How to brand yourself on LinkedIn?
With more than 500.000.000 active users worldwide, LinkedIn has become one of the most used social media networks.
To be honest, I’ve been mostly ignoring LinkedIn for years. I had an open account, and I’ve been publishing some posts there as well, but I didn’t focus much on it. I told everyone how great LinkedIn could be, but it was not. However, something happened. Its algorithm became better and better, more users started using it, and now I see massive potential in it.
I would like to give 4 pieces of advice to everyone who starts with it or doesn’t use it as much. This is definitely not an in-depth overview or a guide, but I would be happy if each and every one of you starts doing this :-).
Setup your profile
This one is fairly obvious, but I still see some users who open their profile and don’t set it up correctly. I don’t have much to say here, but profile picture, some bio, work experience, etc. should be a minimum.
Add connections
You should add only people you know, or you’ve done business with. Start with them and slowly build your audience. Don’t add too many users immediately, but start with your inner circle (coworkers, clients…). Later on, you can expand your search to include other people using LinkedIn’s amazing search tool.
Participate in groups
Groups are a great way to connect with people with similar interests, and there you can start with your personal branding. By helping others and sharing your knowledge, you will, in the long run, be recognized as a thought-leader in your industry. To be honest, I don’t do this very often. Why? I don’t have a valid reason, I just don’t do that as much as I should.
Start publishing some content
All these contacts and your good-looking profile won’t mean much if you don’t show in people’s newsfeed. You might add them (or they might add you), but they will forget about you if you are not active. Share articles, industry-related news, opinions, ask questions… (Almost) every content is good content if it shows in your contact’s newsfeed.
I recommend using as much video content as possible. Recently I started publishing short (up to 2 min) videos on my social media channels and LinkedIn showed the best results in terms of views and engagement. These videos are in Croatian, so getting almost 10.000 views is a fantastic result.
It’s a long-term process
Just using LinkedIn won’t prepare you for business success, but it can definitely help in a process. If you think long-term, LinkedIn can be the most amazing tool for personal branding. I started using it more and more, and I see some amazing things happening now.
