Today, a boring marketing strategy will only… bore your target audience. When it comes to Internet marketing, that holds especially true. Web 2.0 is a social space, and that means interacting with your target audience and making their experience with your online brand interesting.
Staying stuck in your website’s small corner of the Web does little to help build your brand and reach out to people online. You have to be actively engaged in the experience to build your Web presence and marketing strategy. Here are a few quick tips to make your Web presence more human and reach out to people online.
Stay on top of social media
Don’t let your blog or Twitter account collect dust. Stay up-to-date on the latest trending topics in your field and share what knowledge with readers. And make sure to update regularly!
The Web is constantly in motion, which means it is absolutely essential to offer fresh content on a regular basis. If you don’t give people a reason to come back, they won’t! You can find a wealth of information on your field through news aggregators and newsletters.
Your blog is one of your most personal voices on the Web. By updating frequently and offering insight, you will keep your brand fresh while providing a human voice that people can engage with.
Build a Web presence through interaction
Staying on top of your social media also means being attentive to feedback and interacting with other users. Remember, the Web has transformed into two-way communication.
Sometimes interacting can be as simple as re-tweeting something a user posts that you find especially interesting. Sometimes it means engaging in discussions in comments and online forums. Showing that there is a human behind your Web presence will make users feel more engaged in your brand.
Also consider visiting places outside your blog where you can share your expertise. For example, LinkedIn has a page called Answers, where users can ask questions and get answers from others. This is a great way to show what you know about your field and give some useful, expert advice. If you participate enough, you will also gain a special badge that indicates you are an “expert” based on user feedback and approval.
Providing this kind of interactive help shows helps bolster your online reputation. That can only serve to help reinforce you and your brand’s position as a leader and expert in your field. Web presence has a lot to do with building a reputation among people online, and any way to show that you are a leader and an expert in your field will help.
Think visually
I’m constantly amazed at how quickly Web technology evolves. Just a few short years ago, YouTube launched as a place for people to post low-quality videos to share online. Now, YouTube is the second most popular search engine and boasts millions of high-quality videos.
A new web service called Qwiki is taking that idea and applying to the way we think about information. The idea is simple—people want to get information in a way that is more natural than reading blocks of text.
Thinking outside the text can mean giving people a more engaging experience. Whether it’s a video introduction to your brand or a video explaining products or services, putting a face to your brand can have a huge effect on your target audience’s perception of you.
