This article was inspired by Teodora Petkova’s “A Conceptual Basis for Content Writing” essay.
Finding your ‘true self’ is not something you should aim for. Why (you may ask me) ?! Well, your ‘true self’ my dear friend is not something you find, discover or whatever else great marketers are telling you in flashy banners. Identity is not something that you find out there in the open space.
Identity is something you create.
There was a time identity was created in newspapers, tv adverts or the funny advert on the bus. Nowadays the process is more ‘digital’ in its nature. You have the world wide web and everybody and I mean absolutely everyone on planet Earth is connected to this vast information space (defined by URLs, screen sizes and broadband speed) in one way or another. What’s missing?
The human touch.
Humans. A bunch of talking apes using plastic boxes to talk to each other. Or shall I say a bunch of homo sapiens that think it is possible to outsmart the Mother Nature with ‘black hat’ tricks.
Not to disappoint you but better screen resolution is just that: better screen resolution. Your eyes are the same. Better RAM is just better RAM. Your brain is still the same. You still process the information the same way your grandfather did.
Technology is evolving. Human beings not that much ( or you think you are smarter than Plato ? ).
So what am I to do in order to create my digital footprint? The answer is actually very simple. Nothing that you haven’t done before. In the ‘real’ world, you go to a party and you talk to the people if you want them to know you. On the web you create content in order to ‘show’ yourself to the others.
Yes, it’s that simple – just go out there and talk to the people.
“Web writing serves two purposes. First, it structures your digital footprint and second, it is the thread that connects your business to your customers and prospects.” – Teodora Petkova
Pay special attention to the context of your writings. Your aim should be creating ‘semantic networks’ around your identity (https://goo.gl/20KKPP, David Amerland).
Semantic content strategy is the way forward if you want to connect to the people who are looking for you (or your business).
Going back to the party mentioned above – you do not really want to connect to the mother of the fit girl jumping in front of you, don’t you. That is why you are talking about the latest cool band from UK and not about the latest food offers in Tesco (Walmart).
Do you get me?
In the end “make the time, write with your intuition, use your imagination and read slowly when you’re done” (http://goo.gl/M1QQNR, Gina Fiedel).
The moment “we step into the World Wide Web, we become visible” (https://goo.gl/osEIMl, Kristin Drysdale) and all our strengths and weaknesses become evident as well.
But don’t be too nervous. As in the real world, nobody is perfect.
“To accomplish the perfect perfection, a little imperfection helps.” ― Dejan Stojanovic
#contentmarketing #contentstrategy #contentcreation #identity #digitalfootprint
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