Facts:
- World Population: Approximately 8 billion
- No of people using the internet: Approximately4.5 billion
- Mobile Internet users: 4.28 billion
- Internet penetration in the world: 63.2%
- Growth rate 2000 to 2020: 1266%
- No of members on LinkedIn: 720 million
There are a lot of inferences one can derive out of these statistics and one of them being the power the internet wields. There was a time when the print media distributed physical copies of stories, advertisements, news and just about anything that could have been consumed by the curious mind. Those days are over and the world has moved everything online and to enumerate these transformations would take ages.
All the facts and the narrative puts forth one question, what stops us, individuals from establishing our presence in the world wide web? To answer this question, lets look at one big crisis that has robbed us of economic growth and prosperity made in the last decade or so- The Corona Virus.
While the virus has spelt doom and will continue to do so with social distancing norms being trifled upon and governments unable to credibly control it, it has compelled business to move online with far more positive outcomes than anticipated.
PLAN YOUR DIGITAL ROADMAP
The success of any project lies in how well the plan has been laid out. To embark on your journey in building your digital presence, its important to enumerate the stages of progress, the steps taken in each of such stages with clear cut milestones and timelines. This may look like something that might be stressful but the rewards at the end of accomplishment can be of immense satisfaction.
For eg one can plan to build their LinkedIn profile and start publishing articles, posts or sharing content as the first step and may be follow it up with establishing presence in publishing sites such as Medium, Blogger etc. This can be followed by putting in efforts of securing a guest blogger opportunity and later designing a website along with real-estates in Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. While have a YouTube channel is great, its also the most technically challenging especially if vlogs are of an interest
BUILD YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE
Perhaps no social media platform provides anyone the legitimacy to connect with people than LinkedIn. As on Nov, 2020, the professional networking platform boasted of more than 700 million users and is on its way to hit the 1 billion user base very soon. LinkedIn research has shown that a complete profile (with a professional picture, a summary, work-experience, certifications and deploying social actions, like sharing, commenting and likes) provides greater visibility than incomplete profiles. Once the above has been completed, its highly recommended to start with publishing posts (short form content) or blogs (long form content) to start establishing your self as a brand or a subject matter expert
The key takeaway is to ensure that you have a strong narrative / story of your-self to ensure maximum coverage
BUILD YOUR WEBSITE
While this is time consuming and tedious, the advantages that accrue far outweigh the efforts. A website could be a simple blog, a portfolio, or an ecommerce platform to sell products. With the advent of domain hosts and easy website builders, the task of building one has become easier.
Having a website clearly sends the right messages to multiple stakeholders. It indicates that one is serious about his/her profession and has invested additional resources to stand out from the crowd. It also allows the person to reach a wider set of audiences for unique opportunities. For example a guest lecture, a consulting assignment, a panel discussion or even a keynote speaker. Moreover designing a website is a learning process and equips one with knowledge on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Indexing, Analytics, Tag Management, Monetization, Digital Marketing and cross-leverage of social media platforms etc.
LEVERAGE FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, YOUTUBE
The stats for these social media platforms are mind numbing. As per Hootsuite, Facebook has more than 2.6 billion active users, Youtube.com has more than 2 billion active users and Instagram has more than a billion active users. The mileage and coverage that can be garnered by these platforms is massive. Individuals who want to spread the coverage of their brand presence can do so by establishing their presence in such platforms and cross leverage. For e.g. an article in your website can have its links shared on the above mentioned platforms including LinkedIn or one can build dedicated pages (Facebook), or accounts, personal or business (Instagram), or even a YouTube channel to spread and cement your digital presence.
One of the major criterion for success of these efforts would be social actions emanating from visitors such as likes, shares, comments etc.
EXPLORE PUBLISHING PLATFORMS LIKE MEDIUM
While LinkedIn claims to be one of the biggest publishing platforms in the world after its acquisition of Pulse a few years ago, there are plenty of other publishing platforms to be explored. Medium, is one such platforms where professionals can explore writing and get paid for the same too. Like Medium, there are other well established publishing sites or platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr etc
The idea of such publishing platforms is not only to cement your presence digitally or to position you as a thought leader, through these are two important outcomes, but to also promote your work to a wider audience across various platforms.
BECOME A GUEST WRITER / GUEST BLOGGER
One of the most powerful ways to legitimize your expertise or thought leadership to create your digital brand is to become a guest blogger or a guest writer. If any website can publish your article and promote the same across social media channels, there is bound to be a lot of social actions. For e.g. readers might check your LinkedIn profile , or your website (if you have one), your previous blogs, etc.
This medium is a powerful method to create an audience and establish your digital presence so that you don’t need to file in your CV or introduce yourself the next time someone asks you who you are.
DEPLOY A STRONG NETWORKING PLAN
The famous quote, “your network is you networth” has added a new dimension on how people are connecting. While most people view networking as a means to land a new role or to change a career, its has become much larger than this myopic view.
Networking is an authentic process based on shared values, goals, interests or objectives and nothing is welcomed more in the networking world than “value addition”. A website allows a person to share perspectives, solicit views and feedback, position as a Subject Matter Expert or be a thought leader. Leaders and professionals across the system would be more interested in entertaining a discussion rather than an ad-hoc favour.
PARTICIPATE IN BUSINESS EVENTS
This is more of an outcome of all the steps enumerated but if one has been invited as a panel member, speaker or a keynote speaker, then its an indication that the efforts put into establishing your digital presence has been successful and people now have started looking at you as a thought leader.
At the outset, its important to note the speakers in such events are selected from networks of the organizers or the sponsors and they themselves are limited by their networks unless there is a super networker amongst them. Such events are sticky in nature which means if you have had the opportunity of speaking once in such an event, chances are you will be called many a times in the future.
Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself- Anonymous
Sources:-
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
- https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm