Today’s guest post is from Sandy Jones-Kaminski and it’s a topic with which I know many of you grapple. Learn more about Sandy and her fabulous offer for you at the end! Sweet.
Have you jumped on the personal brand wagon yet?
Personal branding is still a hot topic, so I thought I’d share some of the ways that you can use LinkedIn to cultivate and reinforce your personal brand.
First off, let’s agree that your personal brand represents how you market yourself to the world (Tweet this!). It’s what comes to mind when people you know think of you, and it tells folks you don’t know what you represent, offer or are a go-to person for.
As an example, my personal brand is that of a connector, networking maven and person that can almost always find a way to make things happen. It’s funny to think that back in the late 80s I unwittingly started cultivating my personal brand when I ordered custom license plates for my car that said, “HAS A WAY” on them. I happily gave those plates (and my car) up when I moved from Chicago to San Francisco in the late 90s, but that part of my personal brand identity definitely stuck.
Define Your Brand
If you haven’t identified your own personal brand yet, I recommend you spend at least a half hour this week thinking about and then listing the things:
– for which you are known
– for which you want to be known
– you are most likely to say when asked, “What qualities differentiate you from your peers (or competitors)?”
Update Your LinkedIn Profile
Rethink your headline: Distill what you’ve come up with and use it to inform the edits you should make to your LinkedIn profile. Does you headline reflect what you are versus what your job title or role is? (There’s a place for title by your company’s listing in your job history.) On mine, for example, I currently have:
Networking Expert, LinkedIn Trainer/Strategist/Blogger, Social Media Marketer, Business Developer, Author, Speaker
Create a public URL: Additionally, if you haven’t set up your Personal LinkedIn URL yet, it is time. Look under “Profile” then “Edit Profile” to find “Public Profile” and carefully consider whether you want to use your name, business name or a nickname in the URL. This is a great link to share in your email signatures or on your personal business cards if you don’t yet have a website you’re proud of or a job or a personal Tumblr or similar page. For example, mine is http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyjk
Improve your summary: Use your “Summary” as you would an elevator pitch, brief cover letter or biography, but do make sure that your personality comes through.
A much-challenged belief that LinkedIn is your resume online is inaccurate. Your LinkedIn profile summary is actually a less formal way to present your best possible self to the professional world and when would you ever want to sound like a robot to another human? Leave the robotic resume speak for the specific job listing within your profile, but even there, let SEO (search engine optimization) tactics guide your descriptions.
Focus on words you think a prospect, recruiter or hiring manager looking for someone like you would use to search the vast LinkedIn database.
Here are a few I’ve seen in the “Specialties” section and/or within the listings in the “Experience” section:
-executive, managed, global, delivered, sold, produced, developed, wrote, author, speaker, marketing, built, start-up, etc.
Make smarter status updates: Make sure your status updates (and tweets if you’ve linked Twitter to your profile) reflect the things/topics for which you want to be known and keep your self-promotion in line by using the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) and share insights or “on brand” content 80 percent of the time and only share your good news or accomplishments 20 percent of the time.
Share your expertise: Last, but certainly not least, peruse the groups you are a member of within LinkedIn for relevant to you or your industry conversations where you can showcase your personal brand by contributing meaningful insights, knowledge or ideas. This is a great way to build your reputation and awareness with people who don’t already know you or what you represent. But, a word of caution, it’s also a great way to tarnish your personal brand if you use your comments to solely promote yourself or business or as what’s called “link bait” to get people to visit your site or Facebook page.
Hope this motivates you to jump on the personal brand wagon!
About Sandy: As the Chief Connecting Officer of Bella Domain Media, and the author of, I’m at a Networking Event–Now What???, a #1 pick on the Inc.com 2010 Business Book Wish List, Sandy shares her insights and practical advice as a LinkedIn strategist, professional development speaker/trainer, and consultant/coach. She offers Mastering LinkedIn…Beyond the Basics: a customized training for individuals or teams already using LinkedIn at an introductory or intermediate level, and would now like to maximize their use of this powerful social networking platform. You can contact her via belladomain.com to schedule your personal or group training today. Mention Red Slice to receive $50 off your first session! And sign up for her free newsletter full of LinkedIn tips and more!
Photo credit: Joneski’s
