How to Build an Online Presence That Actually Works for You
Prefer to listen rather than read? Listen to the podcast episode covering this same topic here → Quietly Disruptive Podcast
In the last post we looked at what consistency has come to mean in the marketing world and why that definition does not work for every founder. We also posed the question of what your version of consistency looks like. Today we are making that practical. Before you can think about what to post, where to post it and how often, there are questions that need answering first, and those answers become the recipe for a presence that feels like yours rather than a performance you have to maintain.
Three Questions to Ask Before You Create Anything
The first question is what do I actually want to say or do. Not what does everyone else post about, not what does the algorithm seem to favour this week, but what do you genuinely want to communicate to the world about who you are and what you do. The second question is what do my clients need to know. What information, perspective or understanding would help the people you want to reach to trust you and eventually work with you. And the third question is where do my clients actually spend their time online.
It is so easy to pour energy into creating content that goes out to the wrong places where your clients never see it. If your ideal clients spend their time on Instagram and you are posting everything onto Facebook, that is a waste of time, energy and resources. If through your research you discover that your clients do not hang out online at all, that is information too, and it tells you to start looking at offline options instead. The intersection of the answers to these three questions is the foundation for how and where you build your presence.
Find the Content Format That Feels Natural to You
The next question is what content do you actually enjoy making. Not what works for someone else, not what you think you can white knuckle your way through, but what feels natural. It could be writing or talking or long form content or short form. It could be doing lots of smaller pieces weekly or creating something deeper on a fortnightly basis. What matters is that it does not feel like a chore, because there is a difference between content that someone has enjoyed creating and content that someone has ground out and pushed through, and you can feel that difference when you read it or hear it even if you cannot quite name what it is.
This is also why so many founders turn to AI for their content, because keeping up with the volume they think they need feels impossible and the specific format they have been told to use does not come naturally to them. The key is to find the format that works for you, the one that does not drain you, and then the consistency will naturally take care of itself because you actually want to do it.
Reframe Consistency as Rhythm
I find the better way to think about consistency is to reframe it as rhythm. Consistency implies a fixed, rigid structure where you must produce the same thing at the same interval no matter what. Rhythm has a more fluid, organic quality to it, which I think is more honest about how we actually work as founders. We are not machines. We are living, breathing people who sometimes need to move in a way that is right for us in that moment.
So the next step is to find your rhythm and what that looks like for you. It could be only posting when you have something genuine to say rather than forcing out content because you feel you have to put something out. It could be a weekly newsletter or a monthly Substack. There is no wrong or right answer. Your rhythm may look completely different to another founder’s and that is the whole point, because your business is not the same as theirs and we really do have to get away from making our businesses cookie cutter versions of someone else’s.
Find the rhythm that you can sustain without it eating you alive, because we all know what happens when you set an ambitious content plan that starts brilliantly and then becomes overwhelming within a few weeks. Once a week consistently is better than a week with four posts followed by three weeks of silence. Find what is sustainable, what is achievable and, if possible, what you love to do.
Your Presence Doesn’t Have to Be Loud to Be Noticed
If you have worked through all of these questions you will have pinpointed the best platform or platforms for you, where your clients actually spend their time, what they need to know, what you want to say, what content you enjoy creating and the rhythm that works for you. That collection of answers is your recipe for building an online presence that feels like yours. It might be very simple. It might have several layers, different platforms, different formats. Whatever it looks like, it is unique to you and that is exactly the point.
Your presence is the signal you put out into the world to say that your metaphorical and sometimes physical shop door is open, that you are still doing your thing, that you are there when people need you. It does not have to be loud to be noticed. The right people will find you. Your job is to keep the signal lit saying: “I am here, I am doing my thing, and I am here when you need me.”
About the Author: Becky Benfield Humberstone partners with Quietly Disruptive founders to build businesses that change their corner of the world, on their terms. If you started your business because you believed things could be done differently, and you're ready to make that vision real, she gets it. Based in the UK and working globally via Zoom and in person, she's done this work herself, more than once.
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