Online Branding for Bands
This video tutorial on Online Branding for Bands was recorded specifically for the ArtistKo seminar that took place on June 26 at the Outpost.
Participants paid to be in this seminar, and now this is your chance to see the full video, free of charge.
Online Brand Management: The Importance of Online Brand Monitoring
Monitoring your brand online is important. You need to be able to keep track of what is being said about your brand, where links are posted and what people think of your product in order to build up and/or maintain a good reputation both online and offline. The internet is so widely used for communication, personal and work related, that a business must be informed of their presence and maintain control of their persona and credibility online because it can easily transcend into the business world on the streets and affect their credibility thus decreasing sales and setting a chain of events into motion that only lead into a downward spiral. Because the internet has made news and communication so easy you have to be especially aware of your brand monitoring online to be able to detect the rumblings of someone, like a competitor, trying to ruin your image or a descent in brand trust and loyalty. Monitoring is fairly easy and really only requires some basic research and tracking. These are some things to consider and places to look when monitoring your brand online.
One of the easiest, though not necessarily the most effective ways to monitor your brand is to create a Google alert account. How this works is you enter keywords and every time your brand name is mentioned or one of the other keywords you receive an email regarding this sending you a link to the destination online where the word was mentioned. This is all fine however it’s not the most effective way to really monitor your brand online because it doesn’t provide a full scope of what your brand is doing and the breakdown of where your brand is being discussed online in terms of percentages and so forth. For this you need to hire someone to track the figures or an advanced software that can do this for you. The best way is almost always through human work because they can determine the validity of a mention of your keywords or brand and analyze the context whereas a computer cannot or will make more errors in this regard.
So first you need to develop a list of keywords. This should of course include your brand name and trademarks or copyrights you have associated with that name as well as clients, competitors, the names of spokespersons, high ranking executives, stock symbols, products, abbreviations of your company name or products as well as common misspellings that a person might type in a search engine looking for your brand or products.
People talk to others about brands and products all over the internet from reviews to consumer news to blogs, forum posts and emails about things they like or dislike. So there is a lot of ground to cover in tracking and monitoring your brand online. Every day you need to look through blogs, Twitter, social networks, social media sites, wikipedia, message board, forums, consumer news, article directories and the tags on video and photo sites. Track these mentions whether they are positive, negative or indifferent and the frequency of these mentions in order to monitor your brand.
3 Easy Ways to Strengthen Your Online Brand Identity
Brand identity is extremely important for a company’s survival, growth and overall longevity. Customers want to shop from or use the services of a company they can trust due to the satisfaction they have shown and their track record. Consumer confidence is key. Once you have established a brand identity and have a complete concept of how you are perceived by the public your work still isn’t done. In fact, it’s never done. To remain competitive online you have to continue to strengthen your brand identity so you won’t be forgotten or outsold and overshadowed by another retailer or service provider.
Connect on Social Networks
Social networking isn’t just for personal contacts and relationships anymore, millions are using these networks for work as well. Businesses can create pages which people can then become “fans” of. This gives a brand a forum to reach potential customers on a personal level. They can have a unique experience with the brand online and turn to it whenever they please. These networks allow a brand to experiment with new concepts, ask for feedback from consumers and of course, promote their product or service. Creating individual pages and networks for each brand allows consumers to show off their lifestyle to others as well. By displaying pages you’re a fan of other people can see what you’re into, the products you use and what you like to do as brand identity can translate into personal identity as well. Then personal referrals turn into business sales for you because one person tells their friend and they tell someone and so on.
Offer Incentives and Rewards
The power of personal referrals is incredible. Offer an incentive that customers get a percentage of sales back in the form of credit, points or free gifts and hundreds upon thousands of people will be motivated enough to send the information to their friends and family in hopes of earning enough points, credits or other rewards to get free items. Discounts, promotions and incentives are great selling points to get new customers in to try your product. Rewards programs keep the customers you have from trying something else when your competitors offer new discounts and freebies. The better your incentives and rewards programs the more customers you’ll be able to secure for the long run and the stronger your brand identity will become because you’ll have gained credibility from your following.
Google Ads
Advertising will always help strengthen your online brand identity because it will remind consumers first that you exist, second that you’re a trustworthy and viable company and third that you’re the best. The more that your brand name is seen the more people will begin to associate it with being the best. Using Google Ads is easy and the most reliable and popular form of advertising online. Your ads will be displayed on various websites which you can target based on your product demographics base. The more you want your ads seen the more ads you pay to have shown, simple and easy.
If you have any questions about online branding, visit my blog and use the contact form to ask a question.
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