How to improve your brand's online presence.
The short answer is to look at the content you're already putting out, check it against my 3 C's (Connection, Credibility and Credentials, not forgetting invitations to work with you mixed in there), and find where the balance has tipped too far one way... then put more of whatever's missing into your next few posts, and make sure there's a human face on LinkedIn and Facebook especially, whether that's yours, your team's, or both. Here’s how I approach it, including what I tend to find when I audit someone's content.
Where do you start?
With what you’re already doing… so starting with an audit, which is what I'd do for any new client, and you can run a version of it yourself. I'd look at what content you're putting out, how good it is and what kind of voice you're using, then at your content pillars, which just means asking what you want to be known for and whether what your posts matches up with that. After that come your calls to action, and whether they invite people to take a next step in a way that suits your brand... those are the practical checks, and they're quick to do once you have your last 10 or so posts open side by side.
(To run a LinkedIn audit, this free resource will help: https://www.sheldon.social/linkedin-profile-audit)
What are you trying to do with your content?
Underneath those practical checks, I'm looking for 3 things, and that's where the 3 C's come in.
Connection means giving your audience something to connect with, which tends to be more personal, and I'd never tell anyone they have to share everything (it's about sharing enough of what's unique to you that someone thinks 'oh, I want to work with that person'). But it needs to be ‘you’ enough that it makes you memorable (therefore searchable) and unique enough that you are their natural pick. It’s the bit that helps build community and helps people feel like they belong, and are seen.
Credibility is your own thinking, so I'm checking whether what you share comes from your own experience and viewpoint, the sort of thing nobody could get from a quick Google or by asking ChatGPT. Because if they can do that, why should they come to you?!
Credentials is the proof that you do what you say you do, such as client results, case studies, testimonials, talks and events, woven in through your content as part of the story... and I don’t mean posts that have a client win screenshotted on it… there are lots of ways to get those proof points in. On top of all 3 sits a soft invitation to work with you, which takes up roughly 10-20% of what you share.
What does an imbalance look like?
When I run an audit, it's usually an imbalance more than anything missing completely, and it tends to show up in 1 of 3 ways.
Some people are so personal that their posts get plenty of likes and friendly engagement, but there's nothing in them about what they do, so nobody knows what to buy from them.
Others share lots of thinking about their industry with no proof woven in, so all a reader has is their word for it, and some share nothing personal at all, which means the content is accurate and the expertise is clear, but there's nothing to make someone think 'I like this person, I trust them, I want to work with them'. (This is my happy place in my own content so I have to work hard to balance that out!)
The reason is usually comfort, because we're all good at certain types of content and we all feel more at ease making some types more than others, so those are the ones that get made while the rest get missed without anyone deciding to actively skip them. If you look back over your last month of posts and one type fills most of the space, that's a good clue about which of the 3 C's has been getting most of your attention, and which ones might need a bit of love.
Does it matter whether you post as a person or a company?
On LinkedIn and Facebook it matters, because there's a clear difference between a personal profile and a company page, and personal profiles tend to reach further (people like hearing from people, and the platforms seem to reflect that). Instagram works differently... short of a locked-down profile, there's no real way to tell whether an account belongs to a person or a business- only by what they say and do, and you can set up a professional or creator profile under your company name or your own, so the difference isn’t as prominent.
Even though personal profiles do better on LinkedIn and Facebook, company pages have their place too.
They work well as a shop window, for social proof, and for trust building, and they're useful for employee advocacy, where your team can say they work for you and share your posts. It may be that employees are more likely to share from the company page than from the CEO's profile, although I'd treat that with a bit of caution and try it with your own team before relying on it. What matters most is humanising your brand, and that helps whether you're posting from an individual profile or a company page, so share the faces, the opinions and the behind-the-scenes, whichever profile does the sharing.
What could you change this week?
A simple first job is to list your last 10 posts, label each one as Connection, Credibility, Credentials or Invitation, see which type is thinnest (note that sales (invitation) posts generally makes up 10-20%), and make your next 3 posts that type. Then check how each one ends, since a call to action that feels like a natural invitation is much easier to say yes to than an instruction, and write down in 1 sentence what you want to be known for, to see whether your last month of posts backs it up. We want people to know clearly what we do so they can recommend us.
If you're on LinkedIn or Facebook, decide if a personal profile could be doing more of the sharing, and start there.
Once you’ve looked at that, you might find it helpful to see which kinds of content come most naturally to you (blogs, short form, campaigns)- the content archetypes quiz is a quick one to try. And if you'd like to talk through me running an audit of your own content, pop me a message to arrange it.
