How to Combat Digital Noise + Add Value

There’s a whole lot of noise in the world, not the least of which is the noise on the internet.

What are methods to combat this digital noise while you also strive to add value?

The internet hums with people selling ideas and wares, competing for intellectual bandwidth. Bombarded with multitudinous data and images, prospects scan sights, sounds and images.

If your content is not situated where they seek, you won’t be found. If your words and images are not interesting or solving a problem, they will fade into the background.

As a master executive resume writer and business owner, I battle these challenges daily.

While delivering quality, strategic content to customers is king, squeezing social media marketing juice is queen. But, what does this mean, really?

If you follow Google search engine machinations, you know they continually tweak the rules. As such, while you sleep, your company Google ranking may plunge, slipping from first page to fifth; perhaps your revenue, too.

A social media maven, you organically construct a reputation for intellectual insights, commentary and images through a network of postings and collegial interactions. Your daily discourse across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., evolves your reputation from unknown to lauded. However, one day the protocols change and your insights no longer are widely shared or seen as relevant as they once were.

When these shifts occur, your job as a business owner is to conduct research and proactively adjust your strategy.

Diligent unearthing, communications with your trusted advisors and in some cases, hiring of experts to sort through the maze will move the visibility and revenue needle.

Reviving a stalled business requires intuition, innovation and trial and error. Maintaining a vibrant and profitable presence requires continual due diligence and humility. Admitting that you do not now–and will likely never–have a handle on all the operational logistics of digital marketing is imperative.

How This Relates to Executive Job Seekers

Similarly, successful executives at the helm of their career ship must continually evolve strategies. How to combat digital noise and add value in the executive career space is important.

Whether you have reached the pinnacle of your career or are at the precipice of that next big move, you must not get stagnant or overly confident. Realize that in this globally connected world, marketing your executive career is dependent upon ever-advancing digital tools and protocols. Some of the things you must continually hone include your:

1. Professional Tagline // For example. I use “Your Value Into Words” or “Value Into Words.” This phrasing adds focus to all communications: email signatures, business cards and a variety of social networking biographies.

2. LinkedIn Headline // Mine reads, “Executive Resume Strategist + Image Consultant | Translating Your Value Into Words.” However, I change it up periodically, depending on prevailing prospective client needs; as well the mood of the market. Check out these two headlines, the first I wrote for an executive client and the second for an entrepreneur. Click on their names to view their full profiles.

Executive Example

Chris Felix
Exec Sales + Operations • Corporate/Government/Retail •
Translating company strength via customer + employee experience

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Entrepreneur Example

Jon Mertz
Rousing Strategist+Thought Entrepreneur at Juncture of 
Business+Society ♦ Mobilizing Insights Into Belief-Based Action

3. Blog Content // Whether you own your own blog, are blogging as a guest on someone else’s platform or you simply are posting updates or articles on LinkedIn’s platform, you must blog. Creating micro- or long-form blog content enables others insight into your intellectualism and learnings, extending your branding.

4. Comment Strategy // Composing thoughtful, sincere comments on colleagues’ or other business partners’ blog posts or status updates is engaging. As well, commenting on content from new people whose insights genuinely appeal to you is intuitive. Moreover, cultivating relationships with strategic contacts through positive, meaningful engagement on their content, adds value.

5. Instagram Strategy // If you are new to this social networking channel, begin following interesting people and companies. Gather ideas on content and hash-tagging strategies that appeal to you. Begin mirroring those strategies in your own stream. Hire a creative collaborator with whom to brainstorm and build your content and image designs. I partner with artist and Instagram strategist @SusanHenselArt. This ensures I have a consistent blend of professional and personal postings in my Instagram stream.

6. Twitter Strategy // Twitter gets a bad rap for being politically divisive; however, the business and career content-sharing opportunities on this robust channel abound. Capitalizing on the lists feature will help you to stream the content most valuable to you. You can also follow lists others have compiled. For example, I’ve created a list of recruiters as well as a list for my executive connections. By reciprocating with your own quality articles, blog posts and images, you can build a following that will appreciate your value.

7. Facebook Strategy // I have written on Glassdoor about how recruiters use Facebook to network with and source candidates. For example, they connect to professional and industry-specific groups; as well, they publish professional pages on which they post current opportunities. Moreover, you can exude your professional value and persona through a well-developed and strategic profile, enabling recruiters to find you. Complement this with meaningful status updates and posts. Check out these two articles, here and here.

8. Executive Resume // Whether you are in search mode or happily engaged at your current company, having a modern, digital resume at-the-ready is crucial. You never know when someone in or out of your digital and social network will witness your value in-action and want to know more. Whether it be an executive recruiter, hiring decision maker, board member or future client, you must be prepared to share your executive resume story with them at any time.

9. Final thoughts // It may seem overwhelming when trying to combat digital noise. Knowing which social networking, digital channels and strategies to leverage can be confusing. Keep in mind that it’s about quality over quantity, as well as consistent interaction. As well, it’s about trial and error and being nimble. The digital world of executive career search and entrepreneurial marketing is vast and ever-changing. This enables you to be a maverick, ideating and creating some of the rules as you go.

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Image credit: Unsplash