Let’s be honest, LinkedIn isn’t the platform to mindlessly scroll through and disengage when you’ve had your fill. In fact, it’s the perfect stage to throw the spotlight on what you offer professionally and to strategically find opportunities to launch and grow your career or business. But the hard question is: How do you do that? Well, focus on your personal branding on LinkedIn, and the rest will follow.
Are you a graduate or a professional looking for job opportunities? Or are you an entrepreneur or freelancer looking to grow your clientele? Either way, start by deconstructing the often-heard phrase, ‘Build your personal brand’. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are you trying to achieve with your personal brand?
- What is the value you can offer to do that?
- Who is your audience?
- How can you maximize the benefit for them?
Remember, your job is to make it easier for companies, recruiters and/or businesses to find you on LinkedIn. And when they do, your profile should clearly endorse your personal brand. Try what I like to call the CPR method to breathe new life into your LinkedIn presence.
So, what is the CPR method for LinkedIn personal branding?
- C – Customize your LinkedIn profile
- P – Passionately proclaim your purpose
- R – Relationship building is key
LinkedIn CPR – C = Customize your LinkedIn profile
Give your LinkedIn profile the part-resume, part-portfolio and part-website treatment. What this means is that your profile must reflect your professional title, highlight your skill set and expertise, endorse your work ethic, and offer a peek into your achievements and growth.
Introduce to impress
Your introduction (title, expertise and summary) should give one glimpse of your personal brand and set the tone for what they can expect. Write it like it’s an introduction to a book. You want it to be enjoyable and informative enough to compel the reader to take a deep dive.
Take a moment to review the top-most section of your LinkedIn profile. Does it include all the details you would put on a business card? If not, do that.
Besides your identity, list your profession/industry, the value/service you offer, your USP/awards you’ve won, and most importantly, your contact details with a clear call-to-action. Check out our blog post on the 6 ways you can up your LinkedIn game.
Show the proof of your expertise
If the top section of your profile says you’re a public speaker or a marathoner or have won prestigious awards in your field, don’t shy away from setting a picture that captures that moment or side of you as your cover photo.
In the experience section, highlight how you made an impact on the companies or clients that you worked with. Ditto for skills! For example, if you’re a digital marketer who’s an expert at Google Analytics or SEO, attach the certificate to back your claims.
Your credibility, especially if you’re a freelancer, will fetch you more business, so don’t miss this opportunity.
Customize your public profile URL
Head to the ‘Me’ section and click on the ‘Edit public profile & URL’ to personalize this field and get rid of any random numbers, etc. A variation of your name and/or alias that you use to showcase your service is a good idea.
An example of a good LinkedIn profile URL is:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/[yourname] or
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/[yourservice]
Remember to keep the customizable section unique.
Ask for that recommendation
Maybe you did ask your colleague, senior or manager to write a recommendation for you on LinkedIn. And then they probably forgot! Or what they wrote was too generic. To save them some time and effort, offer to share pointers or draft a recommendation that they could approve and post. Now that’s a win-win situation.
LinkedIn CPR – P = Passionately proclaim your purpose
Remember the questions that helped you define your personal brand earlier? Well, now package their answers into a message for your audience. Each section of your LinkedIn profile must echo your purpose and your desire to offer value. Clients and companies alike want to work with those who are passionate about what they do.
Not just in words, translate that passion into your actions!
Curate relevant content that might interest your audiences such as industry reports, news and research. For instance, if your purpose is to help businesses expand their reach by optimizing their websites, then start conversations about website development, SEO best practices, or any original SEO research you’ve done in your posts.
And lastly, create and offer original content such as free checklists, handouts, webinars, workshops or tips that they can benefit from. Doing all this and that, too, consistently is key in building your personal brand and attracting potential clients or job offers.
LinkedIn CPR – R = Relationship building is key
LinkedIn is a community of nearly 740 million people. Did you know three people are hired every minute on LinkedIn? It’s a no-brainer that the more people know you and what your personal brand is, the more likely you are to receive referrals and find lucrative opportunities through your connections. Small habits and targeted efforts work hand-in-hand when it comes to relationship building on LinkedIn.
Don’t skip the basics
Always add a note with your connection request, sharing why you are interested in building a relationship with the person and make sure to thank them when they accept your request.
Also, don’t go M.I.A. after that. A week after you connected, reach out and offer your support or service if you can. Or share an article or industry development that might interest them. And after a few rounds of interaction, offer to take the conversation outside LinkedIn—to your email inbox or set up a coffee chat to meet face-to-face.
Take notes. You’ll need them later!
Listen to them and express your interest in learning more about their work. Track the progress of your relationship, either in a personal CRM spreadsheet or using LinkedIn’s built-in features to note key dates or information such as when you last reached out to your valuable connections and what you discussed. And don’t forget to set reminders to follow up.
Meaningfully engage with your connections’ posts
Congratulate them on their achievements, give a shout-out, endorse their values and/or content, share job or business leads with them, and add your perspective as a comment under their posts.
Maximize your reach with LinkedIn Groups
Why limit your interaction to a select few when you can cast a wider net? Follow the aforementioned tips to network effectively, ask and answer questions and keep the conversation going.
Want more tips on how to boost your personal brand and use LinkedIn effectively?
We encourage you to check out our upcoming event Diversity in Digital Career Summit this April 22nd, 2021 at 6 pm EST.
There will be workshops on LinkedIn and personal branding as well as tips and content strategies for freelancers and entrepreneurs. So, make sure you stay tuned—follow our LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest updates!