The Top 5 Ways To Build A Rockin’ Brand Online

Have you ever Googled yourself?

What comes up? Is it what you want people to see? Do your search engine results represent who you are as a professional dancer, dance teacher, or dance studio owner?

You play a huge role in what people see and read about you online, but you have the ability to be proactive in creating the type of online presence that will highlight your brand in the best way possible.

When doing a search under your name, or your dance studio’s name in Google, potential customers, clients, or employers should be able to answer the following questions about you:

That’s what building your personal brand or business brand online is all about, using all of these different avenues, to highlight various aspects of who you are as a person or organization, build your credibility, and get new customers, or job opportunities. When you’ve done this successfully, people will begin to speak for you, and your brand, and what they say will be an accurate representation of who you are. And believe me, there is nothing more valuable than word of mouth.

1) Be Visible – Let people see who you are. Don’t put clip art, or pictures of your dog as your profile picture. Show people who you are, and give them an opportunity to connect with you on a personal level. I recommend having lots of photos online (i.e. on Facebook and Flickr especially), but also, have videos of yourself as well. This helps people to feel as though they are personally, and emotionally connecting with you, even if it’s only virtually. This helps to build trust amongst your fans, followers, and subscribers. They get to see that you’re a real person, and not hiding behind anything. This is crucial to building a successful online brand. My personal brand, and my company’s brand both took off as soon as I came out from behind the veil, and began to show myself to people, and connect with them in a real, physical, and tangible way.

2) Be Helpful – Remember how I mentioned earlier in this post that someone should be able to find out how you add value to other people by doing a search for you, or your company on Google? Well, being helpful shouldn’t be strictly for your current customers or employers. You can be helpful through social media interactions, and begin building trust, relationships, and credibility for yourself, and your dance business as a result. I’ve gotten media interviews, job offers, business partnerships, sponsorships, and new customers through social media, simply by being a helpful resource for people. Remember, you reap what you sow.

3) Be Consistent. Make sure that your message across the various social media platforms, your website, blog, etc. are all consistent. You shouldn’t be positive Paula on Twitter, and negative Nancy on Facebook. Be consistent. Post updates regularly, and don’t ever drop off of the face of the earth without warning. People become very suspicious when they see that an individual or business hasn’t updated their Twitter/Facebook/Blog for a couple of weeks or months. It’s best to at least post an update stating that you’ll be away for a while, rather than neglecting your social media sites for an extended period of time. Additionally, it helps to have a consistent physical image. Meaning, you should try to use the same, or at least a similar professional, profile picture on different sites. If you own a business, your logo should be strategically placed on each social media network.

4) Create a Hub. Your hub can be your website, or your blog. But there should be one place where people can go, to learn about you, your brand, or your company. One place that has videos of you, links to your fb, twitter, linkedin, etc, accounts. If you’re a dance teacher or professional dancer, you can put your resume, reel, bio, and cv on your website or blog, along with your videos. But you should also have a personal mission statement. Something that allows people to get to know what your passion is, what your values are, and what you’re all about. I’m an advocate for putting this type of message into a video. Even a basic welcome video is great. It’s even better to have video testimonials from your clients, students, or customers on your hub. Build your own following, and showcase what makes you unique.

5) Do Something New. One of the best ways to stand out from your competitors online is to be innovative. I say, do what you see other people are NOT doing. Sometimes it’s just that simple. This may mean that you have to step out of your comfort zone, or learn something new, but it will be totally worth it! When I started the Kiner Hour internet radio/ustream.tv show, I took a huge risk. I had no idea if it would be a success, or how I would be as a radio host, since I’d never done it before. But I saw the opportunity, seized the opportunity, and realized that this is something that no one else in the dance industry is doing right now. What a great opportunity to really stand out amongst a sea of dance-related companies and brands online. You can do it too. It may not be a radio show for you, but it could be something else. Host a contest, do a giveaway, create an iphone app, do a weekly livestream. Dance Teachers, create an online video pre- interview for potential dance studio employers, where you answer some basic interview questions, and send your potential employers a video e-mail, along with your headshot and resume when applying for a job. Now that’s something that most dance teachers wouldn’t even think to do. Dance studio owners, add some how-to videos to your website, or video testimonials from your dance students (both kids and adults), or create a custom Facebook landing page, with a special welcome video on it. Create a special iphone app for your dance studio. The list goes on. Do things that will differentiate you from the sea of dance studios that are out there. You always want to have fresh content, new things to talk about and share with your online community, and new ways to get people excited and talking about your brand.