5 Rock-Solid Tips for Building an Online Presence

May 19, 2013 - Holly Cardew

Over the weekend I visited some small local businesses in regional New South Wales. When I spoke to them, they said that they weren’t sure how to go about building an online presence and what social media they should be using.

I found myself listing things that they should be doing and thought I would share it with you so you can increase your online presence.

Use these 5 sources for building an online presence

1. Facebook

Create a Facebook page (if you haven’t already done so) and post content regularly. You may be thinking that you don’t want to bug fans with your posts. Remember, your fans have deliberately ‘liked’ your page and they want to know about what is going on. If you are not posting something, your competitor is and they are shopping on the competitor’s store!

2. Instagram

The phone app that makes your photos look ‘pretty’. Instagram is a great way for businesses to share pretty pictures by adding filters. Your photos are a quick and easy way to show customers what you are doing and what is in store/online/in the warehouse.

Unlike Facebook, if the customer is looking at Instagram, they will see your post. Use hash tags so your photos are searchable. Do not ‘over hash tag’. I call this spam! Two to three hash tags are best.

3. Pinterest

Create vision boards for your customers. If they love your style, then they will want to follow your pin boards for inspiration.

Create pin boards with descriptive titles and great images that represent you and, most importantly, your brand. Pin a range of images from other websites, blogs and your own shop. This can be a great way to drive traffic to your store; however make sure the images you pin are that of quality!

4. Guest blog

Bloggers are always looking for content. What blogs do your customers read? Write to the blog owner and offer to do a blog post free of charge in return for a small link to your website. This will give you an online presence outside of your own community. Make sure the blog aligns with your brand and shop.

5. Twitter

You are probably thinking, not something else! Well, yes, and I haven’t even started talking about the latest app Vine (I will save that until next time). Twitter is a great way to join in on a conversation. I don’t use Twitter that often as I am more of a visual person and believe images sell more than words; however, I do suggest that if you are attending an event or want to be part of a particular conversation, then Twitter is another social media platform you should have a presence on.

Hope this gives you a bit of a start on building an online presence.

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below. I would love to hear them!