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Consider a client looking for your company online. What discoveries do they find? A vibrant online center humming with excellent reviews, educational materials, and interesting social media interactions? Alternatively a neglected and antiquated internet presence, like a bewildering maze with unresolved questions. This clear difference emphasizes the need for your digital footprint. What then is a digital footprint and why should it matter so much?
A digital footprint is the unique collection of data left behind by any entity, either a person or business while engaging with the online world. Consider it as your internet profile, a dynamic, always-changing entity that affects everything from drawing clients to negotiating alliances. A poor or mismanaged one often hurts your name, impedes development, and also attracts security threats.
Whether you’re just starting in business or you’ve been around for years, success depends on your knowledge of and control over your digital footprint. Let’s discuss what it is, how it is created, and how it impacts your business.
How your digital footprint can make or break your business
Your digital footprint is the one tool that either puts your business at an advantage or lets it down. These are top four reasons why your business needs to have a digital footprint:
- Reputation and online identity: Your digital trail is a significant part of your internet presence. How you feel affects people you know, family, coworkers, and even strangers. An organization or individual with a good digital footprint sees new opportunities both personally and professionally, while bad digital footprints are detrimental. Your online presence gets new customers. Additionally, consistent involvement and good reviews strengthen brand identity.
- Privacy and safety risks: Although a lot of useful information is contained in the digital tracks, they’re also risky for privacy and safety. They give away a lot of private information that hackers, identity thieves, or scammers use in fraudulent activities, resulting in identity theft or other harmful actions.
- Job opportunities: Companies are increasingly researching potential employees online. In this context, maintaining a professional and responsible digital footprint is beneficial, while offensive or controversial material can harm job prospects.
- Marketing and personalization: Digital traces give businesses the upper hand to create focused advertisements and make services more relevant to people. Moreover, social media conversations that involve relevant material attract potential buyers. However, privacy concerns are also raised by this enhanced personalization potential.
Managing and improving your digital footprint
These are some ways how you can manage and improve your digital footprint:
1. Use privacy settings
Privacy settings on online accounts secure your data and regulate its visibility. Change settings to control post and contact visibility. New account defaults often disclose more personal information than intended. Hence, evaluate and change privacy settings regularly.
2. Get professional help if required
Digital auditing businesses and cybersecurity professionals are ready to help you manage your digital footprint and online protection. Experts discover weaknesses, manage reputation, and improve your online presence for a safe digital image.
Digital footprinting solutions
There are many solutions available to help you manage your digital footprint effectively:
- SEON’s solution: SEON helps you know your customers before you do KYC. It makes a thorough digital footprint of each user by using the email, phone number, and IP information that they get from onboarding to find scammers before KYC. This proactive strategy improves trust and security.
3. Define your goals and target audience
Clearly outline your objectives, whether it’s raising brand awareness, driving sales, or recruiting new talent. Identify the specific audience you want to reach. Also, understand what they’re interested in and how they like to behave online. Depending on the audience and the goals, create social media profiles.
4. Conduct a self-search
In any case of online reputation management, it is essential to Google your name. Check a few pages and all social media sites for any wrong or outdated material. Contact the website owners or use reputation management to remove the unwanted information. Learn to adjust your behavior and be aware of privacy regulations. Moreover, cultivate continuous learning with better digital trail management.
5. Keep tabs on your social media presence
Check your social media presence to align with your online brand and professional image. The profiles should, therefore, be updated frequently to showcase your expertise, deleting any wrong information. Furthermore, respond to reviews quickly, join healthy discussions on social media, and invite them to share their content. Tools are also used to engage audiences and track performance metrics.
6. Be careful what you post online
A healthy digital presence means remembering what you post. Avoid posting sensitive personal information online and use every chance to contribute. Additionally, participate in healthy debates. Bring out informative and quality content and share your business expertise. In addition, collaborating with influencers also helps get attention. A thoughtful internet presence conveys trust and respect.
Find ways to grow, build trust, and be at the top of your competition using its powers. However, a weak or unmanaged digital footprint carries significant risks. Security breaches and data leaks erode trust, result in litigation, and damage your business’s reputation. Proactively managing these risks help protect your company and maintain a strong internet reputation.
Building your digital footprint: Active vs. Passive
Your digital footprint is similar to a jigsaw puzzle you put together. You pick your website and social media material. Moreover, you passively collect online reviews and website statistics. Let’s take a look at both sides and how it impacts your internet profile.
Active digital footprint
You are creating your presence on the internet purposefully with these steps. The sources of your company’s active digital footprints include:
- Company website: This is where you need to have a great-looking information-rich website that gives all visitors the message of your brand, products, and values. A well-tailored website that operates smoothly with helpful, insightful content and good reviews is proof that the business in question is professional.
- Social media: This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram—all areas you need for engaging and raising brand awareness.
- Content marketing: Blogs, articles, and other educational content showcase expertise. Furthermore, it engages the audience and boosts search engine rankings. Seek opportunities for growth through examination of the online audience and how rivals get things done.
- Online advertising: Targeted advertising increases website traffic and reaches new audiences.
- Email marketing: Engage consumers, nurture leads, and market items with tailored campaigns.
Passive digital footprint
Both active and passive data form your footprint. They also include:
- Web analytics: Information on the demographics, interests, and behaviors of your audience that is going to help you strategize plans.
- Customer reviews: It is social proof from places like Google, UK Business Portal or Yelp which influences purchase decisions.
- Application data: If a business operates on applications, then the involvement and preference data of its users.
- Public records and news mentions: These are offline content, like company licensing or news articles. It enhances your internet presence.
Active and passive digital traces interact with each other. Content marketing often leads to positive reviews, and website statistics guide further actions. A healthy digital footprint is a balanced one, with compliance regarding data privacy.
Crossed paths: How personal digital footprints affect the business footprint
These are some ways on how you can manage the overlap between personal and business digital footprints
- Blurred lines between personal and professional footprints: Sharing corporate news online affects employees’ professional and private digital footprints. Breaking moral rules or saying things that people disagree with hurts the company’s image.
- Positive synergy between employee and company footprints: Employee support helps build trust, gets new employees, and improves the brand’s image.
- Mitigating risks from personal digital footprints: People leaving behind digital traces that aren’t cleaned up often hurt the company’s image and make security holes.
- Bridging the gap: Proactive steps include making clear rules for social media and online chat and teaching people about hacking. In addition, it encourages responsible online behavior and the use of personal brands.
- Creating a culture of knowledge and responsibility helps people use their personal marks for good while reducing the risks associated with them.
Making a mark in this digital world is the single most essential factor if you want to be one step ahead of the competition. The story people tell about your business online matters when it’s viewed by customers, partners, and rivals. Some intentionally active digital footprints left by people include website content and social media exchanges. On the other hand, passive digital footprints are hard to envision, like website data and online reviews. The active and passive features are combined in several aspects to attract clients, develop trust, and distinguish businesses.
About Author- Fatema Aliasgar is an experienced B2B and SaaS content writer based in Mumbai, India. She has done her Master’s in Business Management and has written B2B content for eight years. She has a passion for writing and enjoys creating engaging content that resonates with her audience. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and playing board games with her kids. Monopoly and Scrabble are two of her favorites, and she is always looking for new games to try out.
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