First impressions matter – whether face-to-face or virtually – and a good first impression can be the difference between winning and losing business. When it comes to digital first impressions, the stakes are even higher since very often the first impression occurs without your knowledge.
We’ve summarized 4 ways to master your online brand and digital reputation to ensure you’re set up for success.
Website: A well-designed, mobile optimized, and easy-to-use website can be the difference between someone sticking around long enough to truly get to know you or bouncing based on that first impression. The imagery and content should be engaging and persuasive to hold the user’s interest and provide value. A few best practices can be found, here.
Cut the Clutter: Keep your content clean and crisp. Don’t try to cram everything onto the page. People don’t read, they skim, so be sure to break content into multiple pages and sections and utilize subheads and lists for longer details. And remember, intentionally leave some details out, and then provide contact forms for prospects to request more information. This can help drive higher engagement and more conversions.
Maintain Social Profiles: Sounds simple, but you would be surprised to find out how many businesses set up social profiles with no strategy or means to update and maintain the content. Before just signing up, think about what target audience the channel would help you reach and come up with a strategy for content and maintenance. A profile without fresh content that is updated frequently will give a bad digital first impression when your audience finds you.
Consistent Postings: Inconsistent messaging can be a significant deterrent for your website visitors or social followers. Avoid confusion by maintaining a consistent brand message across all channels; however, be sure to optimize posts for each channel and target audience.
Worried your online brand isn’t as strong as your offline brand? Contact ROOT3 for a digital first impression audit.
