While most focus on making strong impressions in person, many business owners and professionals neglect their online presence. Given that 80% of prospective employers trawl through internet archives before an interview and 97% of consumers research products and services online, your digital persona holds a lot of importance. Here’s what you can do to put your best digital face forward.
Search you
Start the process by searching your own name. Your professional profile will usually turn up near the top of the page in the form of your LinkedIn account. So, how does it look?
A lot of business owners put time and money into networking. But, they don’t consider what happens when prospective new clients go back to the office and type their name into a search engine only to see a profile that doesn’t back up what they have just been told.
Work on creating professional content under your name that can be searched easily.
Create an all-star LinkedIn account
LinkedIn is, without doubt, the best social media hub available for making connections and facilitating future opportunities. You cannot afford to not be a member of the site in this day and age. However, just having an account isn’t enough. To get the most out of LinkedIn, ensure you include a recent photo (within the past 10 years!), a brief summary of who you are and what you’re good at, work experience (the last 15 years of your career is a good guideline), and examples of your work, your skills and your academic history.
After filling in all the above, remember to connect with others and engage in your online community. You’ll gain a reputation as someone with value by providing relevant insight to people.
Be consistent
Stay consistent with your branding across different online channels. Understand what you want to be recognised for, and share a message that will reflect that.
When it comes to personal branding, you have the opportunity to expand on what makes you unique. Do so – no one is compelled towards blandness!
Provide value
Providing value is the key to business success, and it’s what you want to provide when people view your digital profile. How? Content. Write blogs, host podcasts, take photos – any sort of online media that you can apply to your industry is great.
By providing people with value, you become someone of importance and knowledge. Good content is the perfect advertisement for your personal brand, too; it demonstrates the skills and expertise that most only refer to in their resume.
Don’t forget to snap and post
If you go to an event or work function make sure you take a few photos of the event, preferably with you in them. Show that you are out and engaged with others in your industry. Make sure you ‘tag’ the event organisers who might also share your post with their audiences, expanding your personal digital reach.
Don’t stress if this all sounds a bit overwhelming; you can always engage a specialist. At Infodec Communications, we’ve helped countless professionals boost their online presence through years of experience and expertise. We also create engaging content for our valued clients.
Contact us today to discuss how we can make you look great online!
Here’s a quick checklist for building your online profile:
