In today’s ever changing economy there has never been a greater need for each professional to develop their own personal brand. Employees can expect to change jobs and careers more frequently than they have in the past whether it be by choice or not. LinkedIn is the ideal platform for you to showcase your personal brand as an employee or business owner.
Your personal brand can be viewed as your reputation or what they say about you in your absence. This goes beyond your skills and professional accomplishments and also encompasses the intangibles that make for a good working relationship.
Your personal brand is what sets you apart from everyone else as it originates from your story which is unique to you.
The elements of your personal brand can include your technical and soft skills, passions, your network and audience, your experiences, your character and the approach you take to your area of focus.
LinkedIn enables you to showcase your brand with many of its features:
Photo
A professional headshot enables viewers to associate your face with your brand. People want to do business with people rather than corporate entities, your photo is the first thing visitors notice on your Profile.
Professional Headline
This gives you the opportunity to briefly (120 characters) describe the value you provide using carefully selected keywords.
Summary
In the summary you have plenty of room (2000 characters) to talk about the solution you offer, who you serve, the results those who work with you can expect and what differentiates you from your competitors.
Experience
Your work history is unique to you. Incorporate the appropriate keywords in your description of your achievements whenever possible to enhance your chances of being found in search.
Specialities & Skills
In these two sections you are able to describe your specific areas of focus as well as your skills (up to 50). Your specialities can be listed at the end of your Summary. These should be the top 5 – 10 solutions you offer as many visitors will not read much further down your Profile.
LinkedIn allows your direct connections to endorse you for skills, ideally the ones they can vouch for as a result of working with you. In practice, unfortunately, the ease of giving Endorsements results in people giving these more indiscriminately than we would like. Just the same, take advantage of the fact that LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skills and you can now position your most important skills at the top.
Rich media
LinkedIn allows you to add video, audio, Slideshare presentations, PDFs and other forms of content to your Profile. This allows you to get very creative with how you provide visitors with a complete picture of your brand.
You can also present your Projects, Language skills, Certifications, Publications, Causes & Volunteer Organizations, Courses you’ve taken, and Interests.
Please let us know how you are using LinkedIn to showcase your personal brand.
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