Maintaining an Online Brand's Image: Don'ts and Dos from SooBest

NEW YORK, March 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Brands are focused on how to occupy a higher position in social media, and SooBest, a large B2C website with a wide range of products in the area of women's clothing, charm jewelry, stylish t-shirts and more, has insight into how to survive the social media war. Here are some suggestions for how to maintain a brand's online image.

1) Don't: Rely on the boring "Like Us" button to push people to your site.
Do: Whether promoting a social homepage through emails, blogs or websites, do give customers a reason to "Like" and "Follow" you. Highlight the benefits customers can get when they join your society, such as exclusive discounts, competitions, entertainment or useful contents. Brands must let customers know that they understand what they want.

2) Don't: After building a social media page, don't throw it aside like an abandoned haunted house.
Do: Showcase a company on social media through content that is relevant, useful and shareable. Interactive voting, funny videos about new products (such as the latest women's clothing, charm jewelry, stylish T-shirts, etc.), quality service, discounts, specials and promotions only open to social media fans and followers are a good start. Not sure what to promote? Try asking fans and followers directly what they want to see.

3) Don't: Build up an online marketing strategy, then leave it alone.
Do: To create effective advertising with strong CTA (call to action), keep all promotions, specials, products or services listed in an ad up to date. An online advertisement may be the first impression potential customers get of a company, so concentrate on creating great online ads. In addition, keep monitoring the effect of these online marketing activities and adjust the marketing strategy according to the feedback for the ads.

4) Don't: Neglect the company website in favor of using social media pages.
Do: Make a professional website. Social media pages are a great supplement for online marketing, but they aren't a website. Companies control all the content of their own websites, including the activities of their visitors. Privately owned websites can also be optimized and used to manage sales trends according to data. Besides, brands can lead the flow of advertising to a customized landing page for better effectiveness.

5) Don't: Overuse the company's blog.
Do: Show one's expertise and leadership in the field via a blog. For search engines and readers to believe what is written, one must always think of the main keywords that can optimize the content. Meanwhile, remember that an entire article should not be composed of keywords. Don't let the blog get out of date; it is necessary to develop a content update schedule and to release timely, fresh content for readers.

6) Don't: Make a "flip" mobile website.
Do: Spend the money to build a mobile-friendly website, omitting design elements like banners or flash, because these may cause longer loading times or won't fully open for mobile visitors. Today, more and more consumers searching for information on the way, so a mobile site should be easy to visit and contain functions such as click-to-call and maps.

7) Don't: Forget to have the company listed in a local online directory.
Do: Add the company to Google+ Local, Yelp, and other sub-sectors of local directories. Make sure that the information about the company is the latest and is correct. Through preferential ranking for search engines, there is greater opportunity for local consumers to find a company's website when they use search engines.

8) Don't: Leave consumers to guess how they can contact you.
Do: Highlight the company's name, address, telephone number and email on the website, as well as in local directory entries, social media pages and any other online spaces. Double-check this and other information, such as opening hours, to ensure accuracy and consistency across all different online platforms. This helps to gain better search engine recognition and ranking.

9) Don't: Ignore the online reviews.
Do: Set up a program for monitoring and managing online reputation. Use tools like Google Alerts to stay clear on what comments consumers are making about the company online. In addition, it is essential to respond quickly to any negative reviews with a professional attitude while expressing gratitude to those who leave positive comments.

10) Don't: Forget that the best fans are those happy, buying customers.
Do: Invite some of the company's best customers to share their positive reviews through words or videos, and put these comments on the company's social media page, official blog and website so as to better establish trust in the brand. As customers are more likely to share negative feedback online, make sure to provide the excellent client services.

SOURCE Soobest.com