Some very simple visibility strategies are overlooked and forgotten but can go a long way to jump starting your social currency. An important visibility strategy for your brand is to continually add reliable, actionable information to your website and social media sites so that body of writing published under your name attracts the kind of potential customers who are seeking exactly what you offer.
5 simple things everyone can do to create brand visibility and increase social currency.
Pretend that you are the customer and you’re looking for a vendor, speaker, author or someone who can create or implement something that serves your immediate needs. Most likely you’ll head to Google or Bing or YouTube. What words do you put into that search box to find what you’re look for–you and your company? Those are the keywords that you’re going to want to include in the messages you are creating online.
Creating an active presence on line reinforces your status as a trusted thought leader in your area of expertise and increases the chances that customers will find you. Because we all learn in different ways, it’s a good idea to put out your message in a variety of formats so as to engage the widest possible audience.
Let’s look at five great visibility strategies to improve your social currency, engage different consumers, help people find you and keep you on the cutting edge of marketing.
Video Marketing: Adding video to your website, Facebook page, YouTube Channel and even Twitter page is a great way to increase engagement with your fans, followers and potential customers. These video messages do not have to be long, nor do they need to be professionally produced. A Flip HD Mino video camera for under $200 can take short, high quality video and loading it to your social media sites is a snap. Take the Brand New Brand You pledge and add one video to one of your social media sites this week. Send us a link and we’ll take a look and share your message with our followers.
Audio Marketing: Change it up and make your sites interesting for your customers and clients. Post a short audio message about some upcoming event or a quick tip. You can do this right from your phone to your Facebook page with apps audioboo.fm. Do you have a sale or a special? Share your enthusiasm in your own voice. Doing this accomplishes two things. First, it let’s your followers know you are a real person. Second, it embues the information with urgency and importance.
Photos: Facebook is one of the largest photo sharing sites in the world. People love to look at photos on line. Do you have a particularly great looking store window, special display, or attractive entry to your office? Share a photo and invite people in.
Guest Blog: Write an article in your area of expertise for other blogs to run. Target blogs that speak to your desired customer base and offer to write and informative article that will be of interest to their fans and position you as an expert. A recent guest blog I did about my new book on Oprah.com turned into a a 400% increase in website traffic and 1,800 new unique visitors.
Comment: This is an overlooked and underused strategy. Follow and read blogs from industry leaders. When you read something you enjoy, leave a comment along with your website link. But don’t just leave a “great blog,” comment. Add something to the conversation. Reference a blog you’ve written that adds new insights. Suggest additional resources to learn more on the topic. In other words, be a thought leader by providing value to the conversation. Do this regularly. Become a regular reader and comment often.
These are just a few quick tips for building your platform as a thought leader in your industry and increasing your social currency. What are you doing to create conversations about you?