AI Interviews Me All About Online Presence

Kristina Stubblefield: [00:00:00] Hey there. I'm so excited about today's show because we're doing something totally different than we've done in the past. And I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to use AI software to interview me on the topic of online presence. Now, before we get started, I want to share with you a couple of things.

First all the software and the tools that I'm utilizing to do this show. Don't worry, they're going to be shared in the notes below. Secondly, I would like you to know that I have told the AI software all kinds of things about my background and our business before I prompted it for the question about the interview. 

Welcome to Simplified Solutions, your go to resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs seeking practical advice, innovative strategies, and simple solutions for business, marketing and technology. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield If you're eager to take your business to greater heights, then you're in the right place.

We're here to help [00:01:00] you unleash your business's untapped potential, boost your visibility and maximize your investments. Let's dive into the world of simplified solutions. Stay tuned and let's simplify success together.

Are you ready to get started? Because I know I am. Let me share with you the prompt that I put in the software. I want you to interview me on the topic of online presence.

I would like you to ask me five questions, but one question at a time. I will let you know once I have recorded my answer so you can ask me the next question. Now, the reason that I have asked it this way is because I don't want to know the questions ahead of time. I really want this to be off the cuff.

 The first question. Can you describe what online presence means for a business today? And why is it so crucial for success in the current market? Ooh, good question. So let's start off with online presence? What the heck is it? Online presence is anything that is out [00:02:00] there about your business 

online.

One of the first things that comes to my mind is your Google business profile. It also is any directories, search engines that your business is listed on. also means your online presence is social channels, blogs, your website, anything on the worldwide web about your business. That to me is your whole online presence.

Now, the next part of that question is why is it so crucial for success in the current market? I get asked this a lot and here's my answer. Today everyone seems to be doing their research online. And I say the word seems to be. The truth is, everyone is doing research online before they buy. Before they meet with someone.

Before they schedule that appointment. They are doing research [00:03:00] online. And all they have to go off of is what they can 

find on your website, your Google business profile, possibly your blog, other directories you're listed on, what's out there on the World Wide Web. So in turn, that means I'm telling you that people are making buying decisions, whether they're going to take the next step and consider you by what they find, see, and read online.

That's a lot of times why I pose the question, is your best foot forward? With your online presence, because I know that people are making their decisions based on what they find out there and can learn about you online. So the way that this asked that question from me, crucial for success. It couldn't be more true.

It really is crucial. Your online presence is so crucial. So let's ask it for question number two.

Okay, here we go. [00:04:00] What's it going to ask me?

The question is, what are the key components that make up a strong online presence? And could you share some tips on how businesses can optimize these elements? Whew, loaded question there. Let's start with the first part. What are the key components that make up a strong online presence? Okay. Google is the number one search engine and Google loves Google.

So my first response is going to be Google business profile. One that is completed as much as it can be with your details. Number two, I'm going to say youTube is the second largest search engine. So having a YouTube channel and actually putting videos up there about your business, your services, testimonials, truly the list goes on and on.

Another thing that I would share with you about a strong online presence, your website. And I feel like [00:05:00] sometimes we scurry over that topic of your website because people think, well, I did a website two years ago, or I've had a website up and yes, I have a website that's their answer, but let's dive into that a little bit because your website needs to be updated on a regular basis. Again, it's your digital footprint online. It's like your online, it's more than a business card. It is your online hub for your business. So making sure your pictures, video products, services are as up to date as possible. But also what kind of content are you putting on there?

Do you have a blog? Do you have a gallery? Do you have a testimonial page? There's a few things that go into that, but your website is another essential component with your online presence. Now, the other things that I will mention is your social media profiles are also important, and knowing about your online reputation, what all is [00:06:00] out there, and having a pulse on that is really key components.

When we talk about a strong online presence. Now, I've just shared some tips about how businesses can optimize these elements as I was giving that answer. A couple other things that I will throw in there. First off is googling yourself. You've got to know what's out there. You have to know where you stand and you've how often are you going to do that?

Another tip that I can give is putting in place Google alerts. It's a free service from Google, and you have options about how often you want to be alerted about information that is out there about you or your business. Whew! That was a loaded question. Okay. Let's ask it for question number three.

Okay. What's it going to ask of me? Here it comes. All right. Maintaining an online presence can be overwhelming for many business owners. How do you recommend they manage their online presence efficiently without it taking over their entire [00:07:00] day? Ooh, my goodness.

It's like this is inside my brain. Cause I talk about these topics. It seems. So maintaining an online presence can be overwhelming. That's a true statement. And one of the things I share with people is having a plan for monitoring and managing, and also having a checklist that can help you stay on task, whether it is monthly, quarterly, or yearly. 

And when it comes to managing your online presence, I previously mentioned Google Alerts, but there are other tools that you can utilize to actually manage what's going on with your online presence. But I think the most important thing to share here is knowing that it does not need to consume you. This isn't something that needs to take over And basically rule your life and it'd be such an overwhelming task that [00:08:00] you find that you put it off instead of even addressing it. And I think that's the biggest hurdle when I work with business owners about online presence and visibility. Number one, they don't understand it. But number two, they think it is this huge mountain that they don't even know how to start climbing it.

So that is one of the things that I want to make sure is clear that managing and monitoring your online presence is completely doable. It is definitely a lot easier to have a plan and a checklist in place that you can follow. I actually consider it a framework and it's one of the reasons that I created the program I did is to explain to people what is online presence, how do you monitor it, how do you manage it? What are the most important things that you need to focus on? And then having that checklist and that system going forward to make sure you stay consistent with it. So [00:09:00] AI, great question. Okay. Let's ask it for number four. 

