Let’s be honest, when working hard on our company/client’s branding strategy, our personal brand is usually the last thing on our minds. And yet, deep down, we know that it’s so important!
Our personal brand is how people see us and it follows us everywhere we go. It’s a common misconception that prioritising your personal brand only applies to entrepreneurs and freelancers but as an employee, our personal brands are the first thing our bosses see, as well as clients and customers you’re dealing with, both existing and prospective!
In today’s digital world, LinkedIn is the hub for personal branding. Professionally, it’s where everyone is and just by having a strong, up to date profile, you can demonstrate that you’re forward thinking, interactive and up to speed from a business and marketing perspective.
So, here’s how to use your LinkedIn page to give your personal brand a makeover.
Optimise Your Profile
Firstly, make sure your profile is clean. Apart from the obvious, this also means cleaning out any old or irrelevant job roles or past work that no longer aligns with your goals. Having a simplistic but punchy profile will keep people engaged and allows the headlines to stand out.
Next, take a look at your bio and profile pic. Is it a blurry picture taken at a party 10 years ago? As great as you may look, ask yourself if this is the person you want to be now, in the world of work? If not, it’s easy to take a new one! Make sure it’s career appropriate and your face can be clearly seen – allow your personality to shine through! The same can be said for your bio: people will engage with a precise bio and relate to a personal one so it’s important to get the balance right.
Make sure to include relevant keywords in your profile. Just like website SEO, having key phrases in your LinkedIn profile will help you stay at the top of searches when employers or potential clients are looking around. Think about the jobs you want and what you have to offer. The algorithm will also pick up on how active you are, so make sure to keep posting and interacting with others’ posts.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, make your profile stand out from the thousands (and we mean thousands) of others. Unfortunately, it’s likely that there are already a lot of people that do exactly what you do so it’s vital to have a clear grasp on what makes you unique and showcase that on your profile. This could be in your posts, your profile picture, your bio, etc. Look at your peers and be that breath of fresh air to potential clients.
Know Who You’re Talking To
At some point, you might want to ask yourself: Who am I talking to? Who exactly is it that you’re trying to connect with? Is it colleagues, clients, employers? What are your goals and who is going to help you get there? Remember that you’re essentially selling yourself. If it’s clients, be specific. Who is your target demographic? Everything you post onto LinkedIn, including comments on other posts, read it through the eyes of your ideal audience.
The key is essentially to be the person that you want others to see you as. Having said that, let’s be honest, LinkedIn has a tendency to be a little cringey with people pretending to be something they’re not! Both on and off LinkedIn, your personal brand should be centred around you as an individual, not a carbon copy of everyone else!
Make Use of the Featured Section
The proof is in the pudding, right? What better platform to show off what you’re capable of than LinkedIn? Particularly if your area of work is creative, use the featured section as your own digital portfolio.
Choose to display the best of the best of your work here. No one is interested in something you did last decade! Similarly, if you post all the work you’ve ever done, your audience will have to wade through the material to get to your best work and realistically, they just won’t bother.
On top of this, it’s a good idea to only show work that you want to do more of. For example, if you’re a designer who would like to do more B2B campaigns, post examples of great B2B campaigns that you’ve done. If you post images of B2C campaigns, B2C clients are going to spot you and ask you to do more B2C work! If you don’t have any B2B examples, why not try creating some mock projects? As long as it’s your own work, you clarify that this wasn’t for an actual client and rather something you did in your spare time, you’re proving your initiative and showcasing your skills.
Create Content
One of the best ways to get noticed by the algorithm is to be regularly posting content. These posts don’t have to be long or extensive. They may even just be a sentence or two. Some ideas are blogs, articles, life updates, career updates, insightful thoughts you have on a topic of work, etc.
Make whatever you post, personal to you as well as professional. As we said before, people like to engage with others they find relatable so put your own spin on things!
Engage With Others
Engaging with others on LinkedIn is a great way to stick your profile pic and name onto people’s feed and get yourself noticed, and your engagement will tell people a lot about you!
Perhaps the most important in the cut-throat business world, engagement shows that you support others which highlights to employers that you are a friendly people-person! By liking, and commenting on other peoples posts, it’s also more likely that they will remember your support and engage with your posts in return.
The comment section is a great way to be spotted too. Make sure your comments are meaningful and uphold your values. Remember that your comments can be seen in your profile too – so be careful what you type!
So there you have it! A foolproof method to boosting your personal brand through LinkedIn. Give it a try, and follow Clockwise Marketing and let us know how you get on!
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