If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, your online presence might not reflect the hard work and reputation that you’ve built in real life. For some, there may even be a significant difference between your business’s digital footprint and traditional marketing footprint (i.e. advertisements, trade shows, telemarketing).
“I don’t have time to grow a digital footprint or learn about social media,” you say.” “I have a whole business to run.”
But in this climate, with the current pandemic and businesses shifting online, it’s time to invest in your digital footprint. Your potential clients want to know more than what products/services you have to offer. They want to know about you and the people that run the business. It’s more common for them to search for your digital presence through outlets like social media and blogs before thinking about committing to your products/services. When they do so, are they earning your trust or turning away in confusion? Is your online presence gaining you business or losing it?
Building your brand online doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Here are 6 tools that make it easy to implement and monitor your online brand (we use every single one, so this message IS eWN approved):
Canva
Canva is a tool that makes graphic design super easy and user-friendly - no design skills required. If you want to build a custom LinkedIn header or Instagram post, then the sky’s the limit with this platform.
You have the ability to choose between pre-made templates by Canva or creating your own. There are hundreds of options available where you can customize visual elements and strategize the organization, leaving you with less stress and quality results.
This platform is free, but we recommend upgrading to a Canva Pro account to unlock more features, such as exclusive font types, elements, photos, and more. There is also an option to purchase certain templates and features for just $1 each. But again, you can use this platform to develop amazing designs without spending a cent.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a tool that allows you to stay up-to-date with conversations about your brand. Whether it’s a blog shoutout, negative feedback, or client praise, you can proactively monitor what is happening online in regards to your brand. It could also help with effectively handling a crisis.
Create a Google Alert notification to stay on top of your mentions and those of your competitors. You can choose how often you want to receive these updates and strategically use the information you gather to elevate your brand.
Remember, you and your team need to be the first to know when you’re mentioned online.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a tool that allows you to schedule social media posts and monitor each platform’s space with the click of a button. This is perfect for those who don’t want to spend too much time on social media but still want a growing presence.
There is a free plan that allows you to sync three social media profiles, which is a great place to start for some entrepreneurs. Some other benefits include the ability to quickly respond to mentions and post across all social profiles in one easy-to-use dashboard.
It’s all about tapping into a central social management platform that does most of the work for you!
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a tool that helps your email marketing strategy. While building on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are important, you’re limited to the constraints of those channels. This makes it a bit difficult to move potential clients through a sales funnel and provides little control beyond engagement.
Email marketing is imperative to the success of most businesses. It provides a more intimate interaction between brand and consumer by offering you the tools you need to effectively nurture leads. Mailchimp is a free email marketing tool and very user-friendly.
Later
Later is a scheduling tool that aids in brand aesthetics and effectiveness, specifically with Instagram. Currently, Instagram is one of the top social media platforms, so you want to make sure that your presence is visible if potential clients search for you there.
As a certified Instagram partner with more than 1 million users, you can easily plan out and schedule content. Some features include the ability to quickly monitor and track hashtags relevant to your business, auto-schedule content, a visual content planner that lets you see your grid before posting, and powerful analytics beyond the ‘Insights’ that Instagram offers.
There is a free plan and you can upgrade to paid plans starting at $9 per month.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a tool to help analyze your website performance. You can track the most important growth metrics and compare them to previous months. It also provides detailed reports on your audience, content performance, traffic, and so much more.
The amount of insight available at the click of a button with Google Analytics is incredible. The challenge is to take that data, figure out the key takeaways, and determine how you can improve the user experience.
Have you tried any of these tools? Are there some that you want to start implementing? Let us know, we want to hear from you.
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