Building your brand: Make LinkedIn work for you

01st November 2017

We all know that we have to keep our social media profile pics respectable, maintain a somewhat uncontroversial Twitter feed and make sure our Facebook is on private. That’s social media 101. But what about LinkedIn?

It’s the most popular social network for professionals and a must have if you want to connect with peers and build your personal brand. But let’s be honest, it’s a minefield. Every week I see people share everything from wedding photos to disgruntled GAA related memes (yes Dublin won again, sorry Mayo!) So it can be hard to know what’s appropriate on LinkedIn. Where do we even start? 

1. Say cheese!

It's simple but, start with your profile picture. We can’t help but make a snap judgement on someone based on their photo. It’s often the very first thing people will hover over when checking out your page.

Avoid using blurry, cropped photos of you from a recent hen party. Instead make some time to take a professional photo. Even get one of your colleagues to take it. Use a plain white background, and smile.

2. Get technical

Familiarise yourself with LinkedIn basics e.g privacy settings. Does everyone need to get a notification that it’s your birthday, or that you made minor changes to your profile? It’s worth finding out how much information you’re actually sharing.

Another basic consideration is making sure you’re tagged in the right industry. Have you used the right key words in your job description and job title? If you’re looking for a job – tag yourself as open to new opportunities. Ticking these boxes means you’ll be on the radar for the right people – the people you want to connect with.

3. What not to Share

Don’t get too personal. LinkedIn is a professional platform. I repeat…professional. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t have a personality or an opinion but you do have to maintain a sense of corporate respectability. Keep your food pics to Instagram and your ‘drinks with the gals’ updates for Facebook. Nobody cares. On LinkedIn it’s all business.

Having said that, there are creative ways to talk business. You can news jack – take advantage of stories in the media to promote yourself or your business. Recently a recruiter used Jim Carrey’s cringeworthy E! interview as an opportunity to share some interview tips with jobseekers.

Share stories. Share your personality. Just try not to share too much! Remember that your name is attached to your company on LinkedIn. If you wouldn’t want your CEO to see it, don’t share it. Be wary of liking risqué content also, remember that likes are seen by your entire network.

4. Make analytics your best friend

To find out more about what to share – check out how your network is responding to your posts. You can see how many people viewed your post, where they work, where they’re based. You can also track comments, and shares.

Track your engagement rate. Set a benchmark and work on increasing it week on week. Mix up your posts. Share industry pieces, thought provoking pieces, share your own take on a story you heard. Sharing your own personal insights it a great way to carve out a place for yourself in a very busy newsfeed.

5. Update your LinkedIn profile regularly 

We’ve spoken about this numerous times. But it’s a point worth repeating. Keeping your LinkedIn as recent as possible should always be on your to-do list.

It’s important to record your work wins as they happen. Keep your roles, media links, job titles as up to date as possible. It saves you having to make bulk edits when you’re looking for a job but also makes a good impression within your own network.

6. Connect with people

Always send a connection request from the person’s profile page as this gives you the opportunity to send a tailored message. If you’ve met at an event, then connect as soon as possible after the event. Mention something that you talked about to warm up the connection.

If you’ve never met be sure to state your intentions for connecting. You only have a limited amount of characters so keep it short and sweet. Mention something that you have in common or what you have to offer through connecting.

Something that people don’t do often is actually injecting some social into the social network. Actually use LinkedIn to meet with your connections for lunch or coffee.

LinkedIn is going through a social renaissance right now. Professionals are trying to shake up this notoriously ‘boring’ platform by mixing up content, and treating it a little like Facebook. The problem here is everyone is sharing a bit too much and missing the point. LinkedIn is meant to build your professional brand. Sharing your expertise… yes. Wedding photos … no.

Before you hit share, have a think about the value this is adding to your network, and more importantly to your brand.

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