Digital Literacy: Your Path to Success

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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hi, everybody, and thank you for being here today. Before we begin, I commonly ask you to connect with me on social media. My Twitter is John underlying Michael, my LinkedIn is John Michael, you can find me as image Group International on Facebook. Okay, so let's get this show on the road. Today we're delving into a skill that is a necessity in our increasingly competitive digital world. And it's all around digital literacy. Now, of course, I'm not a digital expert. But certainly in the last 12 years, I've certainly become very literate in talking about the subject. But certainly I have also the team members around us that are definitely masters in this subject. So as the dictionary says, digital literacy is the ability to use technology to navigate, evaluate and create information. But in my opinion, it's so much more than that, for me, it's understanding how to use these digital tools to make a positive difference to people's lives. And it's what we do in growing your business, of course, to increase your revenues. And of course, hire more team members and create enough profits to also contribute to the community. That's why the relevance of all these tools for me, and of course, our business matter. Now, also, when we share that to our clients, of course, a lot of them go, Aha, I like that as well. So in an era where technology is woven in the fabric of our daily lives, proficiency in using these tools, software, online platforms isn't just the bonus, it's so much more than it and I'm sure you'll agree it's a must have skill for you. And of course, your team. So digital literacy encompasses a wide range of competencies in AI from basic computer skills, of course, I don't have to tell you much about that to navigating complex software, and understanding the intricacies of online communication. And that's probably where my focus will be tonight, it's about being able to adapt to new technologies, but also staying safe in the digital realm, and leveraging digital tools to your advantage. And here's the the beauty of digital literacy. It's not limited by age, or background, anyone can learn this, and anyone can get really proficient in it. It's a skill that can be acquired and owned by anyone, regardless of the starting point, or even social class or whether you're a digital native or someone who's embracing technology later in life, the journey of digital literacy is a rewarding one. So I want to explain my personal life, I'm sure you've experienced digital literacy, enabling you also to have more confident online interactions like connecting loved ones. Of course, Facebook has been very good for that, since it started in reference to connecting people, even with all its drawbacks. And of course, there's other tools as well. Another good one, of course, is WhatsApp for instant communication. And of course, if you're Chinese WeChat.

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So assessing this boss information resources certainly gets you to leverage and make life a little bit easier. But in also from a professional point of view, and I use that professionally daily, this is where the opportunities, you can get things done very quickly. So you know, it's a pivotal skill for efficient work. We know for a remote collaboration. I mean, I use WhatsApp, for instance, for building relationships all over the world instantly, and maintaining competitiveness, of course across your career. So let me explain it further the benefits to first of all, when you understand the digital space, you have access to new information, but also new information gets you because you'll be able to to potentially research better. And also, you know, have sites and fibroids that at times will not be so easily accessible if you don't know how to do it. So the literacy allows you access to Boston mountain information resources available online. But it also gets you to find information at times you will not be looking for in the past where right now if you've got the skills of course, you've got an opportunity to be empowered with new information that might prove to be super valuable to you. This also of course, understanding you get you stay informed. You get better educated, hopefully, and it enhances your whole awareness and learning opportunities. The other one is effective communication. And that means everything from you know texts and emails. This is very important as well how many times if you haven't understood how to use the tools effective Communication can break down. So digital literacy is crucial for effective communication, prevalence of email, social media, videoconferencing, messaging apps, you need digital skills to connect with others personally and professionally. We all know that I mean, I'm not telling you anything new there. But of course, getting better at that is actually better for you. So I'm sure you agree that effective communication is essential in the workplace, and of course, in personal relationships. And that's a key. If you have a conversation with somebody, and you say, you should get involved and get better at digital tools. And they say to you, Well, I'm not so good with that, and so on. Well, the idea there is, well, would you like to increase your communication? You know, would you like to be better known in the workplace? Would you be out? Would you like to have better connections, personal connections, and more frequent connections with family members as an example, so he gets the outcome, we're looking for the results, that definitely will convince people at times what the half do look at as the end game, as opposed to using this tool for the short game, although there might be short game results as well. And also, another one is for your employer ability. It's a competitive market out there. You know, and I don't care if it's a leadership position, a board position right down to jobs, you know, that are at the bottom, they all require digital literacy, as a core skill somewhere. So basic, the basic computer skills, and being familiar with the software tools is important and of course, helps you navigate the online will, and also enhances your employability and career prospects because it shows you're actually on trend, you understand what's going on. Digital Literacy also helps you critical thinking and problem solving, because it does foster critical thinking enables you to evaluate the credibility of online information. And in a world full of misinformation and disinformation. This is essential, you get to see a lot of data. But how do you understand data if you don't really analyse it, from a critical perspective. So if you understand then how to work with the digital world, then of course, analysing the data will actually make your life a lot better. And then make Of course, better informed decisions. 

