Source First, Brand Stronger

Want to strengthen your brand on LinkedIn? Or on social media in general? It all starts with the reliability of the information you share.

I often read tips about improving visibility, including attaching a document as a carousel — which is a great tool, and I wish I used it more. Recently, I came across an excellent example: a post presenting a high-quality document that had been taken off the internet. As always — and because this is my profession — I went to the source, searched for the document, found it, and happily returned to comment with the link. The author of the post said she could have sent it to me if I had asked — and I’m sure that’s true, she’s wonderful — but for me, this is completely natural behavior.

So my recommendation is this: Downloaded a document and uploaded it as a carousel? Great. Just make sure to credit the source and include a link. Yes, sometimes links reduce visibility, so people place them in the comments. It’s a bit of a paradoxical recommendation — because who clicks on an unfamiliar link? And ideally they shouldn’t — but by sharing the link, you allow the reader to copy it into Google, and if the website is credible, it will open immediately. Through the information you present, you allow the reader to assess the reliability of the content.

If maintaining trustworthy content is important to you, one of the key principles is keeping a direct line to the source. Publishing information? Include the path to reach it. This will be appreciated and will strengthen your brand as a reliable one.

Information reliability management is a structured methodology. The topic of the original source is one of seven key principles. The seven principles, as I see them, are:

1. Risk Management — first and foremost, presenting information requires considering the risk. What is the impact of publishing, sending, or making decisions based on this information? Risk management requires appropriate mitigation actions.

2. The Golden Triangle — Roles and Responsibilities — separation of duties. Did I ensure that the information supporting my decision is being managed properly? This is closely connected to the first principle. The remaining five principles relate to ALCOA, including the “plus,” which highlights the importance of complete and well-maintained data. The acronym refers to the identity of the data, its readability, the ability to examine its context — including the time it was published — and of course, its accuracy.

One of the most critical principles, and in my view the core of everything, is managing the original information — keeping it controlled, protected, and intact. The same applies in life, in social-media posts, and in any data analysis that must always allow us to trace back our entire thought process.

How do you ensure your original information is preserved? I’d love to hear your ideas. The blog doesn’t support comments, but you can always reach me through the contact details attached — by WhatsApp or email. Don’t hesitate.