How to manage your personal brand on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is more than 575 million users with 200,000 people who register every day on the network.

How to distinguish yourself from all this mass to reach your goal  ? Build and manage your personal brand  !

LinkedIn is the benchmark platform for connecting professionals with one another.

We can look for clients, providers, collaborators, employees, candidates, forge new partnerships, etc.

It’s hard to choose when all the profiles look the same.

This is why you must absolutely bet on your own marketing in order to build an image and a brand that sells  !

1. Understand how LinkedIn works

Understanding how LinkedIn works is the number one key to managing your personal brand. Indeed, you will not act in the same way on all social networks. On Facebook, you share your passions or family photos. On Twitter, you post about what you’re doing in real time using tweets. On Instagram, you edit and share your best photos. But on LinkedIn, you have to share and demonstrate your expertise in a certain area. On this professional network, the main objective is to sell yourself by positioning yourself as a benchmark expert. Understanding the principle of LinkedIn is already a first step in integrating the idea of a personal brand and knowing how to develop it.

2. Complete your profile

Although at first glance this advice seems basic, many users are content with titles, but neglect the description. Remember that your LinkedIn profile is your showcase, so it must be attractive and make you want to look further. Use the allocated space to present yourself fully  : your previous position, the job you are looking for, your experiences, your background, your qualities, key skills, etc. Your image should appear on your profile. Use specific keywords that represent and determine your qualities, skills and strengths. Take the time to perfectly complete your profile to make it attractive and dynamic, in order to attract the attention of professionals. A complete profile will increase your visibility in search results.

3. Put a profile picture and use the cover image

Your profile photo should be professional and your cover photo should be relevant to your business. This will gain trust and increase the credibility given to your profile. Usually the profile and cover photo are the first two things we see when we visit a profile. Having a personal brand means above all paying attention to your image. Having professional photos helps you manage your personal brand. If you are a surf instructor, your cover photo may show a surfboard facing the sea, but if you are an entrepreneur or in business, it is best to have a photo in a neutral setting, which reflects your business, expertise or your values. Adapt your photos to your professional profile.

4. Be original

Millions of profiles exist on LinkedIn today. If you factor in the odds, there are thousands of profiles that are similar to yours. If you are a Marketing graduate, you will not be the only competitor in your area for sure. The key to breaking away from the norm is to be original and out of the ordinary. You must distinguish yourself in your professional market by developing your image and your ‘self-marketing’. You are the product you need to sell, and no one wants to buy a product that already looks like everyone else. Your personality is unique, so that’s what you’ll have to bet on beyond diplomas.

5. Define your targets

You need to target the people you want to reach with your message. This can be the industry in which you want to develop your network, your prospects or find a job. You need to define your position in relation to the market and the competition. Choosing your target audience will help in developing your strategy. Your message should be the same all the time and your actions consistent with the message you are sharing. Make sure your LinkedIn profile reflects this. Your main objective is to show consistency between your words and your actions.

6. Add LinkedIn business contacts

LinkedIn is, above all, a social network whose objective is to forge links between professionals. Having an empty profile of contacts does not give a good impression and does not inspire confidence. . To have a full list of contacts, all you need to do is  : ask for connections, add professionals you are interested in, post relevant information on your profile or in LinkedIn groups, create content, etc. Expanding your network list takes time, but you will gain visibility and notoriety. Managing your personal brand starts with managing your network.

7. Ensure your online presence

Being on the internet is the best way to build a strong image that lasts over time. Showing a web presence takes time and energy, but over time, the more information you post and share on a topic that interests you, the more it will help you gain visibility and position yourself as an expert. reference in your field, in addition to helping you build a positive and controlled image of yourself.

8. Manage your online presence

While it is important to have an online presence, you have to be careful about how we manage that presence. Remember that your personal brand also depends on your e-reputation, and that you must take care of it, in particular, by ensuring a certain consistency. If you present yourself as a serious marketing expert on LinkedIn but post photos from your last wet seminar in public, it is very likely that a client, recruiter, partner, or contact does not give you little or no credibility. . A partner, a recruiter will always type your name into Google to find out more about you and your online activities. This is why it is essential to always be careful what you post and say about yourself on the internet.

9. Define your added value

When you want to sell yourself, you first have to define your added value. What are your skills, strengths or major assets  ? What are you able to bring as benefits or added value to the company that is going to solicit you? Being aware of your own worth will help you position yourself as an expert with your target. You should not put yourself in a situation of demand in front of a company, but rather reverse the roles  : you must be able to explain why it is the company that needs you.

In conclusion

In conclusion, managing your personal brand takes time and a well-defined strategy. To develop your brand, you will need to be consistent both during business meetings and on the internet. One of the important keys is to have awareness of its added value for clearly define the benefits you can bring to the companies you are targeting .

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