How do you build a powerful personal brand on LinkedIn today?
Last week, I was thrilled to have Rosie Chong on LinkedIn live audio. Rosie is a personal branding consultant recently named Australia’s top personal branding creator.
First of all, “why” build a personal brand on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is an underestimated goldmine! Many people still think about it, either just as another “social network”, or a platform for posting your resume/CV. Both options are true, but there is much more that you can do here.
Through LinkedIn, you can build your professional network and create your own community. You can also follow and learn from experts. You can generate leads and find potential customers, you can search for and find potential partners, and the list goes on!
Next, How do you craft your personal brand on LinkedIn?
Here is some clear advice: Treat your LinkedIn profile as a landing page!
What would you like to tell the world about yourself in 30 seconds? How can this message about yourself make you stand out from the crowd?
Remember, your magical triangle of first impressions is this: A clear message about yourself is on your cover image. A recent (& decent) profile picture. Most importantly, your headline clearly mentions what problem you are solving and for whom. Check my humble profile as an example. Keep in mind that first impressions last! A powerful personal brand on LinkedIn starts with a clear and catchy profile!
Expect challenges
You need to be extremely focused on building a powerful personal brand. It is an investment that requires time, effort, and sometimes money. Expect to face some challenges!
What challenges you should expect? How can you solve them?
The number one enemy you will face is comparing yourself to others on LinkedIn, especially focused creators! Please DO NOT do that. Do not compare yourself to someone with a larger number of followers or fans. It is not about the number but about your “why” and purpose.
You can have a small number of fans/followers, but you are generating many leads, turning them into customers, and growing your business. This is more valuable than an ineffective fanbase.
Another challenge can be your inner self! Building a personal brand is like building a startup; it needs time, effort, and focus (and sometimes money).
You can face challenges like procrastination, delaying the work needed, and fear of failure. You can worry about what people think of you when they see your posts, and the list goes on. Take it easy; don’t overthink people! Just try to be useful as much as possible and create useful content.
You can also be afraid (or shy!) of building your network by sending that connection request or that DM!
Here is the nice part: the opportunities!
When you build a clear, strong profile and consistent, useful content, you start “attracting opportunities” like a magnet.
How to use your personal brand to generate opportunities
Creating Consistent Content = Opportunities
Decide and focus on your niche topics, where you can position yourself as the go-to expert. Post consistently about those topics. You can write posts/articles and create infographics, videos, etc. The LinkedIn algorithm currently gives more organic reach to carousels, videos, and polls.
Try to stick to fixed times when your target audience is active on LinkedIn. If you are targeting other countries, this depends on their time zones. Think “global,” please!
Rosie mentioned that when she did that, she got her current job. She also started getting speaking gigs, hosted keynotes, and did some great workshops by having a powerful personal brand and consistent content.
For myself, I co-founded a company between Cairo and Rome when I started being active on LinkedIn!
Leaving valuable comments = Boosting your network
Build a list of people you want to connect with. This can be anybody, from a top LinkedIn creator to a potential customer. Go to their profiles regularly and leave your most valuable comments.
You personal brand will be engraved in that person’s mind. This is how to stand out of the crowd infront of that specific person. But that would need time and consistency. Next, send a connection request, and initiate a conversation. Congratulations!
Summary
- Decide and plan why you need to build your personal brand on LinkedIn.
- Build a powerful profile and treat it as your website or landing page.
- Create consistent high quality and do not worry about the numbers
- Leave useful comments on other people’s posts.
- Keep an eye on opportunities that might come along the way!
Sounds good?
Finally, do you want to step ahead?
The “LinkedIn Influence Accelerator” is a course for founders, coaches, and communicators. It is crafted for professionals who want to create a process for consistent growth while enjoying time freedom.
Start boosting your persona brand now!
