Thursday, May 19, 2016

How Large is Your Digital Footprint?

We have all heard - be careful what you put on the internet.  It is there forever and could potentially harm you or your reputation. But is not having a digital footprint harmful to you professionally?

As someone self-employed, I have very little funds in my marketing budget and carefully examine how to allocate those funds.  I try to maximize all opportunities available to me:  my website, business Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter, and all of my professional organization profiles.  I belong to a number of professional organizations and have quite a few profiles to manage.  I didn't spend too much time on their content, who would really look anyway?  Why take the time to put all that effort into my profiles and keep updating them?  Boy was I wrong.  I will say it again, I was wrong! In the past year I have made an effort to redo all of those profiles.  Did it make a difference?  I will let you be the judge if it is worth your time and effort by giving you a few examples of my experience. 

I belong to a Women's Business Organization that has almost 400 members.  One day I received an email from the editor for the newsletter of this particular organization asking if she could print two of my blogs in the newsletter.  She thought the two blogs had great information the members would enjoy reading. I asked how she found me.  She was looking through the Member Directory, came across my name, clicked on my profile and clicked the link to my website.  Then from my website home page, she spent time reading my blogs.  I was excited, this was free advertising for my business that was going to 400 women without me doing anything extra. 

Four months later the same editor contacted me again and asked if she could print another blog in the newsletter. All this because I kept my profile updated. 

A few weeks ago I was on a business trip and received an email from a company in California, they were looking for someone to fill in and give two presentations the next week in Pittsburgh (which is where I live).  They found my information off of one of my profiles in a Pittsburgh training organization website. From that profile, they went to my website and hired me on the spot to complete the presentations.  Now I have another new client!

These opportunities came out of the blue all because I have updated information on my profiles and people were able to see my abilities, past experiences and skills.

Isn't it time to increase your digital footprint?

Until the next blog, Keep Speaking!

Denise

Denise Ann Galloni, Owner & President
DG Training Solutions, Inc.
Website:  https://www.DGTrainingsolutionsinc.com
Email:  dgtrainingsolutionsinc@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/deniseanng
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/DGTrainingSolutionsInc
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/deniseanngalloni