Having an online presence has become important in the digital era. Businesses can have a digital presence on social media, websites, or e-commerce platforms. The term digital presence refers to the manner your business is presented online. Digital presence refers to the pages related to your business that popup when people run a search.
Digital presence includes the content you have control over like your website and social media channels and those you have no control over like customer reviews. Having a strong online presence is important especially in the digital era where more people are shopping online.
Furthermore, most customers look for information about a product/service online before making the decision to buy. Prospective customers are also likely to contact you after searching for your product/service online.
Why Your Business Needs A Strong Online Presence
1. Make A Great First Impression
Studies have shown that people take approximately 17 milliseconds to make the decision whether to buy or not. An attractive website makes a long-lasting impression on customers and portrays your business in a positive light. For instance, a person interested in buying a phone is likely to purchase if the brand has no strong presence online.
2. Increase the Visibility of Your Brand/ Business
Online presence increases visibility especially for small businesses that lack the resources to mount aggressive marketing campaigns. Online presence enables your business to be seen by thousands of customers with minimal resources. Surveys show that 91% of businesses that use content marketing experience an increase in brand visibility.
3. Engage with Customers
High-quality content can achieve a customer engagement of approximately 75% within the first five hours of posting. Online presence enhances customer engagement. One of the key advantages of engaging with customers online is that you get to know what they like and what they don’t.
A strong online presence gives you the opportunity to interact with customers directly. This allows you to study trends and customer preferences. For example, it can let you know the type of payment methods customers prefer.
4. Reach A Larger Audience
The internet has turned the world into one digital village. This allows businesses to promote products and services anywhere on earth. Businesses that have a good presence online can advertise their product to potential customers anywhere and convert some.
5. It Makes You an Authority
Having a presence online means you’ll be publishing content and offer advice relevant to your service/products. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate to customers why they should buy from you.
6. Market Directly to Customers
Surveys have shown that the rate of return on investment for online campaigns is between 18 and 20 percent. Moreover, it lowers the operation cost for your business by helping you save the money you would have paid to distributors.
7. Improved Customer Service
Surveys have shown that 71% of customers who receive excellent service through social media indicated that they would recommend their friends. The quality of customer service is compromised if customers have to go through intermediaries to have their issues sorted.
