Your Online Presence: 7 Reasons Why It Is Important
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Your Online Presence Why it's Important
Over 3.6 billion people used social media in 2020, and that number continues to rise daily. Globally, internet users sign into some form of social media for approximately 144 minutes every day. They do so to be entertained, to share photos and videos, to connect with friends and family, for research, and to shop. By 2025, it is projected that 4.41 billion users will log on daily.
That is a market that businesses cannot ignore. In 2021, your business needs to be online and your online presence has to be sharp. Let’s get you there.
7 Reasons to Have a Good Online Presence
- Build and control your reputation
- Establish yourself as an expert in the field
- Share information about your business, the industry you work in, or the community you are a part of
- Open more opportunities for communication with customers
- Increase networking opportunities with other industry partners and community members
- Provide a platform for your clients to share their experiences with you in a more controllable space
- Improve your overall SEO ranking
Do we need to unpack that a little more? Let’s see why you need to work on your online reputation.
Build and Control Your Reputation
When you purposely build your online presence, you are in control of what people learn and know about you. You get to share details you want others to learn and carefully craft the persona you want to put forth professionally. No surprises, no mistakes—keep your reputation in your hands.
Establish yourself as an expert in the field
You know your business. You are already the expert in your field of choice. The trick is in educating others, so that they understand and value your expertise as well. This doesn’t mean giving away trade secrets, but it does require demonstrating your education and abilities surrounding your field. Answer questions customers have. Share your successes. Demonstrate your knowledge, so that people know they are dealing with a quality company.
Share information about your business, industry, or community you are part of
Your business is part of a larger community. Recognize that and share what is happening within your industry and community at large. That might mean educating clients about changes to industry procedures, rules and regulations. It might look like sharing how you interact with the community you are located in. Creating a picture of your larger presence makes you more relatable and lends a more professional appearance overall.
Open more communication opportunities with customers
Social media is about communication. You want your customers to come to you with their questions, comments, and concerns. If you answer those queries in a timely manner, you effectively build trust and brand loyalty. People like dealing with companies who value them as individuals and speaking with them directly helps do that. So go ahead and talk to your clients and get to know them a little better. You might find you can craft their experience with you more intimately, creating not only lifelong clients, but brand ambassadors who clamour at the chance to sing your praises far and wide. That relationship is invaluable.
Increase networking opportunities with other industry partners and community members
Like talking to your customers, building rapport with other community members and industry partners is also important. Competition aside, when you have a good working relationship with other businesses in your industry, you can create solid industry standards as a whole. Best practices can be created and met, and training opportunities created. Having the standards of your whole industry raise is good for everyone, from businesses to consumers alike. Community partners also raise the bar on standards too, as resources can be pooled and complimentary businesses create an opportunity to work together for common goals. The more positive relationships you build, the wider your reach and potential for growth.
Provide a platform for clients to share their experiences with you in a more controllable space
When you create an online landing space where customers can interact with you, you maintain control of that relationship. You want that relationship to be as positive as possible, but you also need to control for hiccups and negative feedback. Having a ready-made platform, like a website, Facebook page, or Instagram account, means that you can access what your customers are thinking and feeling. They can contact you with their experiences, both positive and negative, which means that you can deal with it firsthand. People like to talk and share. If you aren’t accessible, they are still going to do that, whether you like it or not. It is always better to address concerns directly, instead of hearing about them via hearsay. Prompt responses can help mitigate huge negative blowbacks and miscommunications, and all that takes is creating a space for that conversation to start.
Improve your overall SEO ranking
All of this boils down to Search Engine Optimization and ranking. The more of a presence you create online, the more the search engines will notice. Providing regular content for search engines to find, means that they will remember you and push you higher in the rankings. Ultimately, you want to be on page 1 of any searches and a good way to do that is by making a presence that is easy to find. It takes work, but when done correctly, is proven to drive sales.
Let Iron Rhino help improve your Online Reputation today!
