Because the internet plays such a dominant role in life, it’s crucial to ensure what’s posted about you is both accurate and positive. Information that appears online and is associated with you—your published content and information that identifies you—is your digital identity. This information functions as a virtual introduction to you and tells your online story. Your digital identity is the foundation of your digital image. What appears online is basically immortal. It’s imperative that your digital image, defined by the published content and other information attached to you and your business, is presented in a flattering, trustworthy and confidence-building manner.
Why curate your digital identity and image
Prospective clients or employers will search your name and business online before making any meaningful contact to discuss your products or services. So, it makes sense to monitor and curate your digital identity periodically. This ensures that information is current and represents you well. Your primary objective when editing your information is to corroborate your digital narrative and the talking points you commonly share when meeting with prospective clients or employers. The core function of your digital image and the narrative it communicates is to confirm your credibility and build trust.
According to AAA, five primary factors contribute to the digital identity
- Identifiers: Your name, email, addresses and social media handles.
- History: Biographical information, including your educational degrees and employment history.
- Footprint: The trail left by your online actions, including browsing history, purchases and social media activity.
- Reputation: Your online persona, contributions, affiliations and followings.
- Biometrics: Unique physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, facial recognition and voice patterns
It is incumbent upon you to proactively examine your digital identity. Your online image and narrative should support your professional experience, education, achievements and, by extension, your personal and business brand. While reviewing your online information, decide how you want prospects to see you. Remove text and images that don’t reflect your goals or brand. For example, if a friend has posted an unflattering picture of you on a social media site and tagged you, kindly ask him/her to delete it.
Always professional
Be mindful to adhere to professional standards whenever communicating electronically. Stay aware that posted text and images can remain forever, whether intended for Examine the results and assess the quality and reach of your digital presence. To avoid or correct misinformation, take control by claiming and updating an existing listing. If you like, create a listing for your entity if none appears. Make it a practice to conduct regular social media audits on yourself. Then you can remove problematic content before prospects and competitors see it.
Social media listening
Investing in a social media listening campaign can help you manage your digital image. Social media listening is a marketing strategy in which you research whether positive or negative conversations regarding you, your entity, products and/or services currently appear in social media and other online platforms. Social media listening monitors online channels to detect mentions of your brand, competitive brands and related keywords.
Using (paid) social media listening tools gives you an accurate understanding of how customers and prospects feel about your products, services and company by discovering what they say on social media. Social listening lets you track all mentions of your brand on social media in real time. This gives you valuable insights into how customers feel about your products or services, what their pain points are and what they’d like to see from you in the future. Social listening is also an excellent source of competitive intel, too. It can monitor competitive brands, trending content and sentiment analysis on topics related to your industry.
The impact of digital listening
Social media listening has become a major marketing strategy for national and global brands. It was originally thought that marketers at smaller businesses would not benefit from the practice, mostly because the cost would not justify the ROI. Yet over the past few years, social media listening has become essential. An increasing number of mid-size and small business owners and marketers recognize its value.
The biggest motivators are likely greater affordability and the explosive growth of online customer engagement fueled by the pandemic shutdown. Social media listening data can be used to inform everything from your marketing and product strategy to customer service and support. This helps you make smarter, data-driven decisions that will have a positive impact on your business’s bottom line. Learn more about social media listening tools.
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