Why LinkedIn is Key for Building Your Personal Brand

Check out LinkedIn basics. 

Written by Robyn T. Braley

LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful tools for professional growth. It is ideal for those wanting to grow their personal brand and to build meaningful relationships.

 

A recent conversation with a client sums up why LinkedIn has soared to the top of branding must-haves. He observed, “When one of our salespeople cold-calls a prospective client or replies to an email inquiry, before the process goes to the next step, both parties go to LinkedIn for background information about the other person.”

“Relationship-driven marketing is what makes the B2B world go round,” he noted. “Potential customers often check out the LinkedIn profiles of our team before they go to our company website!”

He concluded, “By the time they meet face-to-face, both have learned a lot about each other.” The conversation took place during our meeting about developing consistent LinkedIn profiles for each of his sales and executive team members.

LinkedIn Opportunities

If you're not on LinkedIn or don't spend much time there, this is what you can achieve. LinkedIn allows you to;

· Generate leads through social prospecting (not stalking)
· Increase your online presence and raise awareness of your personal and company brands
· Rise to the top of search results when your name is googled
· Share your expertise through regular posts and comments on others ' posts
· Build relationships by responding to connections when you receive notifications about career changes, anniversaries, etc.
· Signal to people you want to influence that you are forward-thinking and up-to-date

First Impressions

LinkedIn is for professionals. Full stop! A carefully crafted profile paints a picture of who you are. Based on my first impression, I usually take 3 seconds or less to make a decision about whether to accept or delete a connection request.

If you are on LinkedIn, you have undoubtedly visited weak profiles. No bio picture, no masthead, no descriptives. Your profile reflects who you are as a professional. It's better not to have a profile at all than to have a poorly designed one. 

What LinkedIn is Not

• It is not the place for photos of you and your cousin fishing in Las Cabos
• It is not the place for a full resume that includes your complete work history, beginning with part-time jobs in High School. Highlights only
• It is not the place for informal stories about your personal life; that would be Facebook  
• It is not the place for rants about politics, church, pets or children 

Five Pillars 

LinkedIn IS the place for a carefully crafted story about you as a professional. Building your personal brand should drive everything you do online. LinkedIn is an excellent tool for growing your persona. Online relationship building follows five basic principles;

• Know
• Like
• Trust
• Engage
• Close the loop

Content is Key

In developing your profile, think about the overall quality, value, relevance and authenticity your content communicates. Ask yourself these six questions;
 
1.     Is there enough content to encourage visitors to spend time getting to know me?
2.     Does the quality of my profile speak to the quality of my work?
3.     Does the content clearly state that I can be trusted?
4.     Do I come across as authentic and transparent?
5.    Will visitors be motivated to connect with you?

Videos About You

Video captures the imagination of viewers and moves them to take action. It's an excellent way to engage potential customers and start building relationships with your brand. 

While your profile offers room to upload a series of clips, the first one visitors click on should shine a spotlight on you. All you need is your phone and a simple editing app, you can produce it yourself. 

• Check the proportions of your shot. Not to close, not to far away
• Be aware of the background. Neutral usually does it
• Lighting is key. Outside is never wrong unless you squint
• Sound quality is a must
• Eliminate distractions
• Slow your speech
• Smile, baby, smile

Connections

You have the option to allow visitors to browse your connections or not. When developing a strategy, keep in mind that your connections also make a statement about you. Visitors will browse your network to get a sense of your influence within your industry and community through the people you know.

Content Essentials

Other important elements include;

Ø  A photo or graphic header that makes a statement

 

Ø  A bio headshot focusing on the eyes 

Ø  An SEO freindly plain language headline

 

Ø  A summary that is short and to the point

 

Ø  Information about education, volunteering, hobbies and things you care about

 

Ø  Use of online writing techniques. Short sentences, bullet points, subheadings, spacing, and link shorteners to make it easy to scan

 

Ø  Content optimized for search engines

 

Ø  Meaningful photos, videos or audio clips that help tell your story

 

Ø  Links to websites, other social media sites, and organizations you feel advance your story

    

Ø  Relevant recommendations and endorsements. It's not wrong to ask friends and colleagues to comment on your skills, abilities, and strengths

Wrap it Up

To wrap it up, the one word that should guide everything you choose to include in your profile is, "RELEVANCE!" In other words, why should anyone care? To amuse yourself, count the number of times I've used the word in this post. It's relevant!

Robyn T. Braley is a brand specialist, writer, speaker and songwriter.

CONTACT INFO

Websites: www.branditwithrobyn.com and www.unimarkcreative.com

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Twitter: @RobynTbraley

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