No matter what kind of business you have, getting information about your brand out there is crucial. Every single brand conveys something, and you want that to be a positive trait like credible, friendly, or top of the line.
In the digital age, branding depends on knowing how to position yourself in the best way possible online. Discover how to use SEO and social media to make it happen.
How to Use SEO to Grow Your Brand
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical part of the marketing plan for any business. The reason for this is simple: People use search results to find the products and services they want and they rarely look past the first page. SEO covers a wide range of techniques, and many of them are instrumental in enhancing your brand recognition.
Build Authority For Yourself and Your Business
By authority, we’re talking about authority in the eyes of Google, meaning it recognizes your site as a source of useful, reliable content rather than spam. This may sound like a time-consuming challenge, but there are simple and effective ways that any entrepreneur can boost their company’s authority to increase its brand recognition.
Building Authority for Yourself
If you’re an entrepreneur, any positive recognition you receive also reflects well on your business. In terms of SEO, blogging is a great way you as an individual can get your message out there and reap the benefits of branding.
If you’re wondering how a blog can be used to establish yourself as an authority, the answer is simple: Use it to solve people’s problems. Write blogs that confront real problems that others in your industry or customer base are dealing with, and provide solutions from the point of someone who works in the industry.
By sharing these blogs in closely related groups and platforms, interacting with the people who read them, and keeping your theme consistent, you’ll find that you’ll soon be viewed as a subject matter expert. The benefits of this status are virtually limitless and will vastly boost brand recognition for yourself and your company as well.
Create an Edge Over Competitors
To make your business seem like an authority in your industry, it’s important to go above and beyond when it comes to engaging with clients and prospects. A good rule is to do what other competitors aren’t doing, as long as it’s beneficial and positive.
For example, if you’re running a cafe and you have an online presence, figure out what you can do that your competitors are lacking. Here are some examples of ways to boost your SEO and increase your brand recognition:
- Start a company podcast that is listenable and shareable.
- Create a YouTube Channel with videos of your office and events.
- Shoot videos to share on social media channels like Facebook.
- Upgrade your site so it’s significantly more appealing than your competitors’ sites.
However you decide to put it into action, it’s smart to have an edge in business that sets you apart. By continually trying new things that set your brand apart from the masses, you can distinguish your company as an option that’s smarter, more personable, and better recognized than the others.
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Add Quality Links to Get Your Info Out There
The two main pillars of SEO are link building and high-quality content. While link building may sound somewhat complicated, learning a few crucial techniques can make a huge difference for your branding strategy.
Link Building Demystified
In its most simple form, link building means adding mentions of your name and information to third-party sites throughout the internet and linking them back to your website. There is a science to this, and a wide range of strategies, but an easy one you can do is create as many citations as possible.
Building Your Citations
Also known as listings, citations are simply the combination of your name, address, and phone number, often called your NAP data. Essentially, you want as many of these as possible throughout the internet, and here’s why:
Although Google is the most popular, there are hundreds of other search engines and directories out there, and a certain amount of your prospective clients use them. If a client goes on a lesser-known search engine like hotfrog or City-Data and conducts a search for services you offer, you want to be found on there so they choose you over your competitors.
Example: The Listings of Dr. Herrmann
If you’re ready to take citation building seriously, remember you can seek assistance in the form of an SEO application like Bright Local. SEO programs like this allow you to purchase many citations for your business at once at a marginal fee. If you’re serious about vastly increasing your online presence and getting information out there about your brand, this is highly recommended.
As you can see from the image below, Bright Local lists all of the citations to Assure a Smile, a dental practice in Miami. At a single glance, you can see the site where the listing came from, the name they use for the business, and the NAP info so you can verify it’s correct. Another important observation is that it shows the listings you’re still missing, like in this case, BBB.
By using blogs to establish yourself as an authority and link building tactics to increase your online presence, you’ll be leveraging the two main pillars of SEO: Quality content and links. But as critical as SEO is for your marketing plan, it’s just one tool for boosting your brand recognition.
Effective Ways To Grow Your Brand With Social Media
As a business owner, you want to do everything you can in order to get people to talk about your company with others and buy your products or services. Social media continues to grow with hundreds of platforms available today, so using it to build your business is a key aspect to creating brand awareness. Once you discover which social platforms you should market yourself based on the type of audience you’re trying to reach, move forward with these tips that’ll help grow your brand.
