In this day and age, we live in a digital world. You can do just about anything online these days. From ordering groceries and having them delivered straight to your door to running a business from the comfort of your home, the internet has changed the way we operate and function in our daily lives. With the invention of the internet, especially from a business perspective, that means that you’re going to be leaving digital footprints… that can be a good thing and a bad thing, it just depends on the type of digital footprint your business leaves.
What is a Digital Footprint?
The term digital Footprint is one that’s been around for quite some time. From a business perspective, you can think of it as a trail or “cookie crumbs” that your business has left behind in conducting various forms of business. A business’ digital footprint is your online reputation; how your business interacts and “behaves” online and all of its information.
According to internet society, your digital footprint matters and whether you want to believe it or not, every move you make on the internet, the internet sees it and paints a picture of who you are as a business. Is it a little creepy, yes but that’s the way it works.
How Does a Digital Footprint Affect Your Business?
Significantly, to simply put it and being aware of your business’s digital footprint is vital, whether you have an online business or a brick-and-mortar business. For online businesses, it’s a lot easier to keep track of what type of digital footprint your business is leaving but it’s harder with brick-and-mortar businesses that don’t have any online presence.
The thing about brick-and-mortar businesses with no online presence (that they’re aware of) is that although they may not have a business site or social media pages, their competitors do and will say negative things about their business without them knowing about it. By competitors doing that, a business will have just established a digital footprint without them knowing it, and it’s not just a digital footprint… it’s a bad digital footprint.
For situations like that, it’s good to at the least get a quote on general liability insurance for policies that cover personal and advertising injury. You, of course, want to make sure you’re covered for this before it happens so you can go on and file a claim. It would be a shame to work so hard to improve your business with the right technologies and best practices only to watch it go down the drain because of the digital footprint it left that turned customers away from your business.
Leaving a Good Digital Footprint: Good Content is What’s Going to Save You
In order for any business to grow, it has to meet a need, right? Yes, and from a marketing perspective, the role of your business is to tell potential customers that you have a product or service to sell and here’s why they need it… you’re telling them they need it, not asking them if they need it… asking them that question is what will get you a “no” faster than a “yes.”
Because you’re telling customers that they need your product or service, they’re going to want to know why they need it, so what are they going to do? Look for content about your products or services as a backup before investing in what you’re selling. They’re going to go directly to your website and to your social media pages to check you out.
The fact that content is your digital footprint’s saving grace, means that you need to make sure your website is user-friendly, is visually appealing, and has useful and helpful information on there where if a customer has any questions, the information is there for them to find.
With social media, you should be updating your content daily, ensuring that the content you post is appropriate, relatable, and targeted to the audience you’re trying to reach. Just remember, anyone and any business can make a post on social media but it takes a truly dedicated entrepreneur to focus on posting good content and consistently engaging with their audience… now that’s the recipe for leaving good digital footprints.
Own Up to Your Digital Footprint
Taking responsibility for your business’ digital footprint can be quite overwhelming and a big pill to swallow when your digital footprint is a bad one. But that’s the thing about taking ownership of it… the sooner you know what type of digital footprint your business has, the sooner you can work towards improving it; it’s totally fixable if you catch it early enough.