidate for the job and that starts with consistently showing up online and giving value.
Related: 10 Ways to Bolster Your Brand’s Online Influence
Think about your brand and how you are currently showing up or not showing up in your various online spaces — what currently shows up for you or your brand in an online search? The key thing is to ensure that your content and social media platforms are always updated with accurate and relevant information about you, your company and your brand and you are offering great value to your ideal audience.
Related: What the Theranos Story Teaches Us About the Dark Side of Personal Branding