My Top 10 Online Presence Branding Tips | Business + Branding

When building your brand, your online presence may be the only connection to your customers. That is why when it comes to online marketing your primary focus should be on creating an impact through the avenues of social media & blogging. Here are my top 10 insights for how to approach sharing your brand with the online world.

1. Bank up content - If you're just starting out, create an arsenal of content before you begin promoting. How can someone truly dig in deep and get absorbed into your brand if there are only 3 tweets, 1 blog post, and 5 Instagram pictures? During your development time it's important to tweet, post, and share as if you already have a thousands of followers, then launch. Watch individuals instantly connect with your content, because there is something there to actually connect with, and share.
2. Understand the sociological psychology behind social media influence - When you can recognize patterns of social behavior, you can increase your online marketing impact. Learn what your ideal consumer is really looking to you for, what their normal days look like, and what would inspire them to share you with who they know. Learn what would make them say "yes! she just gets me!". When you can answer that, you will be able to come up with thoughtful strategies for how to consistently stimulate and bond with your consumer through how you share your content.
3. Learn your "tone of copy" - Copy is the written personality of your brand. Your tone of copy is your tone of voice, but online. Anything that sounds scripted or insincere is an instant eye roll waiting to happen. Your personality has to pour through your copy. You can’t literally talk to every single person that has eyes on your brand, so it has to come through what they read and see. Using the wrong wording, or not properly conveying your message can unfortunately stifle your ability to relate and bond with people through your web presence. Your energy has to be bottled up into every word. Don't be afraid to be you. That's the point!
4. Curate your Social Media style - Define your lane, content & style for each of your social media accounts. Literally come up with a plan for each one. You can do this by asking yourself these questions: 
• What do I want people to know about my brand?
• What can I share that shows that?
• Why do I want people to follow me?
• Does my social media reflect the topics that my brand is actually about?
• What content does this platform work best with for sharing?
5. Don't do the desperate bio - I know it can be tempting to add in everything about who you are in those little bio spaces, but keep it simple. This invites people into following you to learn the "how" and "why" once your intriguing bio piqued their curiosity. Trying to share every little detail looks forced and desperate. Don't be that girl!
6. Action Tags - Think of a mini project or campaign that you could inspire through what you do and make it something that other people can take on and share. Hashtags are powerful, so it's a good idea to make use of them. Inspiring actions is the foundation of creating a movement, and movement translates into a following, which you should then be able to convert into consumers.
7. Quote yourself - If somebody wanted to see quotes from other people they could search for them on Pinterest during their own time. You have a voice and you have wisdom, they follow YOU… so share more quotes of your own content. Keep it simple and make it look pretty, this is a chance to share your style as well your thoughts. You never know, your quotes could be the ones that people start sharing...
8. Design for what you desire - Prepare your content for your desired platforms. Make sure it would fit and look good shared on whatever you would ideally like your content featured on. It could be Pinterest, a mentor's blog, a popular website. Whatever it is, learn what it is about the content that is currently being shared that catches your eye. This can help you define the style you're attracted to, and teach you how to infuse your own brand with it and in your own unique way. Unique being the key word there.
9. Become a habit - The amount of information that people receive on a daily basis is overwhelming. The best way to obtain and maintain consistent attention is to create a memorable cycle of how you share your information. You could do your posts around the same time of the day or do a blog post on the same day(s) each week. This is not about being predictable and structured, it's about creating habit for your consumer. Habits become personal rituals that people can look forward to, and that translates into loyalty and long term interest. If people don’t know where you fit in their lives, they might forget to fit you in at all. So help them!
10.  Avoid the tell tale signs of the "I just started out" look - Even if you're just starting out, you don't want to look like you are. Bad layouts that don't flow, poor image quality, or using tacky outdated font & color combinations is the quickest way to say "hey, I'm totally new at all of this". Instead, spend some time studying font, color, layout and image combinations on websites. Explore what attracts you, and what turns you off. Keep your findings in mind when you're creating content to share. The goal here is not to copy the work of others, but to learn techniques so you can critique your own designs. Soak in inspiration, don't drown in imitation!

Standing out online isn't always easy, but the key is authentic originality. Consumers want to see something unique. They want to get to know who you really are, not who you are trying to be. If you put your signature twist on each detail you present, your following will be drawn to you like a magnet. You now have a wide open platform for expressing your individual creativity, indulge in that freedom! Happy branding!