I wanted to talk about how to maximize your online footprint and why it’s crucial for your career because I was inspired by a recent search on LinkedIn. I was searching for a sales funnel specialist, (if you know of someone, send them my way!) and I came across several people who claimed to be consultants or specialists for hire. When I wanted to learn more, I couldn’t find anything about them online. No reviews, no website, and no information about why or how someone could hire them. This is an immediate red flag for me, but when I thought more about it, I realized that maybe people truly just don’t know how to create an online footprint.
As a personal branding expert, I often discuss why it’s important to cultivate a personal brand and optimize platforms like LinkedIn, so I was astounded that so many people who want to be hired as a consultant or expert don’t know how to create an online footprint. If you do not know how to maximize your online footprint, you are hurting your career and losing business.
Optimize your LinkedIn profile
This is the first step of how to maximize your online footprint. If you’re not on LinkedIn currently, create an account now. This is one of the most widely used platforms in career development, so underutilizing LinkedIn could be detrimental for your career. You’ll want to make sure your profile is fully optimized, but on top of that, make sure that your contact information is prominent, especially if you’re interested in getting hired for your services.
If you are offering professional services and are a registered business, create a company page on LinkedIn where people can learn more about the business and see that it is legitimate.
Demonstrate a professional brand
If you’re offering professional services, you’ll want to demonstrate a strong, professional brand that’s integrated across all channels. This means creating content and being present on a company website, LinkedIn, Google, Yelp, and social media. The more channels and social platforms you utilize, the more reputable and trustworthy your brand becomes. If someone is unable to find a source of your work, including examples, contact information, and recognition, they’re unlikely to trust you as a brand and a professional. And if you can’t establish trust among consumers, you won’t have a successful business.
Harness the power of referral marketing
Referrals, recommendations, and testimonials are a huge part of building online trust and maximizing your online footprint. When a trusted friend tells you about a business, you transfer that trust to the company. Use LinkedIn recommendations, Yelp, and customer testimonials on your website to help build trust and highlight your achievements. If real customers can attest to your work and what you have accomplished for them, you will be able to establish yourself as a reputable resource.
Cultivate a consistent personal brand across channels
Creating a cohesive personal brand is extremely important for developing your career, and using consistent branding across channels helps build your credibility. Think about it this way, if you search for a person or business and see multiple platforms and channels come up with the same information and visuals, you can assume that this brand has put in the time to create a consistent branding strategy. If you see different visuals, as well as inconsistent verbiage and offerings across platforms, it’s harder to believe that the brand is professional and trustworthy.
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When considering how to optimize your online footprint you want to focus on a few main factors:
- Providing resources such as contact information and examples of work
- Creating a consistent brand across channels
- Creating trust to establish yourself as a reputable source of work
The more information about yourself as a business professional you can put out there, the more trusted you will become. Note that this is not personal information, but information about business like business contact info, business information, services offered, etc.