Six Very Simple Ways to Strengthen Your Digital Footprint
Today, having a positive online reputation has become an integral part of our life. Online reputation refers to how a person perceives you online. Your digital footprint is directly related to your reputation, since it is the impression you create on the internet through your online activity.
Your digital footprint is the trail of data you leave behind while surfing the internet, which includes:
- Browsing
- Interactions with others
- Publication of content
Earlier, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and “X” (Twitter) were used for sharing anecdotes of our personal lives and opinions. Today, they also determine your reputation in the long run. What kind of information you share online, including the articles you publish, comments you make on other posts, and the website you own, plays a crucial role in forming an opinion about you.
A digital footprint helps you build your online brand and becomes an essential part of your personality. So how do you do it right?
There are several ways by which you can increase your positive digital footprint. Let us look at some of them.
- Create a personal blog and share interesting content you create
- Promote your blogs through email marketing
- Join the conversation on social media
- Share articles and news stories you find interesting
- Post photos from events you are attending or hosting yourself
- Share videos of your talents, accomplishments, and Interests
- Advantages of having a positive digital footprint
Create a Personal Blog and Share Interesting Content You Create
From solopreneurs to small business owners to senior executives, today, everyone is trying to build their personal brand. Millennials are doing it on TikTok, fashion influencers are doing it on Instagram, and tech reviewers are doing it on YouTube.
But for an individual or a brand, having their own blog is one of the best ways to take your personal branding to the next level. Unsurprisingly, there are over 570 million blogs on the internet as of January 2022.
When you start blogging, the first rule to remember is that it should reflect your brand or personality. To make it easy, you can start by choosing a template for your blog. Besides, maintain a consistent tone and voice throughout your blog.
Without consistency in your theme or language, you can come off as inauthentic or someone with low credibility.
The next thing is to determine the purpose of your blog. Not all blogs are created equal; you need to define your target audience and understand what you want to achieve through your blog. You can easily categorize your blogs into awareness content, sales content, and thought leadership articles.
While writing, ensure that your blog contains the right keywords and is optimized for search engines for easy discovery of your blog. And most importantly, the content you publish should be relatable to your audience and not highly opinionated. It should not promote negativity or offend anyone.
Promote Your Blogs Through Email Marketing
With all the hype, many bloggers go on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to find fame. You might earn your following there, but it sure comes with its share of risk – an unannounced change in the algorithm that can restrict your reach at any time.
Another way to build relationships that can help overcome a few roadblocks is through email marketing. Building a list of subscribers can help you communicate with them directly and whenever you want. It’s a great way to attract new visitors to your blog and engage with existing followers.
The first step is choosing a marketing automation tool for your campaigns. With so many options available, select a tool that is specifically made for small businesses.
Think of building your personal brand as a small business. It will change your perspective about how you look at your personal brand and why online reputation is essential.
Once that is done, you need to focus on building your email list. It can be a slow process but can help build a community of loyal followers. Using the tool, you can measure how your content is performing, the response amongst subscribers, and how you can further strategize it to drive traffic to your blog site.
Join the Conversation on Social Media
Businesses often take social media as a one-way marketing conversation, so the real value gets overlooked. You should look at social media as a tool for building your like-minded community.
It allows you to connect with your audience, engage and socialize with them. It’s one place where you can voice your opinion while also allowing your audience to have a say on the same.
In fact, when you combine your blogging efforts with social media, you can drastically grow your reach. Social media is a great platform to:
- Reach your potential audience
- Network with peers
- Raise awareness about your brand
If you want to place yourself as an industry influencer, you need to nurture a valued community. You can share articles or posts and voice your opinions on them, ask questions, and encourage people to provide their views. However, be careful about choosing topics that are not sensitive and do not hurt any sentiments.
Share Articles and News Stories You Find Interesting
Whenever you go online and share any news or articles, you create a trail of information that others can access. This trail is your digital footprint.
Your digital footprint can affect your reputation – online as well as offline. That’s why you need to be careful of information or things that you share online to create and protect your reputation, both for now and in the future.
You need to be careful about the types of news that you share and not repost any random news. For instance, Kim Kardashian, an American socialite, model, media personality, and businesswoman runs a beauty brand under the name SKKN. You will often find her sharing her voice for different communities and about current affairs happening around.
Publicly sharing your opinions on relevant news stories is a fast way to build your personal brand and by association, that of your company’s image.
Most individuals like to play it safe or say, merely lack the confidence to open up about their thoughts. Many fear that their opinion might come out to be controversial. It’s true that not everyone can agree with your opinion, but a touch of controversy can help spark debate and engagement, increasing your visibility.
Just make sure that you aren’t making any offensive comments and have a backup for what you are saying; people will be interested in listening to your thoughts.
Post Photos From Events You Are Attending or Hosting Yourself
Another way to increase your visibility is by attending business events or, even better, hosting events.
Hosting or attending events helps with gaining recognition. It promotes your name and helps connect people with you and your brand. It allows people to know your personality in a way that can’t be known merely by reading your messages or posts online.
Besides, it’s a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and cultivate more active relationships. And when you share photos about the events you are going to attend or host online, it can help create a buzz. More people will get to know about your events and are likely to join to know you better.
Moreover, sharing details about events you attend can help you develop insights into what is being discussed. You can also share insights from the events on your social media timelines and discover your community’s opinions and views regarding the same. Further, you can choose to debate and ask questions to others about similar topics.
Share Videos of Your Talents, Accomplishments, and Interests
No one likes a braggart. That’s true.
However, it’s important to own your success and talk about your accomplishments without making it sound like a brag. Sharing your accomplishments helps improve your personal branding. It gives a boost to your online image and helps people associate you with a skill or talent.
You can post videos of winning or just demonstrating your talents and interests. It helps you establish yourself as an expert in your niche, and you can then use that to influence people for a good cause. It can encourage people to approach you for advice if they become aware of your work and achievements.
Besides, when you own your success, you aren’t sharing your achievements to prove a point. Rather, you want to be able to help others by talking about your performance in a productive manner.
Advantages of Having a Positive Digital Footprint
A lot has been said about how you can build a positive digital footprint, but why should you? Let’s quickly look at the advantages of building a personal brand in today’s time.
Helps Project a Positive Image
By taking steps to create a positive digital footprint, you improve people’s perception of you. For instance, if you post articles or social media posts advising people how to build a successful career or how to invest, they will eventually start looking up to you. It allows you to provide services that can benefit people as they start trusting you and your expertise.
Helps Grow Your Business
Whether you are a small business owner or a C-suite professional, your digital footprint directly impacts your company’s image. It can either grow your business or completely break it, depending on the online reputation you have.
Acts as a Free Advertisement
Since your digital footprint remains online forever, it can act as free promotion for you and your brand. People who interact with your content online can spread the word, helping further build your reputation along with your entity’s visibility.
Helps Attract the Right Networks
You can attract the right people to your blog or account with a positive digital footprint. It helps you connect with the right peers or people with similar interests. Without you realizing it, you will eventually form a community that can directly contribute to your personal and brand’s growth.
Wrap Up
Whether you care or not, every time you go online, you leave a trail of information about things you are browsing online. That itself is your digital footprint.
Digital footprints have a great influence on how people see you. If you want to take advantage of your digital footprint, you need to strategize it and start building your personal brand carefully. You may not see it now, but personal branding can help go a long way in your life.
And while building a positive digital footprint is not difficult, it takes time and consistent efforts to make a good impression online. So are you ready to work on your online reputation starting today?
