For your company, the importance of maintaining a strong online presence is inescapable. According to research published last year and reported by People Management, 70% of jobseekers would resist applying for a position before researching the online reputation of the company offering the role.
Furthermore, as 56% of jobseekers would avoid applying to a business lacking an online presence, you can’t simply choose to omit online marketing efforts entirely. Therefore, you need to be careful who you appoint to the role of managing your online endeavours; look for someone who…
Has a thorough understanding of your brand
What is your brand about? Okay, so here are some less daunting questions: What does your business do? What products or services does it offer? What brand do you want to convey?
Your answers to all three of those questions can inform the overall direction of your brand. However, the person tasked with managing your online marketing efforts needs to be kept in the loop. They also need to provide timely answers to customers’ queries made over social media.
Can effectively use the platforms you favour
Social media can prove a formidable weapon in your company’s marketing arsenal, but keep in mind that social media platforms are far from equal. Twitter, for example, calls for quick responses, as Twitter exchanges typically unfold with a relative immediacy compared to Facebook discussions.
Therefore, whereas a fast-thinking staffer could excel on Twitter, you might want to choose someone more research-oriented if you want someone to take over your firm’s Facebook account.
Can consistently adhere to your brand’s voice
Remember what you were just thinking about your company’s brand? Maybe it’s light-hearted, or you prefer your marketing with a touch of gravitas promoting the prestige of your offerings.
Wherever exactly your brand lies on this scale, keep the brand and voice consistent between platforms, as advised in an Entrepreneur article.
Knows how to appeal to your target customers
This arguably ties in with knowing the brand, since a company’s target audience is intrinsic to its brand, too. However, if your business is aimed at forty-something housewives, it might struggle when leaving its online marketing responsibilities to a 25-year-old man.
That’s not strictly to say that he couldn’t possibly be up to the task; however, as Inc. cautions, he “has to think outside himself”, and “create a deliver a persona for the target demographic.” Otherwise, his online words could fail to ring true with that demographic.
Can evolve as the brand itself does
It bears emphasis that a business is not a static entity with regards to its priorities, target customers and, as a result, image. In refreshing your firm’s logo and branding colours and revamping the website, you might aim to dramatically alter the firm’s way of communicating.
When such changes are indeed afoot, your online marketer needs to get the memo. An agency could provide the digital marketing services you need when seeking to pivot your promotional strategy in a way that resonates with target customers online.
