If you’re not standing out, you’re just blending in. Learn 5 ways to make your online brand start SHINING online today!
There’s a time to blend in, and there’s a time to stand out. When it comes to your online brand and your social media presence, you need to do everything in your power to stand out from your competitors, and not fade into the background. To get started, ask yourself these questions:
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Does my brand look and sound like every other brand that does the same thing as I do, in my industry?
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What makes my brand stand out among a sea of other dancers, artists, entrepreneurs, and businesses who offer the same products and services as I do?
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What is my value proposition, and have I made it clear to my online audience?
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What’s one thing I do differently, when it comes to my social media marketing, or online video marketing, that makes my brand stand out from the crowd?
On location, for my dance tv show, “Inside New York City Dance”
Here are 5 Ways To Make Your Online Brand Stand Out From Your Competitors (no matter what industry you work in):
1. Tell your story. Share your personal story, your background, and why and how you got started. Share what inspires you, and what your mission and purpose is. Share your unique qualifications, education, and professional experience, and what makes you a trustworthy and knowledgeable source, in your field. Make it personal. Let your online audience get to know you on a more personal level. This builds trust.
2. Make your content about them, not about you. What type of content are you posting on social media every day? Is it the type of content that gets your fans and followers talking/commenting? Is it helpful? Is it entertaining? Is it informative? Is it educational? Is it funny? Is it motivating? Your online content should be 80% about them, and 20% about you. That’s how you begin to stand out.
3. Go above and beyond what everyone else is doing. If everyone in your niche industry has a blog, then you need to go hard with podcasting. If everyone has a podcast, then you need to go hard with videos. If everyone has a YouTube channel, then you need to be going harder on Facebook and Instagram live. Do you see a consistent theme here? It’s also not just about doing random videos, but it’s about the types of videos you choose to put out there.
Do creative concept videos, interviews with industry experts (HUGE), do how-to videos, do Q&A videos, do behind-the-scenes videos, document your journey of building your brand, tackling a specific project or task, auditioning, choreographing a dance piece from scratch, or overcoming a fear that you have. Don’t just create, document. Let people see who you are, what your process is, and what your daily life, journey, and operations look like. Then, you will not just have fans and followers on social media, but a loyal community of people who know, like, and trust you. Those are the folks that end up investing in your business long-term, and becoming your best, new-client referring customers.
4. Show up consistently. People like routines, and people like to know what to expect, in their personal relationships, and with the businesses/artists/blogs they choose to support. Be consistent. If you say that you’re going to publish a new blog post every Monday, do it. If you say that you’ll be live on Facebook, every Wednesday at 8 pm, be there! If you promise to offer a freebie, or special discount to your e-mail subscribers once-a-month, deliver on that promise, every month. This is they key to building trust with your online audience, and standing out from other brands who essentially do the same thing as you do. Plus, you need to stay at the top of people’s minds, otherwise, they will simply forget about you. So make sure you show up consistently on social media, every day.
5. Build real relationships, not just a large number of fans and followers. It’s so important that you really connect with people, in a personal way, on social media. These are real people (well mostly…bye Instagram bots lol), that are liking and commenting on your posts. Don’t treat them like they’re just another number. Get to know your fans and followers. Ask questions, reach out to them and offer them help, suggestions, resources, support, and motivation when they need it. Don’t just be another random brand that they’re following on social media. Be their friend, their colleague, their resource, and a part of their support system. Follow up with people, send them private messages (or DMs), go out of your way to help them, and show them that you see them, and that you care. Whenever you have the chance, take advantage of any opportunity to meet up with people in person too. Nothing will ever replace one-on-one, real life interaction. Nothing!
Conclusion
If you want your online brand to truly stand out on social media, and differentiate yourself from other individuals/businesses in your industry, you have to go above and beyond the call of duty, and do more. It’s not enough to just do the same thing that everyone else is doing. That will not get you very far.
So talk to me in the comments below and tell me, which of these five tips are you actively using to grow your online brand, and which one(s) do you need to improve upon? Let me know in the comments below.
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