Why you need a digital business card in 2024

Raise your hand if you've ever experienced any or all of the following scenarios:

1.) Met a potential client or colleague without a business card in your pocket?

2.) Had to recycle a stack of business cards because you changed roles or contact information?

3.) Been handed a business card only to lose or misplace it within a week.

4.) Fumbled around trying to share contact information on your first interaction with someone?

🙋 👈 that's me raising my hand just like you.

It's not uncommon, and frankly, we've all been there. The paper business card can't keep up in a fast-paced business world anymore.

It's served many of us great success, from new clients to new jobs, but it's time for us to put them in the hall of fame next to our youth sports trophies!

If you're here to learn more about digital business cards, great!

Below, I'll introduce the digital business card, explain why I think they are important to you and your business, and how to get started.

What even are digital business cards?

A digital business card is the digital version of your paper business card powered by modern technology, devices, and platforms.

Digital business cards (sometimes called virtual business cards, social media cards, social cards, etc.) merge the traditions of the business card with the tools and platforms that dominate modern business (and the places your client's work).

This modernization was made possible by drastic improvements in technology, peer-to-peer interaction, and global initiatives to modernize businesses (think green).

How to change the way you think about the business card

Would you believe me If I said about 120,000 trees a year are cut down to create paper business cards each year? Or if I told you about 80% of paper business cards are trashed within a week.

These aren't good statistics, and it's time they change.

The understanding might be simple for some—I'm talking to you, children of the smartphone—but it can get complicated for those who've found success with paper their entire careers.

Your work either already operates online or is quickly shifting online. Fueled by the flames of a pandemic, businesses have rapidly moved online and have adopted modern processes—with great success.

I never leave home without my phone, and neither do you. I can't say the same about my old paper business cards.

It should be no surprise that many connections are started online across various social media accounts, marketing channels, and websites. Your life and, most likely, your business live online. So why shouldn't your business card?

When you meet new people, the first place they go is online to research (stalk) you and your work. Like me, you've got more social accounts, emails, contact information, and website across the internet than you can keep track of.

When these interactions happen, sharing anything more than your name becomes a nightmare paper just can't take care of. 

Does spelling out your last name in a loud room ring a bell...?

It takes time to generate new business, but only seconds to make a great first impression. So the question is, how do we share all this info with new contacts quickly and easily?

My answer to you is a digital business card.

Now I'm a bit biased as the founder here at Social Card. Still, we are big fans of using the power of technology to share all of our digital information and get a little greener in the process.

If you still aren't convinced, check out our guide to enterprise digital business cards for a deep dive into DBCs.

Why are digital business cards better?

There are boundless reasons why digital business cards are better, but a few stand out. The availability, environmental impact, and affordability make digital business cards an obvious choice.

Availability

Availability. The name of the game when it comes to business cards. You never know when you might have your next networking opportunity.

With digital business cards, you no longer have to worry about missing an opportunity because of not having a business card. 

Your business card now lives online across all the devices and platforms you use. 

Popular platforms include:

• Mobile Wallet - we love having our business cards right inside our Apple Wallet (Google Wallet coming soon). 
• The web - typically in the form of a custom web page
• QR codes - mysterious scannable squares that are so useful. 
• Email signatures - we all send like a bazillion emails a day. 
• Chips and tags - although we aren't fans of this application, many consumers have found success with chips and tags. 
  

Don't forget that you can update your digital business cards anytime—no more outdated contact information in clients' hands.

Green initiatives, ESG, and business cards

As I mentioned a few moments ago, paper business cards are incredibly wasteful and consume large amounts of paper annually. 

Although pinpointing the math on these things is complicated, it shouldn't be shocking to assume about 120,000 trees are cut down annually to supply the world with business cards. An astonishing number if you ask me.

Enter the digital business card. Zero paper and zero waste. A paperless improvement to the ways we network.

With every digital business card interaction, you take another step in a greener direction.

Affordability of digital business cards

Many digital business card providers like us here at Social Card offer a free option for those looking to get started with digital business cards.

Want to try for free? Please have a look at our iOS app for individuals.

If you are looking for premium features, you may be interested in tools like our enterprise platform.

Although not free, the value is easy to compute. For the price of an afternoon lunch, you can take advantage of a complete digital business card experience.

How to get started with digital business cards

Cool, I get it. Recycle my paper cards for good, but now what?

There's a large and growing variety of digital business card tools or apps.

They can be free, often with limited features or options. If you'd like to try out a free-to-use digital business card built for your Apple Wallet, check out our iOS app. 

Like all things free and DIY, you may find you need a more professional solution.

Social Card Enterprise Platform

This is totally a shameless plug of our own product, but what kind of business would we be if we didn't recommend our products? 

This is also our blog, so of course, we'll give you our totally not biased opinions (sarcasm, but not really).

The Social Card platform is the everywhere digital business card platform.

Purpose-built for brand-focused companies, Social Card is the business card and networking platform that drives the process of starting, growing, and scaling your digital networking.

With our modern paperless approach to the business card and our growing list of platforms, I'm sure we can support you and your business needs.

Now, I highly suggest you give our products a try with a 14-day free zero commitment trial, but there are also many other products you can test out to find your best fit.

With a simple google search, like the one that brought you here, you can find all sorts of digital business card tools.

To learn more, check out our getting started guide.

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Hey friends, I'm Andrew Sapashe, founder here at Social Card. If you have any questions about this post, our products, or just want to chat, please contact me anytime.