For business owners, promoting your company online will be a constant activity. Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, digital marketing will be key. From online ads to search engine optimization, these make up the basic components in your online marketing strategy. For those who want to boost their online presence even further, you may consider doing digital outreach.

Digital outreach is the process of reaching out to other websites to promote your business online. Early on, it can be difficult to conduct successful digital outreach since you don’t know which methods are the most effective. For small business owners, try to keep your outreach efforts simple at the beginning and don’t overextend yourself. With some patience, these efforts will pay off as your online presence grows.

To help small business owners, check out these digital outreach techniques that you can implement:

1. Social Media

If you haven’t already guessed, your business should have an online presence on social media. The world of digital marketing has fully transformed, with social media becoming the dominant means of advertising. As a result, make sure that you set up the applicable accounts on the platforms you prefer.

While it doesn’t hurt to use every platform available, you’ll definitely want to be on at least two. Facebook and Instagram are great for starting out, which can relay all pertinent information conveniently. Customers and potential customers are more likely to use these when scouting for services. You may also want to consider increasing your digital presence on Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.

2. Engagement

The most important aspect of digital outreach, especially as a small business owner, is engagement. You’ll always want to check your social media platforms for any inquiries that may be waiting for you. Answering these in a timely manner can help boost your outreach capabilities.

The more you engage with your followers, the more of a chance you have of increasing your following. Digital outreach might seem like a never-ending job, but you don’t have to constantly be doing it. A few times a day will do wonders for your engagement, especially when just starting out. Value your customer’s time because they are needed for your success.

3. Ask Questions

When it comes to your online following, you need to determine what their needs and wants are. As a business owner, you can only know so much in terms of what your customers are looking for. One of the best things about online engagement is that you can ask questions directly to your followers.

For example, if your customers are wondering about certain services, ask them what they would like to see. Future offerings can be informed by the answers you receive here. It doesn’t hurt to put out applicable content either in order to receive these responses. Sometimes, the best services come directly from what is asked for!

4. Be Positive

Although your digital outreach efforts will be more difficult in the beginning, staying positive will do wonders for your motivation. Keep things in an optimistic lens and this energy will transfer to your following online. Customers are always looking for services that present themselves in a positive light.

Spreading this positivity then translates to increasing your presence overall. The more you go out of your way to help your initial customers, the better off your business will be. Look for ways to inspire your community if you are doing this locally. A little encouragement definitely goes a long way!

5. Use Trends

Many social media platforms can be incredibly useful to put to the test for outreach purposes. Down the line, each company will update their platforms with new features. You should use these trendy features to your advantage to stay ahead of the competition. For example, Instagram is an incredible platform to use when targeting younger audiences.

Audio and video tools in social media platforms can be a huge boost for engagement. Don’t be afraid to get on camera and advertise your business through a quick video blog. Similarly, capitalize on current trends to further increase your digital outreach. Trends will always come and go, but their usefulness in the moment is undeniable.

6. Review Goals

As soon as you start out your digital outreach campaign, it is important to make some goals at the beginning. These can be short or long term, but they should also be realistic. Digital outreach tools can help you accomplish your goals, so long as they are pragmatic.

After you have reached your goals, take the time to inspect the results. Even if they weren’t as successful as they could have been, note down what went wrong. The more time you take to review your targets, the better off your next online outreach goals will be.