Anyone who’s been in any type of business knows the drill: Before any meeting or conference outside your own organization, you load up with dozens of business cards to pass out to other people at the conference. You also collect dozens of cards from others.
And if anything changes – you get a new email address or your phone number changes – chances are that hundreds of cards go into the recycle bin while you get new cards printed.
Now there’s another option.
One Digital Business Card Is All I Need
My friend, Terry White, turned me on to the 21st century version of the business card, a digital card that should last forever.
The digital card has an NFC chip in it that can be scanned by any modern smartphone. Rather than handing you a paper card which, hopefully, contains all my current information, I just pass the digital card near your phone. The NFC reader on an Apple device is near the ‘notch’ at the top of the phone – in an Android device, it’s near the middle of the screen.
Once the user taps on the notification that comes up, the phone brings up whatever site or information you have specified.
I wound up getting a digital card from Tap Tag. They have a variety of card materials, including metal and even a business card made of bamboo. I decided on the basic plastic card. It is thinner than a regular credit card and only costs $16.95. I got delivery in less than a week.
A Digital Profile That’s Easy to Update
The NFC data embedded in the Tap Tag card can only hold information for one location. If you’re like me, you have several social media sites which might interest your contacts.
The solution for me was to use a profile site which allows you to create links for all your social media and contact sites in one location. I wound up using Linktr.ee to create a profile. You can create a profile for free. Enhancements are available for a monthly fee, but they really only add to the look of your Linktr.ee site. I opted for the ‘starter’ package which allows me to have a photo background and adds a few analytics – a mid-point between the free basic plan and the more expensive ‘pro’ plan.
My Tap Tag card has my logo and location printed on it. The NFC chip contains the link to my Linktr.ee profile. Additionally, Tap Tag will create a QR code from your link and print it on the back of the card. This is useful for those with an older phone which might not have an NFC reader.
The Linktree profile may be easily updated at any time and the NFC data will take the user to the most current information.
Likewise, the NFC code embedded in the card may be changed with an application available from Tap Tag. The downside to changing the NFC code on the card is that the QR code on the back cannot be changed and will always point to the originally loaded location. However, the card is inexpensive enough that, should it be necessary to change the NFC code, a new card is cheaper than a small supply of paper business cards. Choosing the site for the original NFC code carefully will eliminate even that expense.