What is LinkedIn?

There are currently over 400 million LinkedIn users across 200 countries. LinkedIn is a social network with a phenomenal reach. So what makes LinkedIn different to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram?

Since its inception, LinkedIn has been a distinctly professional sphere. It’s used as a tool for recruitment, brand promotion and business networking. Over the past few years, it has become a powerful platform for digital marketing and networking.

Why You Need A Personal Brand

Whether you know it or not, you already have a personal brand. When you Google yourself, what pops up? These results are the first impression people who do not know you will have of you. Give it a go, Google your name. Did anything come up? Is the impression you’re getting a good one?

Regardless of what you may think, chances are someone is going to Google you to learn more about who you are. If they don’t use Google, they will use a one of the many social media platforms. The question is, do you want to allow your online reputation to run wild and take on a life of it’s own, or do you want to control the narrative?

Whether you’re an employee, business owner or even a business brand in general, you need to cultivate your online presence. A personal brand has become more important than ever.

According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process. 43% of employers use social media to check on current employees. This is only one of the reasons why personal branding is important for employees.

Personal branding is also important entrepreneurs and business managers. If employers are searching online for what their employees, or potential employees are doing … What do you think potential customers or clients are doing?

Jeff Bezos said “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”

Personal branding is becoming a fundamental part of business in today’s digital age.

LinkedIn For Personal Branding

As mentioned above, personal branding is becoming a fundamental pillar of business today. Creating and optimising your profile on LinkedIn will significantly help you create your own personal brand.

We recommend you use your LinkedIn profile to showcase yourself in the most credible and personable way possible. In this article, we will go through some quick and easy tips to get you started on LinkedIn and personal brand building.

LinkedIn Tips

Customise your headline: Your headline will be your current job title and company, which is already displayed in the “Experience” section of your profile. Customise your headline with some keywords and key specialist functions. This not only increases your visibility, it also succinctly showcases your skill sets.

Include your summary and contact details: By customising your summary, you’re adding another layer to your profile and increasing your likelihood of being discovered. Include information about what you do and why you’re passionate about it.

Although there is a separate contact detail outside of your summary section, this is only visible to current connections. If you want to include your contact details with potential customers or employers, then include your contact information in your summary along with a suitable Call-To-Action.

Add assets: LinkedIn allows you to add media assets to your profile. You can include photos, videos, links to external websites and even documents. By adding relevant additional content, you can demonstrate your thought leadership and creativity.

For example, employers can include customer testimonials or previous work to their profile. Employees could include previous work or projects completed.

Ask for recommendations: You should try to get at least one or two recommendations for each job title listed on your profile.

Recommendations are important for two reasons. Employees can get recommendations from their previous employers. These act as a traditional reference would. Business owners can include recommendations as social proof when they’re attempting to sell online, or acquire new clients.

Connect, Connect, Connect!

Once you’ve completed the above steps, you should then move your focus onto growing your network. If you’re serious about building a personal brand, you need to start growing your connections on LinkedIn.

Start by connecting with users you already know. Think about colleagues, past colleagues, clients, customers etc. Mutual connections matter.

Engage

Next, you should start providing valuable and genuine feedback with your current connections. You need to start engaging with your connections. Active participation will enhance your visibility and establish your credibility.

Join LinkedIn Groups

Groups are a great way for both employees and employers. You can search for, and join groups relevant to your target industry. You can learn valuable information from others, and you can provide valuable information to the group. By engaging with groups and providing legitimate information, without expecting anything in return, you will slowly but surely increase your personal brand and reputation.

Use LinkedIn Pulse:

LinkedIn’s Pulse is a publishing platform. It’s a powerful method to expand your reach and accelerate engagement. Pulse is perfect for long-form content, such as articles and case studies.

Create and upload valuable content using pulse to increase your credibility.

What’s Next?

Building a personal brand doesn’t just stop on LinkedIn. However, we believe LinkedIn is a great place to start. We hope the information we provided to you in this article will allow you to start building your own personal brand online.

If you’re a business owner who wants expert help with digital marketing online, then don’t hesitate to contact us at VIMAR for a free marketing consultation [1]. VIMAR has a proven track record and many years of experience helping businesses increase awareness through digital channels.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!