Evolving rules for branding online

Merely having a website, social media presence and spending some money on online marketing is no longer enough in order to address online presence of business. The rules to brand your business on the web are changing day by day. A good web branding strategy is less to do with presentation and a lot more to do with interaction.

Branding online is all about the conversation and building effective relationship. As we know social media and conversation complement each other very well. So social media is a great way for branding if used effectively. It’s not enough to have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you must initiate and participate in the conversation. Need to make regular and relevant posts and replying to comment or direct messages of the customers. Need to address complains/suggestions very promptly posted on social media.

In order to find and target your niche, you need to be very persistent in the online competitive marketplace. How to stand out, how to look different and the be noticable should be the quest. A good and live example would be of Aircel . They started very good campaign ‘save tigers, only 1411 left’. They used the best brand ambassadors like Mahendra singh dhoni, good mix of tradional and online media and soon it became a national cause. But then they have not done much to keep the content alive, the last update on this was on october 2010. So it is important to make engaging content otherwise public memory is shortlived.

A recent study shows that ‘About us’ page is most visited in a website. People look for the quick info as what company is into. So that page should be designed and maintained efficiently. Do not write hefty content on this page. And whatever interesting info you give away through this page should cater the target audience correctly. I very much liked the About page of Quora. This page clearly defining why should people join. So the target audience can relate themselves with it. I also liked the team section of their website.

Adding Facebook/twitter buttons does not always does the trick. The idea is to have good shareable content which compels the user/fan to share it with their individual network. If the blog is there, then it has to be updated regularly, say weekly perhaps. This will help to increasing connectivity. Along with that also create a section in your site which is about the user experience/rewiews from existing customers about your product/services. It is important to telling a story that your clients really relate to. This can really drive some business relevance to prospective clients. Facebook page of Nokia is a very good example.

I personally believe whatever you do, keeping your customers at the core of your activity definitely helps.

Share your thoughts!!