With the advent of the internet, we have now—more than ever—become unwitting marketers.

Taking it all the way back to the very first days of internet-based connectivity via Yahoo Messenger, MSN, MySpace and Friendster, we have all been adjusting and adapting our online persona to who we want other people to see us as. Whether it be our chosen chat name, our social media bios, or our e-mail moniker, personal online branding has been here since the very beginning of “online”. The only difference between then and now being that online branding matters more than ever.

Granted, some readers may think I’m biased because Digital Marketing is what I do “professionally”, but if you really think about it, you essentially now have two “you’s” in this world. There is the online you and the physical you. The physical you is more tangible and easier for you to conceptualize how to promote and manage. What do you dress like? What school did you go to? How do you speak? What is your haircut like? We’ve all been living in the physical world since the very beginning of human existence, so we’ve had at least half-a-millennia to practice.

But what about the online you? 

Essentially birthed in the 90s (those were my formative years), and continuing on into the early 2000s up until today, human beings have had a little under 30 years to figure out this whole “online” thing. 

What you say online can and will forever be used against you. Who you are online and what you do online matters. We are all now being judged by who we are online more stringently than we once were back when the internet first came out in the 90s. Social media posts and our general online presence has opened us up to cancel-culture, clout and the powers of perceptual marketing.

Who are you “friends” with? What posts do you “like”? What “comments” have you made? What do you “share”? All of these elements will directly affect your online personal brand. Yet, there are those of us who still refuse to see our online presence as a branding opportunity; rather, an outlet for personal expression, devoid of any consequences. 

Sure, personal expression is a fair point, but I think it’s important to think more strategically about who you choose to portray yourself to be online and remember that these things will have ramifications, whether you choose to see them or not. And if you haven’t thought of this kind of stuff before, I think it’s time you started thinking about it!

The way we sign into online stores, apply for jobs, message others, now has a digital-footprint associated with it, and with that digital-footprint comes digital-consequences. However, don’t let that scare you too much; just let it be some food for thought. So, the next time you decide to post something, ask yourself this first: would I be OK with this 10 year from now? Am I comfortable with other people seeing this? Will this affect me adversely in some way that I might not have intended?

All essential and important questions cantered around seemingly innocuous actions made online in a world where we have now become our own marketers. Granted, you might now be thinking to yourself, ”but I’m not trying to market anything.” Unfortunately, the truth is, whatever it is that you “do” becomes a signal to others and a form of marketing.

But what if I choose to abstain from being online? 

Sure, there are some of us that don’t wish to participate in such superficial marketing and personal branding pursuits. However, I personally wonder how long that will last in a world moving ever-closer toward infinite bounds of connectivity with social media becoming the de-facto efficiency standard for signing up for things online. Can you really remain “off-the-grid” forever?

In the end, I think it’s not a question of “should I be online or should I not be online?” it’s more of an introspection as to “what do I choose to do once I’m on there?” For, I’m betting heavy that the future will be even more “connected” than ever—it’s just a matter of who we will all be once we get there.

-market wisely.