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So in my opinion, these skills are invaluable in various aspects of life in a fall back checking us to troubleshooting technical issues, and some of the main areas also include digital citizenship. Now, being digitally literate means understanding that there is digital ethics out there. And by the way, this particular area is, is exploding, right, because everyone's talking about AI, everything, everyone's talking about how it's making life easier for a lot of people and so on. But it's also going to create super super problems, because you won't know what's real anymore. And that's already coming out. So online safety, of course, we already know that's a serious problem and has been a serious problem for a long time. And of course, as a citizen, you know, there is responsible digital behaviour, because the digital world is no different to the physical world, what you're doing digitally, would you also be doing that in the physical world. And remember that the only difference with the digital world is it'll be up there forever. We're in the physical world, you might do something silly, and disappears in 24 hours, but in the digital world, it's up there forever. So that's why behaviour is essential. And this is especially stuff for young people as well that at times think old get very cocky on what they publish online and potentially will create big problems or down the track, if not in instant. Search equips you to protect your privacy, avoid cyber threats as best as possible. Of course, you need the software for that as well to protect you, and of course, contribute positively to online communities and sharing. That's what you choose to do. Part of building your personal brand could also be part of that as well. So promotes digital literacy promotes responsible citizenship in an interconnected world. And in the worst case scenario, this is very important, you will be better against online scams that I've spoken about this before. I have numerous clients, and certainly a client that's lost over a million dollars on online scams, because from a digital literacy point of view, he was actually tricked. You know, he was tricked to do all sorts of things. And of course, we know, just from a daily media perspective, scams are going through the roof, that guy, they are really a serious problem that at times is applied. I think it's a serious problem out there and you need to become aware of potentially if you take this as a laser fair, a very casual attitude, potentially you can go broke. So you got to get really clear about that. So in the context of personal branding, of course, digital literacy is your toolbox for building and also maintaining and of course growing an online presence with the key a battle of this is this. If you don't want to do some of this yourself, you can hire experts to do this We, I mean, it's what we do for our clients, it's don't totally do it for you option, if that's what you want to do, at least certainly, even in my business, I outsource things that I find others to do better than myself. So that aspect is essentially good enough to become the expert in all of this, but you gotta serve and be aware enough to know that it's important. So it's a skill that allows you to harness the power of social media, create engaging and authoritative content, and communicate your brand's message effectively in the whole digital landscape. 

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So let me tell you a story about how digital literacy might have calculated a difference in one of my clients life. So a midsize client in the high quality food industry, and guides our firm to IDI better wise, they could engage with their clients, and of course, stakeholders. The problem was that their sales was static, and the niche brand was not growing. So after we workshop this with them, we develop the marketing and sales positioning plan targeting their niche audience. The client reported, obviously, after they put this in practice, they combination automated, and of course, a human centric approach, the cloud report a 29% increase in sales over a six month period. Now, this great results was jus simply to improve in the yellow the standing of their true customer engagement with their clients and implemented the digital tools to automate the process. In conjunction, as I noted earlier, with a human centric approach, and the human centric approach is essential. If you think you're going to automate everything, what you're doing is dropping out the human element of customer service. And we know that big corporations have done this and are coming back on to the human centric now because they know it hasn't worked with with this. Gov with telco companies, you know, they outsource everything overseas, specifically. And let me give you the example. How many times have you had somebody from overseas call you regarding your telephone? And it's like, they've called you 10 times in a row after you've told them specifically you're not interested? That is bad customer service? So that's the human centric element that comes into play. Yeah, but and the human centric element, in this case, yes, has to be human. You know, from the perspective also local, somebody that can understand the culture that understands the language that also can communicate in clear English, as opposed to blah, blah, blah, okay, that potentially wastes your time. And of course, creates all sorts of issues, because it's just terrible customer service. That's the way it is. So in summary, digital literacy is essential for sensing information, effective communication, employability, and of course, critical thinking and responsible digital citizenship. And this is important because what I do with my clients is when we see scams, we report them, basically yet we report scams, we make it very clear, coloured in digital scams, because it's important, having be experienced with clients actually getting caught up in that it's a serious problem. And I've seen the personal and of course, relational and business damage that's done. So they equips us with the skills and nows needed to thrive in the digital age. Well, look, I got a little bit excited with this one because I have a lot of personal experience with clients and as I said, it's it's very painful to watch so the story for today's please become aware it's getting worse social media companies at times are not your best friend. For me. There's so much that could do better in reference to stop in a lot of this nonsense out there. And I'm relating now to scams, but they're certainly do other things good as well. So, again, it's the pro and con of the plus in the mindless but that's it for today. So thank you for joining me remember your personal brand is not just what you do. It's also reflected in how you navigate the digital world with confidence and purpose. If you need some guidance, as always, feel free to contact me. You can find my contact details in the episodes description. Till next time. Thank you and cheerio.

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.