Steps to Improve Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

July 7, 2020

There’s no getting around it. Social media is an immensely present aspect in our lives. It affects everything from how we interact with each other to where we choose to grab a bite to eat for lunch. It can also make all the difference in how you advance professionally. Employers, recruiters, and hiring managers use social media to cross reference your resume, qualifications and personal image. A CareerBuilder study found that 58% of employers conduct social screenings to look for information supporting a candidate's qualifications for the job.

For this reason alone, you should be aware of your personal brand at the very least. In fact, when utilized correctly, personal branding on social media can be a very powerful tool in taking your career to new heights.

To make the best impression on social media, our expert team of search professionals has compiled a list of steps to upgrade your presence and personal branding, especially on LinkedIn.

Step One: Profile Personalization

The best place to start is with the image you are building for yourself. Who are you? What makes you unique? That is the focus of what your personal brand should be: What can you, and only you, bring to the table? Create a custom URL so it is easy for potential connections to reach out and find your profile.

Your profile should be current, so plan on doing profile maintenance for any new professional accomplishments or experiences. This could be anything from a new job to completing a certification, to learning a new skill. Just as important as accurate information, you should also make sure your professional head shot and cover photo are up to date as well.

LinkedIn can feature 50 skills on your profile, and you should take the opportunity to build those skills out as much as you can as often as you can. Employers and recruiters will often search on these keywords so including them will open doors to new connections and opportunities that you may be interested in.

Step Two: Getting Connected to Stay Connected

The saying goes: It's not what you know, but who you know. Building and using your LinkedIn to connect and network is effective in building your profile and personal brand. Make connections with folks you know professionally. Whether it's a classmate, a old professor, a former colleague, a previous supervisor, someone you met at a virtual event, connect, connect connect!

There is never a "bad" reason for making a new connection. At the end of the day, each connection leads to another, which leads to another, and one of those connections might be that connection you've been looking for.

Don't by shy to start talking with other LinkedIn users, groups or thought leaders! The messaging function is great for short, productive conversations. InMail can be used to send longer private messages to those who aren't first degree connections yet.

Step Three: Write (or Share) Like the Wind

This is how you can really show off your personal brand. Establish yourself, your voice and your values through posts. By offering your personal insight on the hot topics in your profession, sharing articles , videos and photos, you can establish yourself as an active and effective member of the LinkedIn community and gain a wider following. Give your connections a reason to keep visiting your profile. Be a resource to your network!

Like, comment, and share posts from others in your network. Remember, posting natively will always get more visibility from 1st degree connections. Be consistent with posting frequency, but test a few different types of posts to see what your connections like best.

It is never a bad time to start building up your personal brand, and it is never too late to start making new and worthwhile connections. We are always happy to help with any questions you might have about the ever-changing job market.

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