In today’s competitive environment, Professional Branding in LinkedIn has gained much more importance because employers today are looking out for LinkedIn as a tool for searching Profiles and hiring them accordingly and therefore it’s important to stand out in crowded LinkedIn. Pasted below are few steps –
1. Use Professional Profile Picture – Your profile picture can be one of the most important elements of your LinkedIn presence. Research shows that just having a picture makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others. To increase your response rates, INVEST in your profile picture. It’s your first chance to communicate that you are friendly, likeable, and trustworthy. These attributes are crucial for Hiring Managers to engage with you. Think of it as your first step to building your personal brand on LinkedIn and making yourself stand out.
2. Good Executive Summary – First impression counts and your LinkedIn Summary is the first step for the prospective employer to find out who you are beyond a photo. Therefore, the Executive Summary should generate the interest in the employer to browse through rest of your Profile. Having a compelling summary will facilitate the phone to start ringing!
3. Use Industry Keywords – It’s always vital to use Job specific industry keywords as it would ensure your chances of getting through the initial screening by Hiring Managers. Bottom-line, if you want to be found for your skills and job title within the confines of LinkedIn searches, make keyword-optimized Profile content your topmost priority.
4. Connecting with People You Don’t Know – That’s the whole point of Networking – getting to know new people, not just established connections. Building your LinkedIn network has many benefits. You get in front of influencers, get more endorsements. More people are viewing your content (Articles / BLOGS) and it’s great for professional branding.
5. Writing Posts / Articles – Publishing Articles over LinkedIn could help you meet your marketing goals but you need to be cautious. Don’t put all of your eggs (content) in one basket. Building up your own blog will give you more ownership and followers.
6. Build Business Relationships – LinkedIn makes it simple to stay in touch, updating you when contacts are celebrating work anniversaries or starting new jobs. Build the relationship and trust before you start asking for favours!
7. Ask for Recommendations – LinkedIn is a platform that gives you an opportunity to ask Recommendations from set of people with whom you have worked in the past / current role and can be a selling pitch to the Hiring Managers. Be selective. Pick specific people and ask for it. Another way to increase the likelihood that you’ll get a great recommendation is to Give a recommendation to someone you’ve worked with. This increases the odds that your contact will feel obligated to return the favour.
So true, looking forward to learning more !!
Great article with helpful tips to how to make full use of this powerful platform (Linkedin) to showcase yourself as successful as possible.
It is so true and refreshing to read this article, it is always a good practice to stay connected as far as possible and also to keep exploring new avenues. Keep reinventing yourself and co-create to know something new!!!