Developing a successful business online strategy (for free)

Today’s business’ success is all about its online presence. People are now, more than ever, buying and doing business online. Having a solid online presence is a crucial step for a business’ development. While having a website is indispensable, having a well-built online strategy is more crucial. We lay some tips to develop an online game plan that won’t cost you a penny.

Set Online/Social Media Strategy Goals

• Why do you want to go online?
• What is the goal of your social media?
• What does “successful strategy” entail?
• How can you measure your strategy’s success?

Answer such questions to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish by going online. Going online without a clear strategy will not help your business because it will not be transparent for you or potential customers what you want to accomplish.

When you have your goals set, align your strategy with them.

Identify your target audience demographics

While identifying your audience seems like a simple step, it is not. More than just identifying who, you also need to identify their online behaviour.

• At what time are they the most active?
• What are they searching for?
• What platform(s) do they use the most?

Those are some of the questions you need to answer before everything else. Once you have identified your target audience and its behaviour, you can jump on to the next step.

Design your profiles

Depending on what platform your audience is active on, you have to create different profiles. When creating your profiles, think of your target audience, what they like, what they are searching for, but do not forget to keep your brand image. Often, your profile will be one of the first things potential clients will see from your company. Thus, create profiles that reflect your business’ image.

Branding your social media is crucial to show your target audience the quality and credibility of your business.

Separate your social media platforms

Posting on two, three, and sometimes four social media is time-consuming. However, a mistake to avoid is to post the same thing across all platforms. Each platform attracts different users. You will have to adapt your posting style to each social medium.

Thus, on Twitter, you should prioritize interactions (chats, polls, memes, jokes, etc.), while on LinkedIn, focus more on long posts (customer testimonials, articles, etc.).

Don’t over-advertise

When your platforms become means for you to exclusively promulgate your business, people unfollow. Find the right balance between promoting your business and posting other stuff. You can post updates, funny stories, customer testimonials, blog posts, etc. Sharing articles and posts from other sources is also a good idea, as it increases your company’s visibility.

Keep track of your industry trends

Being seen on people’s feeds means staying relevant. Keeping an eye on what is trending will help you craft new posts.

When writing posts, include relevant keywords to appear on your target audience’s feed. Make use of tools such as Google Trends, but also keep an eye on trending topics on each social medium you are using. Hashtags are also important but do not overdo them. Twitter, for instance, might mark your tweets as spam if you include too many hashtags or irrelevant ones.

With these tips, you can create an appropriate strategy that will help you improve your online presence and increase your business revenue.