Visually Represent Yourself
When creating a social media account, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter, one of the most important ways to brand yourself on these platforms is through visuals. You want your consumers to know who you are when they see one or more of your social media accounts. If your business profiles look different and aren’t easily recognizable by your audience no matter which platform they’re on, it will confuse them and potentially steer them away.
Some ways to ensure you’re visually represented in a consistent, yet distinguishable way by your audience is to:
- Create a logo that will pop and be noticed easily by your customers and potential buyers.
- Produce content that informs people who you are and what you do.
- Use videos to help get your message across various social media platforms.
- Generate the right content for the right platform— not every post will look good on every platform you use.
- Use filters for photos, but don’t overdo it. Continue to use the same ones so your page is aesthetically consistent and appealing.
Discover a Voice for Your Brand
Oftentimes, businesses try to stick to the rules and remain as professional as they can be on social media. Although there are times you should professionally promote yourself, social media offers the perfect opportunity to show your personality and have fun. Discover how you want to portray your business across social media and develop a voice that communicates your objective well.
Sometimes, portraying your voice to your audience can be challenging and can take time to develop. Your voice should represent your goals, convey what makes you unique, and help your customers to get to know you.
Your audience will love to connect with you so they feel like they know you. This offers a more personal relationship with your consumers which helps build trust and ensures dedication.
Listen to Your Audience & Engage
As you start to build your brand and showcase your voice on social media, it’s important to see what your audience is responding positively to. Being active on your social media and responding to current and potential customers will manifest authenticity and build a good reputation.
Once you understand what your audience likes and enjoys seeing on your social platforms, continue delivering them with that content. Always be consistent with your posts and create a calendar that maps out your monthly plan. This will all help keep your consumers intrigued with your brand and, hopefully, spread the word about your business.
Promote with Ads & Track Your Progress
Another important tip to market yourself across social media and grow your brand is by promoting yourself with paid advertisements. Whether it’s Google, Facebook, Instagram ads, or all the above, you should be finding additional ways to reach new audiences.
Social media advertisements offer you and your business many opportunities to grow and be seen by people who don’t know you. A few reasons why you should be incorporating ads across social platforms are to:
- Help boost brand awareness
- Cater to audiences that will be interested in your business
- Deliver ads through mobile, which accounts for 63% of all digital revenue
- Allow you to view the performance of your posts and ads
Using Facebook for Brand Awareness
Facebook is one of the most popular platforms to promote your business using ads. You should be running a business page for yourself if you aren’t already and also posting regularly. One way to reach a bigger audience and lead outsiders to your page is by “boosting” a post. A boosted post allows you to target certain demographics and focus your post on a set objective.
For example, this Facebook post by Dr. K Ashraf was aiming to obtain greater engagement. To do so, he set a budget, targeted the right demographics he wanted to reach, and chose a duration of the boost. This helped his post gain more views and awareness of who he is and what he does.
Connect with Influencers
“A social media influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach.” – Pixlee
When you connect with influencers within your respective field, you’ll achieve greater results at a much faster pace. They’ll be able to reach their own large audience, who are likely interested in what you’re trying to sell. Their followers trust what these influencers have to say about you and your brand, which will result in more brand awareness and revenue for you.
Perfect Your SEO & Social Media to Expand Your Brand
Once you plan out your marketing strategy and master your SEO and social media presence, it won’t be long until you see the results you need to build your brand. These two aspects of marketing will help your business be seen by the audience you want to reach, as well as help it grow. If you have further questions about SEO or social media, ask us in the comments below!
About the Authors
Jenna Toppin is a San Diego native who is a social media manager and writer at Now Media Group. In her time away from writing and working, Jenna loves to enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Southern California where she enjoys hiking, going to the beach, or camping. She also has always had a strong passion for fitness, health, beauty, and fashion.
Nick Napier: After serving 7-years in the Navy and traveling to 22 countries, Nick settled in San Diego where he earned his MBA. He currently works as an SEO Specialist while hosting the Rogue Writers Podcast and writing a wide variety of content on a daily basis.