All right, it's thinking. Let's see what it's going to ask of me. Okay, here we go. Social media is a significant part of online presence. How should businesses approach their social media strategy to effectively enhance their online presence and reputation? Oh my, these questions just keep getting better and better. So yes, social media is a significant part of your online presence.

So I'm going to share with you a few things. So first of all, going out there and finding what social media platforms did you set up an account for your business? So for example, you may have set up a Twitter or now known as X account, but haven't done anything with it for years. But people that come across your business, if they land on your Twitter or X profile.

Does it have even the right contact information, even if you don't use it or you don't use it on a regular basis, is your [00:10:00] website correct? Your phone number, how they can contact you. Does it at least have your actual business logo? Because sometimes people rebrand and that's not something you think about.

If it's a social media platform you don't use on a regular basis. Now, the other part of this answer that I will give is don't forget about the social media platforms that you use on a regular basis. And what I mean by that is you want to make sure your profile is as up to date as possible from the about section, your phone number, email address, website address, all the things you want to make sure they are accurate.

And this is an issue sometimes because things change and you don't think about updating that profile information. Some aren't as in our face as others are. So that's why I bring this up is whether you use the platform on a regular basis or not, you want to make sure that your information that's out there is accurate and up to date.

Now, the other thing that I want to share [00:11:00] is, it talks about social media strategy as part of this question. Relating to visibility and reputation. There's the answer. Having a social media strategy plan and a way to execute it on a consistent basis is what can really help and propel your online presence, reputation, and visibility.

A plan goes a long way and having a content map that helps you stay focused and execute on a consistent basis makes a world of difference. So excellent question. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of sad that the next one is question five because this has been a lot of fun. I don't know about you, but let's see what this last one's going to be. Finally, can you discuss the role of analytics and metrics in managing an online presence? Ooh. And a second part of that is how should businesses measure their online performance and use this data to make informed decisions?

Woo, that's a [00:12:00] power packed question right there. So first of all, analytics play a really important role. There is so much information inside of that data that is available to you, whether it be on Google Analytics that's connected to your website or your Google Business Profile analytics and reporting.

Or other search engines or directory platforms that provide you analytics. So, what's inside of that data can be where people are finding you. What pages on your website are the most popular? How long people are spending on your website? On social media, the analytics can share with you what age range, or location people are that you're reaching who's engaging with your post.

And the reason I bring this up is a lot of times when I work with businesses and I ask them who their target audience is, or I say to them, who do you want your ideal clients to be? And then we go and we look [00:13:00] at their social media analytics and reporting. And see clear as day that the people they are reaching is a different demographic, so their posts that they're putting out, if they're geared to a different demographic, that's going to affect your engagement and ultimately action that people take from seeing your post on social media. The other thing is it asked me, how should businesses measure their online performance and use this data to make informed decisions? I'm going to give a very simple answer on this one. Cause this can get very complex and most businesses don't measure their online performance if we're being completely honest. So let me start with this. If you are not measuring anything with your online presence, pick something, one thing that you want to measure. Is that your reach? Is that the engagement? Is that the visits to your website? [00:14:00] What is that one piece of data that you want to measure?

And then what time frame do you want to measure? Is it 30 days? Is it 90 days? Six months? What's the time frame? Then what data are you going to pull out of that? And what I mean by that is, let me walk you through a scenario. Let's just say that you are trying to increase your brand awareness, and therefore you want to track how many people you're reaching.

So your Google business profile tells you how many people have seen your profile basically every month. It really breaks it down in detail. Also, your website, if you use Google Analytics or another analytic tool, will tell you how many visits you've had to your website. The other thing is, on social media platforms, you can see how many people you're reaching with your posts or your ads.

So then, that tells you if you're doing something different from one month to the next, which [00:15:00] month did you reach the most people? Now, I'm not saying that you're going to be able to look at this on a one month basis, I'm just giving an example. And to be honest with you, we would get into a whole different discussion.

If I was trying to tell you what you should be measuring, because it's different based on your industry. Where you're at with your business, what your goals are. There's really just not one simple answer that applies to everyone. But if you've not ever looked at this, you can pick one item, focus your attention on tracking that information, documenting it, and then looking and see, what did you do during that timeframe that was different from month to month, quarter to quarter. Is there something that worked better? Did it fall off and you made a change and that's not the direction to go with your business because you can make informed decisions for your business based on that data. Those numbers, they don't lie. They tell you what's going on.

Just a lot of times [00:16:00] business owners. We'll say they don't have the time, but in my wording, don't take the time to look into that information because they feel it's overwhelming. They don't know what they're looking at and they don't know how to pull information from that data to help them with making informed decisions.

So you can get started by just picking one thing to focus your attention on when you are tracking the information when it comes to your online presence. Wow, I don't know about you, but I'd love to have another five questions. I enjoyed this so much that I see us doing this on some type of regular basis.

And I can't wait to hear from you. What did you think about this? And I'm happy to report that I really wasn't nervous at all about these questions. I've done this for so long. I've been in the game for over 20 years. And I absolutely love it. I love educating and providing information for business owners, entrepreneurs and [00:17:00] others to help them grow their business.

And 1 of the best ways to do that is to work on your online presence, the more visible you are to people. The more opportunities you give yourselves. Thank you so much for tuning in and I can't wait to hear your feedback. Do you have questions about online presence that I didn't cover? You can comment or you can shoot me a message. Are you looking for someone to help you with your online presence? You're in luck. You have two different options with me.

First of all, I have a program, Boost Online Visibility, that you can join the wait list if the doors are not open and there'll be information below about that. Or if you're looking for more one to one help, you can go to my website and schedule a discovery call. And let's have a conversation about your business. 

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