BE DISCOVERABLE

The number of places that you can be discovered has grown in direct proportion to the size of the online world. Currently, about 347 million people have a LinkedIn account, 19 percent of all adults in the United States use Twitter, and Facebook has 1.23 billion monthly users. In addition, you can also launch an entire website of your own to create the owned space that we strongly advocate throughout this book. More and more are favoring this approach, collecting their content on a site that they own and control, rather than limiting their efforts to building lists of fans and followers on rented space like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. To be clear, you need both spaces to be discoverable in the digital world. Collectively, these accounts and domains are a virtual Rolodex for today’s overtaxed reporters. Make sure your accounts are in the best possible shape. Update them often; post frequently; be scrupulous about grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and cute as it is to substitute your puppy’s face as your avatar, use a recent flattering photo of your own.