Building Credibility - Your Key To Online Business Success

Building trust with your audience is an essential part of building a successful online business. In the quest for credibility, these businesses often turn to social media to make sure their message resonates and is heard by other people in their target market. However, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your social media credibility doesn't mean its time to pack up and retire so soon. One of these ways you can add authenticity to your social presence is through commenting on relevant articles in the industry. You'll have something original or valuable that readers are seeking when they opt into your page. Relevance is a big part of trust, which you build through the people you associate with. Choosing who you follow and engage with on these platforms is a great way to get started.

So, Who Are You Following?

When it comes to building your credibility online, the first thing you have to consider is who you're following and what type of content you're looking at. If your business revolves around diet and fitness, this generally means that all of your social platforms are going to be based around nutrition and exercise. That's just how it works. What makes it important is that the content you follow need to provide value in some way or another. This can be in the form of valuable information, a good cause to support or just talking about something that is relevant to your audience.

It's important to tailor your social media feeds and viewing schedule so that you're engaging with the things your audience wants to see and talk about. This will help keep you on point with what's happening in the industry, which will make it easier for you to remain credible. Other social platforms and industries may have their own ways of following other people who are relevant but, when it comes to building credibility online, their relevance doesn't matter as much as how valuable they are as a resource.

How Do You Know?

It's important to know how audiences in your online business are behaving on social media. Once you know what they're looking at and what they're interested in, you'll be able to see patterns that can help guide your posts. There are a few things you can look out for to determine if people are moving away from your company. For example, many brands like to see when people stop following their pages and unfollow them altogether. This is a sign they've lost relevance and relevance means credibility because the audience is choosing not to engage with your presence on social media. Another sign of trouble is the number of times your page has been "liked" or shared on a particular revelation over time. If your posts are losing the battle against other pages or posts, you'll definitely want to analyze why and make some changes for the long term benefit of your company.

A Simple Change in Strategy

If you're running an online business, it's important to remember that there is a number of things that go into being successful. Your content is obviously very crucial. You can't post something just for the sake of posting it if there isn't anything valuable about what you're sharing. However, sometimes small shifts in strategy can make a big difference in your social media credibility. When you have a post that doesn't do well, it's important to find out why. This will allow you to find the right strategy for your business's social presence in the future.

So, What Do You Do?

This is something that can be a bit of trial and error depending on the situation; however, there are some specific steps you can take that will help ensure your online business remains credible and relevant. Your platform may not be built for this in the first place and it may require something more drastic than others, but when it comes to social media credibility, there are many things to consider before making major changes. Social media is a big part of the marketing strategy for any business and it takes time to build your presence there. The most important thing is to remain dedicated. Don't allow yourself to become distracted by your social presence and stay focused on what's important. That will bring you closer to achieving the goals you have for your business.

So, What's Next?

Building social media credibility takes time and effort but, in the long run, it will be worth it. It's important to remain in tune with what other people are looking at and how they're interacting with your content. Learning as much as you can about your audience is vital to remaining relevant on social media. This will help keep your business fresh, new and relevant over the long term. As long as you're putting in the effort, you'll ensure that you're remaining credible to potential customers.

Portrait of a successful Online Business Owner - The Interview with Ken Medlock

Building Credibility: Your Key To Online Business Success by Darryl Gwynn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License .

Mr. Gwynn is an Online Marketing Specialist and Executive Director of the School of Business, Management and Technology at South Plains College. Mr. Gwynn has over 18 years of experience in digital marketing, web development and search engine marketing (SEM). His most recent expertise is in interactive media, web-based software, e-learning and social media marketing as it relates to online business. These days Mr. Gwynn creates web sites for small businesses and e-learning courses for students interested in furthering their education through technology.

Mr. Gwynn is a native Houstonian and currently resides in Lubbock with his wife Christa, son Gavin and daughter Grantley.

Illustrations by Jimena Canales

This blog does not collect or distribute personal information. If you are a copyright holder who believes your work has been used/modified without consent, please contact us at info@kenmedlock.com . This website is hosted on a server that is located in the United States of America and the website itself is being managed from within the United States of America. This page does not constitute legal advice pertaining to American or International law and any laws mentioned herein are for reference only. The content of this blog is intended to be used for informational purposes only. If you find this information, or any part of it, to be useful, valuable and appropriate, you are encouraged to share it freely with others. Thank You.

Ken Medlock Online Marketing Specialist & Executive Director, School of Business and Technology at South Plains College 1111 West Sixth Street Lubbock Texas 79401 915-942-3090 kenmedlock@southplainscollege.edu www.southplainscollege.edu

This post originally appeared on Ken Medlock's website here: http://kenmedlockonlinemarketingconsultantandschoolofbusinessandtechnologyatsouthplainscollege.

Conclusion

What all of this means is, your strategy should be the core of your business's credibility. You can't just put out random posts and hope people will follow you. You need to engage with your audience and find things that are relevant to them in order to show them that you understand what they want from you. Your posts and content need to be valuable for them for it to be valuable for your business as well. Credibility is a big part of that success and it will only help grow your online presence if you're able to achieve it.