If you’re looking to build your personal brand online, social media platforms are the perfect place to be seen. Whether it’s Facebook. Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or TikTok, you’re provided with a space to show the world exactly who you are. But, what about LinkedIn in particular? How can you grow a successful personal brand on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn has been rated the top professional platform, with more than 900 million users and it’s been found to be 227% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.
If you want to be seen as a thought leader in your industry, LinkedIn is certainly the place for you but if you’re struggling on where to start, take a look at these four simple ways to grow your personal brand on the platform…
1. Optimise Your LinkedIn Profile
How does your current profile look?
We talk a lot about profile optimisation here at Maverrik and sometimes the simplest of tasks can make a huge difference to how your personal brand on the platform is perceived.
For example, LinkedIn members who have a clear profile picture receive up to 9 times more connection requests than those without.
It’s all about first impressions.
Not only does having a clear, professional headshot make your profile more engaging, but including an engaging headline and detailed summary about yourself can be a game changer.
You want your profile to reflect who you are and showcase your expertise clearly.
Everyone has a story to tell, so use your profile as a platform to tell that story.
There’s a whole list of things you can do to optimise your profile, and we have a checklist you can use to make sure you tick every box on your profile.
2. Provide Value Through Content
Once you’ve optimised your profile, content is the next step.
Providing value through your content can be one of the most effective growth strategies on LinkedIn and a perfect way to showcase your personal brand.
Share thought-leadership articles, insights and original content that’s informative and engaging for your audience, focusing on trending topics in your industry.
Your content will allow your audience to learn more about who you are, and how you and your services can help them.
When you start posting the right value consistently, you’ll start seeing a spike in your engagement, allowing your brand to naturally grow.
Do it wrong, and you’ll attract the wrong people.
3. Network and Engage
Content is a great way to reel an audience in, but you want to make sure you’re engaging with them on a regular basis to encourage them to stick around.
Take the time to connect with people you want to be seen by, and always make sure they have an active profile by checking to see if they’ve posted or engaged with content on LinkedIn recently.
Spend time engaging with those profiles by commenting, sharing and liking posts and build up genuine, online connections. Make sure you’re responding to comments and in-mails on your own profile too to help increase your visibility across the platform.
Nurture those relationships and they’ll become your best brand ambassadors.
4. Be Consistent
When you’re building a strong personal brand, it’s important to be consistent in everything you do.
Whether that’s your messaging, content or overall profile appearance, you want it to be consistent so your network knows who you are and what you stand for.
If you have multiple channels you want to pursue with your brand, keep the consistency across them all, same style, imagery and message i.e if you want to be seen as a thought-leader on LinkedIn, make sure your content across the other platforms mirrors that by providing the same insights through all your channels.
It’s all about keeping the overarching tone and image similar.
Now you’ve focused the time on your personal brand, how long will it take until you have a successful one?
Honestly, that question is one only you can answer.
There’s no time limit on success of your personal brand, but if you develop a strategy, and you’re consistent with your message and overall persona, it won’t be long before you start noticing a positive change in your brand exposure on LinkedIn.