Image via CrunchBase
Whilst I was writing the last post I touched upon the concept of web presence strategy, or online strategy. I actually realised that some people neither have one or completely understand what the phrase means or how it refers to their online presence.
For instance, my strategy is to connect to both my customers and indeed end users through several online media channels, this blog, facebook, my space, youtube and twitter to be exact. Oh and probably Google Plus when they realise they forgot to invite me, they’re busy, probably just slipped their minds! The underlying strategy and overall long term goal is to build a community of both Dispensers and end users for Widex internationally.
I also wish to positively affect these peoples buying decisions and increase their perception of and loyalty to, my adopted brand. Those are my long term goals and overall strategy, in order to attain this I have to apply and follow clear tactical guidelines and actions.
Chief among these guidelines for me would be:
- Honest, human interaction with all my followers
- Good, well written, factual and clear content
- Content that is of interest to my target market
- Honest and immediate interaction with my followers
- Educational content
The tactical actions I take pertaining to these guidelines are:
- Regular tweets of own content
- Regular re-tweets of content of interest
- Cross platform posting of tweets to Facebook
- Regular posts on the blog
- Cross platform postings of the blog to Twitter
- Uploading of videos to youtube and cross platform posting of same
- Clear
My online presence is multi platform because this allows me to reach as many possible followers as I can. However, this approach is time consuming and challenging. There are several tools that allow me to reduce the time I spend on our presence, however, they do not reduce the challenge of posting diverse and intelligent content. Stop laughing at the back please, wesley Miller said I was intelligent, although, he was giggling at the time?
Do not forget, I am endeavouring to cater to two very different audiences, Dispensing professionals and end users.They both demand differing information around the same topics. This is a constant challenge for me, I need to design content that will be of interest to both audiences on a regular basis if I indeed want to carry both audiences along with me on my travels.
It is indeed not always possible, for instance this post and the last few preceding ones have been part of our business support ethos, something that is very strong in both Widex Ireland and Widex Internationally. Your average end user has no real interest in applying an online strategy. The closest they tend to get to online strategy is remembering not to post on facebook drunk, although that is indeed one of my own closely held strategies. The average Dispenser probably would like to know about online business strategies.
I have barely touched the surface of my online strategy and indeed the use of social media, it is a subject that is exhaustive. I wish just to give bare outlines and indeed the points I think are imperative.
Before you move forward with any online strategy, I would caution you to think carefully about what the long term goals of that strategy are? I would then clearly lay out the steps that you will take to attain those long term goals. The question you should clearly ask yourself is, why do I want a website, or facebook page, or Twitter account? If the answer is because my competitor has one, then you will do yourself a great disservice by obtaining one.
The initial step that should be taken by any business is the fundamental one, the foundation that all of your presence will be built on, your website. You need to treat your website as a living document, it should constantly change and evolve. Acceptable webpage design even as little as two years ago is now very dated looking. Has your webpage been updated in the last year, if not, why not?
I am speaking of your content here, not even your site design, your business regularly has events in its yearly life cycle, such as marketing campaigns, product offers, new additions to your price list, changes in your price list etc. These are ideal opportunities to update your site, keeping your content fresh.
In fact, in order to keep your site high on page one of the search engines returns, you need to update your content regularly with a view to constantly changing keywords and tags to reflect current search terms. This alone should drive you to tend your website carefully and often. These regime should include careful and honest assessment of your site design.
If it looks dated, change it, include a news segment that is regularly updated with cross links to an offers page where you keep your latest practice offers updated. Add a blog page that you update with content on a regular basis, the content you can use is endless, but always put your own spin on it. A viewer will spot canned content a mile away and their perception of you will be affected.
Always remember, you are dealing with the perceptions of not only existing, but prospective customers. Their perceptions of you are implicitly your top priority. their perceptions are what will make them pick you as a provider or indeed move on to somebody else.
The foundation step, before you move into any social networks is to ensure your website is right for you, ensure it represents you as you would like it to.
Included in the preceding paragraphs is an outline of how I utilise several on line platforms, my web-presence, to achieve my long term strategy. The question is, what is your long term web-presence strategy and how will you achieve it?
