Social networking and media marketing help build your business brand online.
The key to successful Internet marketing is creating a recognized brand name. Contrary to popular belief, investing large sums of money into a marketing campaign is far less effective than using social networking sites and media outlets to establish a presence -- or brand -- online. Applying modern SEO and social networking techniques to your online marketing endeavors can make a world of positive difference when trying to build a business brand on the Internet.
Instructions
1. Select appropriate domain name/s. Including your brand name in your domain name is essential in Internet branding, and search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the main focuses when establishing an online presence. Using highly seached keywords related to your products and services in your domain name will prove highly effective in increasing your search engine page (SEP) ranking. Buying numerous keyword optimized domain names and pointing them all to your site increases site traffic as well. Another effective way to build your brand is by purchasing several of the same domain names with varied extensions such as ".org," ".com" and ".net."
2. Optimize your web content. The text and content on your website should also be fully search engine optimized with keywords and phrases relevant to your brand in order for major search engines like Google, Ask and Bing to easily crawl your site. Use keyword tools such as Adwords or Wordtracker to create a list of the most commonly searched terms in your niche and weave them seamlessly through your web content to increase your SEP ranking.
3. Create a variety of social networking profiles. Social networking is one of the main components of successful Internet business branding and can help you present your products, services and website to millions of users each day. Create social networking accounts on sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, YouTube and Linkedin to connect with groups and individuals who have an interest in your niche. Complete all profile, networking and bio information sections using your brand name and related keywords and phrases.
4. Make your website and networking profiles shareable with social media tools. Though the two work together, there is a distinct difference in social networking and social media. Networking helps you create an online presence and association with other users and platform on which to discuss common interests and your brand. Social media is basically a way to easily connect with friends -- and potential customers -- on multiple networks and allow your readers to share your information and profiles. Incorporating social media tools such as "Like" or "Share" buttons and including RSS feeds on all of your Internet publishing can be effective in mass marketing your brand name.
5. Practice consistency on all media and networking outlets. When building a brand name on the Internet, you must create an almost subliminal association with the look, sound and feel of your web pages -- social networks and otherwise. Consistency is key in helping viewers retain information regarding your brand while browsing a virtual society of your competition. Use the same username -- your brand name -- for all of your social network profiles as well as the same basic designs, color schemes, logos, fonts and images to help boost your brand recognition.
6. Engage your audience and remain active online. Creating and designing an optimized and consistent social networking and media presence is essential in branding your business online. However, frequent, consistent and personable activity is imperative to a successful social networking campaign. Engage your audience by participating daily in online discussions, comment posting, blogging and sending personal messages to members of your Internet communities. Advertisements posted without any substantial "social" participation are likely to be deleted, whereas active and personal engagement with users will reap more favorable results.
Tags: your brand, brand name, social networking, your brand name, domain name, search engine