So, you wanna build your personal brand on LinkedIn. You’ve thought about it for a while, dipped a toe in once with that post that caught crickets so ya hid again and now spend most of your time whining internally about this thing you ‘should do’ but lack the confidence (who are *you* to be posting, anyway?), creativity, and strategy to strum like a mf rockstar.
A strong personal brand can expose you to new career opportunities, introduce you to top talent, and establish your authority in your field. Maybe you lack confidence, or maybe you don’t know where to begin. Wherever you’re at, here’s the blog lite version of what’s going on BTS of every fan-girl worthy personal brand.
4 things you need for a strong and recognisable personal brand.
Part 1. Strategy
Brands aren’t built overnight. Brands become brands once they’ve fostered trust, reliability and connection. Before then? Just a person or company sayin’ stuff on the internet.
Before you dip another toe into these terrifyingly murky waters, get clear on your brand foundations. These foundations will ensure there’s consistency in your messaging.
Like:
Who are you (who are you going to be for your audience)?
Who are you serving and why?
What do you care about and how will you show up?
If you can find a sweet niche, like a copywriter for punchy employer brands, or a recruiter for veterinarians, you can really step up and claim your space.
Part 2. Stories
Hate to break it to ya, but a personal brand must be personal. That doesn’t mean you need to post private photos of your family frolicking through splash pools on weekends, but you do need to be mindful that personal stories and opinions are part of the deal.
Which is why I specifically said above “Who are you going to be for your audience?”
Use your responses to Part 1: Strategy to jot a list of the personal stories and anecdotes you can share with your audience that will capture their interest, provide value *and* meet your personal branding goal. Generally, that’s classic hero tales of triumph over adversity, career twists, taking chances, and mission-based stories.
Part 3. Opinions
While you don’t need to have this outrageous industry-challenging unpopular opinion driving your brand, if you have one, you’ll easily make waves online.
Mine?
1. Job ads won’t win the talent war, but employer branding might.
2. Having a fancy EVP isn’t employer branding. Consistent communication and marketing is (this one is *quite* a sore spot).
You can build a perfectly brilliant personal brand just by sharing your insights or tips, inviting discussion on trends, or embracing your creativity (e.g. me – quirky chatty lingo boundary pusher against the dull LI status quo).
Part 4. Commitment
All branding takes time, so if you’re really serious about showing up in this world, you gotta commit and you gotta remove your heart from your sleeve. Shit happens. Some posts flop. Some people spew hate (because they’re ignorant and/or bored).
Learn to cop things on the chin. Be ok with try, test, fail, tweak, try again.
All marketing is an experiment. That’s a truth. Just commit to trying and seeing it through.
Set a goal, like – posting once per day for 60 days. Or commenting five times per week.
The more consistently you show up and the more valuable things you can say, the more opportunity your tiny brand has to snowball.
Check out your fave personalities on LinkedIn
In parting, inspiration is your friend. See how others are doing it. Note what you like about their approach. Note the audience and engagement they attract, the time of day they post, the style of post (text only, text and images, slides, memes etc), their energy. Take a stab at what objectives you think they’re trying to achieve by showing up (noting that for some, it could just be to have fun and build networks!).
Whaddya reckon now? Feeling a zap of zesty inspiration that you’re ready to try, test, try again?