Wednesday 22 August 2012

Create a personal brand to develop your ecommerce business

Many businesses spend time and money looking to create a brand for their online business. However, some businesses find success in creating a brand image for a single person within the business rather than the business as a whole.

The best example of this would be through the social networking site, Twitter. Many brands such as Google, Microsoft and Twitter themselves, have members of staff who achieve a substantial amounts of followers, becoming a brand in their own right. While many of these people do get followed because they work for these large brands, you can use this concept to help great a personal brand for yourself, which in turn will help boost your business's exposure.

So how do you go about this? Well basically what you have to do is get yourself out there and interact with people on a number of different platforms. This means creating an account on every social media site you can think of and begin producing content, interacting with users and generating followers. This should be a personal account, not an account that you as part of your company's social commerce campaign. The key to success with this is to not sound like you are trying to sell them anything, you need to just be like anyone else who users Twitter, post personal updates as well as informative content.  Once you have built up this rapport with your audience, you can then begin to provide them with extra information regarding your business which then encourages them to transform from a simple social media follower to a valued customer.

Another way to develop this personal brand is through creating blogs and article content that relates to your business. This means that as more people read your articles, they will begin to come familiar with your writing style and content, making them interested in future blog posts. However, isn't just about producing the content and then leaving it alone for people to read. Like social media, you need to actively engage with your audience. When someone posts a comment on one of your blog posts, you should reply either with thanks or a response to try and generate some sort of debate.

While online networking is a very important part of helping create a personal brand, you shouldn't overlook the benefits of offline networking. Attending events, functions, trade shows and other events will allow people to interact with you on a personal level while being able to hear you speak on a personal level. This will all people to see that you are an expect with your particular field, meaning they will then call upon you or your business in future for any insight. This will give you a great opportunity to turn these people from individuals who are interested in what you have to say, to people who you can pitch your products and services to and hopefully turn them into customers.

Creating a personal brand for your business gives your a business a face and makes you seem much more approachable to your customers. Having a regular point of contact through social media and blog content also makes you seem much more trustworthy and you are not just some faceless business who could disappear over night. There are many benefits to creating a personal identity and they shouldn't be overlooked when looking to increase your ecommerce store's exposure.


eSellution: www.eSellution.co.uk

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