Linkedin is the social media platform for professionals and it is powerful. You might think it is not important, though being present, being engaged is crucial in our fast paced working environment, where everyone is checking out on each other and evaluate whether or not your trustworthy, you know what you are talking about, are you on expert in a field or simply connecting and following.
As a professional, whether self employed, working in private or public sector, you need to have a presence on LinkedIn. As it started, I saw it more as a recruitment portal and when someone had its profile on, I thought they are looking for a job.
I changed my mind, be observing and following the trends as LinkedIn is now THE professional Platform to be and not only for job search, more focused on creating your brand, for your credibility and creating virtual trust and relationships which are important to stay relevant.
9 Personal Branding on LinkedIn Tips
Coaching and mentoring many professionals and entrepreneurs, I notice that LinkedIn needs to be optimized and as part of my program, I am working with my clients to improve their personal brand and teach them hacks on how to use LinkedIn in their favor. It is not so difficult as it seems. So, let’s go right into it.
1. Headshot photo and background.
Invest in your profile photo. Looking nicely into the camera, with background being plain, preferably. Humans want to see your face, want to recognize you.
I know for a fact that profile photos can be from some years ago, which is not how you look like today. Update your profile photo at least every 2 years. Your brand, your identity starts with your face.
Replace the default grey background of Linkedin either with your interest and hobbies, your profession or anything else which is reflecting you. It is an important step to show the world, that you care of you are perceivced as part of your brand message. You can use Canva or any other means to create a nice background image.
2. Your tagline.
This is where professionals either use their title, some abbreviations that no one understands. Change. Change it to explain what you bring to the table, what are you doing, and you can add some titles afterwards, though no jargon or abbreviations. Your purpose to write about you is to be understood. You have 220 characters that you can use to describe how you can help organizations, your passion using keywords which are important in your industry.
3. About Me section.
Here you have a bit more space to talk about yourself. This shall be not a copy paste for your CV. It needs to be authentic, shall be written in “I” form and not too long nor too short. People’s attention span is limited and as you have attracted someone to your profile, it needs to be sharp and crisp.
4. Featured.
This is media space, where you can upload any speaker opportunities, any images and posts, invitations, or awards that you received. Remember, nowadays people are visual, and images talk more than words. No pressure if you don’t have anything, it is fine as well though I know that everyone has got some photos from their professional journey. Think hard and you will.
5. Leverage recommendation and endorsements.
Collect recommendations from your peers, managers, and partners you worked with. On the flipside, give recommendations yourself. This will increase your credibility. List your skill or update them if they are not relevant anymore and asks for endorsements.
6. Experience.
I often see that only the title is mentioned under the experience section. This is the place to give more details on your expertise, your responsibilities you took on and any other important programs and initiatives you led with success. Great to have some Key Performance Indicators as well, could be the budget you managed or you have increased sales by 20 % as an example.
7. Engage.
How do we engage on LinkedIn? Simple, by posting, Posting the events you attended, by showing which programs or certificates you obtained, by posting some key take aways from a meeting. You can use anything to post. Literally. Be careful about reposting. Have your 5 cents comments on top so people can see that you have your own perspective or something to say. Posting will increase your visibility and the LinkedIn algorithm will pick up your activities and promote even further. Not only posting, make comments on posts from people you are following or find interesting.
Another manner to be engaged is the wonderful bell sign on top of the Linkedin bar, the notifications. You will see there as well any birthdays, job changes and anniversaries. Professionals are humans and they love to be celebrated. Groudn rule: have your 5 cents when congratulating. An easy way to attract people to your profile.
Ho many times per week to post? Another question, I get asked. This depends on you, how much time do you want to invest? Once a week is good as much as it is to post 2-3 times a week or once per 2 weeks. See what works best for you. Once size fits all does not exist.
8. Network.
The essence of LinkedIn. Virtual networking. I hear a lot that this is not authentic, it is better to do this face to face. Yes, I agree, and we live in a virtual world, where we meet over zoom or any other means. Reality is, we are virtual, or you can say hybrid. Connect with people in your industry, exchange ideas, invite them for a zoom coffee to get to know them better. I do that all the time and it is mind-blowing whom you can meet and create some partnerships and collaborate on some projects.
9. Monitor and adapt.
Some posts do get more vies the others or the reactions might be different. Observe and see what works for your profile.
How Shall We Use LinkedIn?
All above seems to be a lot, once set up, it will be easier. I changed my tagline; I don’t know how many times. Nothing is set in stones, check it out, ask for feed forward. Change, test, and retry. As my motto: try fast, fail fast and learn fast.
Make it fun, this shall be not stressfull at all, and it is worth it. By sharing valuable content, staying authentic, leveraging social proof, and expanding your network, you will stay relevant in the professional environment.
This is a journey and a continuous effort. Have fun and in case you need more advice, I am always here for you: Contact Me