The Importance of Brand Consistency Across Platforms
Have you ever driven clear across town to a restaurant only to find that it closed an hour ago? It can be frustrating to look up a business’ hours, only to find out they’re not accurate after getting there! As a business owner, you need to make your operational details clear to customers to prevent frustration and improve the customer experience before they even walk in the door. This means updating your business hours, address, contact information, social media profiles, and online listings to achieve brand consistency across all platforms.
Brand Consistency is Key
Most businesses have some sort of presence across several online platforms. Your website, Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook and Instagram profiles are just a few of the most common platforms. Having a strong online presence that spans across multiple platforms is great for generating awareness and engagement throughout the community. However, with more platforms comes more responsibility. Maintaining brand consistency through listings and business information ensures that you are not causing unnecessary confusion for customers.
Imagine this: your business has been doing extraordinarily well on the weekends, so you decide to adapt by opening on Sundays. If you only make this business hour change to your website, chances are that customers will also check your Google My Business listing, see that you are still closed Sundays, and decide not to visit.
This is why it’s so important that each platform has the same operating hours, down to the minute. If a customer can’t easily find your hours, you might unknowingly be deterring them from visiting your business. Let’s face it – customers are more likely to visit if they are positive you are open!
Improve SEO
Did you know that your business is more likely to appear in local search results if all your information online is accurate and clear? Search engines like Google give preferences to businesses they can easily crawl to find information about. In turn, this increases your chances of potential customers finding you online.
To increase your SEO visibility, it’s important that your information is the exact same across platforms. As minuscule as it may seem, having your address listed as 123 Main St. on Google My Business, but 123 Main Street on Yelp could hurt your chances to appear in search results. Make sure you are dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s when entering hours and business information online.
Platforms like Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook, and Instagram are all great tools for businesses to utilize to reach new and existing customers in today’s digital world. But, if not used correctly, they can also cause confusion and more harm than good! If you need help improving your brand consistency online, contact Frozen Fire today! Our digital marketing experts are ready to help you stay up-to-date online.