After I just lately requested ChatGPT, “Who’s Hilary Lewis and what does she do?”, I didn’t anticipate a minor id disaster to observe.
The AI’s reply was flattering! it referenced my Accountex talking classes, articles, and even my masterclass appearances BUT each single one listed my outdated job title and former firm.
In that second, my level was completely confirmed and painfully private: your digital footprint doesn’t all the time transfer once you do.
The AI Shift. From Google to “Who Are You, Actually?”
We’ve spent years studying find out how to make Google love us. web optimization, key phrases, backlinks, we mastered all of them. However with AI now more and more getting used to seek for individuals, not simply web sites, the foundations have modified.
Instruments like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and different generative platforms don’t simply index; they interpret. They pull from credible, contextual, human-sourced content material (press, interviews, respected mentions) to construct an image of who you’re.
That’s when it hit me: if AI is the brand new search engine, PR is the brand new web optimization.
Why PR and Visibility Matter Extra Than Ever
Credibility can’t be coded. Algorithms can solely amplify what already exists. In case your identify is connected to nothing however outdated bios or salesy posts, that’s what AI will see and share.
Thought management, media mentions, and genuine storytelling at the moment are the belongings that feed AI. The uncooked information that defines how the world (and machines) understand your experience.
Just a few days earlier than this little “id disaster,” we hosted a webinar at The Digital Accountants Membership with Samantha Harman, all about PR and constructing credibility, and it actually caught with me.
Samantha spoke about how your story is your strongest asset, and the way for those who don’t inform it, somebody (or one thing) else will. That line echoed in my thoughts later after I began making some demo content material for the neighborhood about how AI pulls collectively your digital footprint.
I hit document, typed into ChatGPT: “Who’s Hilary Lewis and what does she do?”
Inside seconds, up popped an inventory of Accountex options, talks, and masterclasses BUT each single one nonetheless mentioned “Advertising and marketing Director at WCF.” It was like being haunted by my outdated LinkedIn profile!
It was humorous at first, the demo labored completely! But it surely additionally hit a nerve. I realised that whereas I’d been busy shouting about everybody else’s story, I hadn’t up to date my very own.
And that’s precisely what the webinar had warned about: for those who don’t personal your digital narrative, AI (and everybody else) will fill within the blanks for you.
My Transfer to the Digital Accountants Membership
After I joined The Digital Accountants Membership (DAC) as Neighborhood Supervisor, I didn’t simply change my job title, I modified my mission.
I first met Jeri Williams three years in the past, and we hit it off instantly (even when she did rudely transfer to Dubai quickly after!). When she returned to the UK, we began placing on occasions collectively, and when she requested me to formally handle the DAC neighborhood, I couldn’t say no.
Neighborhood-building is in my DNA. As a twice-exited enterprise proprietor, I perceive the pressures accountants and finance professionals face… the isolation, the advertising and marketing overwhelm, the wrestle to maintain up with tech. My ardour is bringing individuals collectively to share, be taught, and develop.
Now, alongside Jeri’s accounting experience and Luke Farren’s technical consulting abilities, DAC has turn into one thing genuinely completely different! Its a spot the place enterprise, advertising and marketing, and know-how meet human connection.
Each webinar, from AI automation to PR and advertising and marketing, jogs my memory why this work issues: accountants don’t simply want instruments! They want a trusted neighborhood to assist them navigate change, get their time again, and scale their enterprise.
The irony isn’t misplaced on me: whereas instructing others about AI and visibility, I’d uncared for my very own.
So this text, and even the content material that impressed it, is a part of my very own rebuilding course of.
I’m now shouting a bit louder about who I’m and what I do, as a result of in 2026, credibility isn’t nearly being good at your job, it’s about being findable for the proper causes.
