By Sharon Jones
If you’re an entrepreneur worth your salt, then you’ll understand the importance of getting the internet on your side. Be it by using social media, silly advertising tricks or even riding off viral things like internet memes, it’s important to find the best satellite internet plans, understand internet culture and to learn how netizens think in order to best take advantage of the internet.
It might sound like an extremely specific method of digital marketing, but it’s incredibly important to get the internet on your side especially if you’re a new startup. However, even as a small or medium business, it’s important to understand what advantages the internet can offer and how you can use your online presence as a way to boost your business, grow your brand and ultimately run a more successful business.
Exposing your brand through word of mouth
We all know that recognition is one of the most important things to think about when it comes to exposing your brand. The more recognised you are, the easier it will be to make an impact anytime you post an update on your products or whenever you have something new to offer your customers. If you’re able to get on the internet’s side, then your brand name and products are going to spread like wildlife. Once you have a product or business name that sticks, you can be sure that it will spread across the entire internet in a matter of seconds through social media posts. If you’re unable to get on the internet’s side, then no one is going to care about your company and they may even make fun of your business in a negative way.
A positive affiliation with internet users
You never want to have a negative reputation with internet users. If you’re ridiculed or made fun of on the internet, then netizens will use everything that their disposal to make you and your company look stupid. They’ll manipulate images to talk down your business, they’ll do everything they can do post negative comments on your product review page and profiles and they might even boycott your company as a sign of protest. Once it’s reached this stage, it’s probably easier to start from scratch with a new company instead of trying to mend your reputation. There’s a quote that has been passed around the web for a long time and speaks volume about what the internet represents: “the internet never forgets”. Anything that you’ve posted in the past that was ridiculed will be dug up in the future and used against you again, to tread carefully and make sure you keep a positive affiliation with internet users.
More interest from an impressionable audience
Average internet users are impressionable and it’s usually how a single funny internet meme or interesting products can spread to all corners of the earth in just a matter of seconds. The internet is a huge connected pool of people and every single user is a potential customer for you. It’s incredibly important that you think of each internet user not as a single person, but a gateway to hundreds or even thousands of other people. Think of it this way; if you found a great product on the internet and you decided to share it with a few of your friends, there’s a good chance that they too will share it with friends who share an interest in it. Sooner or later, your product is going to spread through tonnes of people and your products are going to be known by a large group.
Digital presence growth that far exceeds regular campaigns
In order to grow your digital presence beyond your current marketing campaign, you need to focus on impressing and meeting the interests of the impressionable audience. If you don’t have something that interests them in the slightest, then they’re not going to pay attention to you. In fact, they’re going to ridicule your product and share it on social media websites just for a few laughs. However, if you are able to refine a product and create something truly amazing, then your products and brand will spread across social media in a matter of minutes. A single comment or product description that is shared by a figurehead will be seen by potentially millions of people, This is a far more effective way of growing a digital presence when compared to traditional marketing campaigns.
Improved chances of going viral
Another great advantage of befriending the internet is the increased chance for your products or brand to go viral. Going viral online is typically defined by having a huge spike of publicity from both the media and regular internet users. It comes from the word “virus” which is used to describe a highly infectious agent. In internet terms, going viral often refers to being shown on several social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This helps to greatly improve your exposure, but you need to understand internet culture and their product needs if you want to improve your chances
Reach further than your business could do alone
When you’re able to befriend the internet, you’ll find that your business will grow in popularity and reach further than any other digital marketing campaign could. The best thing about grabbing the internet’s attention is that they will spread your business via word of mouth further than any other marketing campaign could. Whether it’s posts on their social media accounts or just mentions in private chat rooms to their friends, you’re constantly growing your business’s presence and search engines will start to rank you higher because there are more websites that contain your keywords. If you tried to do this with a regular marketing campaign then you’ll quickly realise that you’re not reaching your target audience and you’re not showing your compassion towards your customers.
Network with people all over the world
Everyone should understand the concept and reason behind business networking. The idea is that you’re constantly growing your list of contacts so that you have more clients to contact about future deals, more sponsorship opportunities with different companies and also more keen customers. If web users enjoy your products and the way you use social media to interact with them, then you can be considered a popular online business. With that popularity, you can easily expand your social network and create more business opportunities in the future.
A better understanding of your widest audience
If you’re able to interact with internet users by asking for feedback and accepting their criticism, then you get a better understanding of your largest potential audience; the internet. Show internet users that you’re capable of listening to even the smallest of voices. Let them know that you take feedback on board no matter who it’s from and you’ll have a much easier time understand what it is they want to see from your products and the sort of direction they want you to go in the future.
Some final words to finish off
Making the internet your friend is the perfect way to get them on your side. It’s important to look attractive in the eyes of internet users because they’re more likely to find you approachable. The more time you spend publicly talking about your company and actively answering any questions over social media, the more you’ll discover a lot not just about your own business, but what your audience expects and how you can take advantage of it to promote your business and create more interesting products.
Sharon Jones is a contributor to zenruption and has her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA. As a new mother, she is interested in helping shape the world her daughter will inherit. She likes pina coladas and taking walks in the rain.