Selling yourself involves persuading other people to buy into your merits. When you are trying to communicate anything to anybody, you must first position yourself as being competent enough to warrant their attention.
In the conflicting age of information with so much media flying across multiple channels, it is important that you come across as dependable, consistent and competent. These qualities do not come without much work. You, therefore, have to make sure that the way you position yourself online is in line with your personal brand.
Today, employers and clients will look at your online profiles to determine whether they should hire you, do business with you, or not.
Below are five critical elements in selling yourself in the digital age:
1. Identity
Creating a strong digital profile is the first step to a strong online identity. You need to determine how you would like to be perceived. If any of your customers or potential employers want to land on your social media platforms, would they be interested in doing business with you or hiring you? Things such as profile photos are no longer just for fun. You must make sure that your online identity begins with strong profile photos as this is the first impression anyone will get of you. Once this is well done, you should write a very professional bio about yourself online. Mention your career highlight and future plans. Whatever you write about yourself should be a summary that anybody looking for any information about you will appreciate. Your identity should include your personal values.
2. Visibility
This involves the social media platforms where you choose to be found. In this competitive era, if you're planning to be a professional, you should have a profile on LinkedIn. Sometimes if you're a salesperson and your leads come from platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, you should have profiles on those platforms as well. If you're planning to have direct contact with customers over a much longer period of time, you may consider creating a personal website or a professional website that would refer your clients to you. You want your online profile to come across as being as professional as possible if you will use them as career points. Whenever people look for information about you, regardless of your personal values or other social purposes, there should be hints of your profession and of what is important to you online.
When working on your visibility, consider your customers or your employers. Are they people that would like to see your family side? Would they be interested in your fun activities? Whatever you think that your employers or your customers would be interested in is what you should display across your social media platforms.
3. Contribution/Impact
Companies today are looking for people who are making a contribution to the local community. Do you spend your weekends visiting children's homes? Or do you spend your weekends volunteering at animal shelters? Whatever contribution you make to your local community should be included on your digital platforms. The reason for including your contributions or the impact you're making on your social media platforms is to show your human side and to also allow the employer or the customers to see that you have a deeper interest that goes beyond your job.
4. Endorsements/Recommendations
Nobody exists as an island. You must've done something good. What good thing you have done, ask somebody else that was present to recommend you or to endorse you. If you have worked somewhere before and you did a good job for somebody, ask them to give you a recommendation. Endorsements or recommendations today also come as reviews.
Do not be afraid to ask for recommendations or endorsements or reviews. Whatever response you get from others will allow your employees or potential customers to know you at a different level. And the endorsement will serve as character support for you. It is easier for somebody to do business with you or to employ you when other people speak highly of you.
5. Connections
The whole world is just a click away today and therefore whenever you're online you must take it upon yourself to make connections with people who are important to your career. When you go on platforms such as LinkedIn or any other professional platform, you should not be afraid to ask for connections from people you admire. Sometimes, you may not know it yet, but you could also be an inspiration to somebody else. So when you see young people asking you for connections, you may want to consider connecting with them because you do not know what sort of impact you will have in their lives. Take every connection seriously. If it is somebody who is mature in the industry, learn as much as you can from them. If it is somebody who is still young in the industry and you would like to teach them please teach them.
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