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It’s no secret that the online world has become a critical element of business success. Nevertheless, it can be tricky trying to ut through the white noise and reach your target market.
While it isn’t easy, the good news is that there are several ways that you increase your online reach. Rather than looking for quick hacks that lead to flash-in-the-pan results, it’s wise to invest in a more stable solution.
Understanding ‘presence’ online
The term “online presence” can be a bit misleading, if only because of how simple it seems. It’s tempting to think your company has a presence online because you have social profiles, a website and an email list.
Related: 8 Mistakes Small Businesses Make When Building an Online Presence
However, if you really want a strong online presence, you need to consider what you’re doing with your online assets. You also need to track the results that those efforts are creating, both in search engines and with the public. This can lead to better marketing results, higher organic traffic, a superior customer experience and more conversions.
If you already have the basic online elements in place, that’s great, but you haven’t arrived yet. You’ve just laid the groundwork. Here are a couple of next steps that you can take to perfect each of your online assets, improve your online presence and ultimately expand your reach in the process.
Focus on content quality
The days of mass-producing content are long gone. Instead, quality has become king — and that’s a really good thing. One good example of this is Blue Bottle Coffee, which has pioneered the concept of online artisanal-coffee promotion. In short, they are associated with all things coffee.
And yet, if you check their blog, there are very few posts that mention coffee. The brand hasn’t pumped the interweb full of fodder in an attempt to funnel traffic to their site. They’ve promoted carefully curated pieces of text that continue to provide value to customers.
If your current content is good, you can continue to build on its existing momentum, rather than throwing more and more information online to see what “sticks.”
As search algorithms become savvier, it’s important to produce content that can go the distance. Once created, you can work to promote existing content rather than adding to it en masse. If you can do that, you’ll begin to benefit from steady organic traffic in perpetuity.
Related: Don’t Just Create Content and Then Sit Back. Promote It! Here’s How.
Strategically target growing niches
Once you’ve established your content, there are many ways to improve your reach through additional marketing efforts. One of these is to find new target audiences. This can speed up brand awareness and help you discover new customer demographics.
A good example of this is through a collaboration with music and gaming. According to the digital rights-management and revenue-reporting tool Aux Mode, 2020 was YouTube’s biggest gaming year, with 40 million active gaming channels and in excess of 100 billion watch hours. Music also continued to grow on the video platform, with YouTube shelling out $4 billion to musicians over the course of the year.
To spread your audience, consider working with influencers within a particular niche. This can give you quality connections that help you streamline the reach process. By creating a relationship with an influencer, you can focus on reaching a single person, who can then turn around and cultivate your brand with an audience that they have already curated.
As the internet continues to dominate the business world, developing the capability to reach your target audience online continues to be a dominant marketing factor. Fortunately, as algorithms become more refined, SEO hacks and digital marketing shortcuts are going out of style. Instead, reputable approaches like creating quality, authoritative content and working to promote that content to new markets that can benefit from it are taking center stage.
Related: 5 Game-Changing Ecommerce Trends in 2022
While there are plenty of other marketing tactics to consider, focusing on those two critical areas is a good starting point. It can help you increase your online reach not just in the short-term, but in a sustainable, long-term manner that will keep that traffic flowing for years to come.
