LinkedIn tips for personal brand building

- With over 200 million monthly active users, LinkedIn has the potential to take your personal brand to the next level. LinkedIn is an ideal platform to build industry authority and credibility. To increase the chance of forming new connections, be sure to include your contact info, a quality profile picture, a detailed bio, your employment history and client testimonials or endorsements on your page. Your bio is the main block of text underneath your photo, banner, title, and other basic information. Viewers only see the first two lines of your bio before they click see more, so make sure those first two lines count. But after you meet all those basic requirements, what else should we do on LinkedIn? Give industry insight. LinkedIn is all about networking with people in your industry. On top of reporting key industry news and trends, take it one step further and try to provide key insights, takeaways, and your unique perspective on trending news by creating and publishing articles. The articles you publish will show up in your activity area, and it's a good idea to have at least three or more published articles that speak to your industry expertise and insights. This will make your profile look more legitimate and more people will accept your connection requests as a result. Use the power of video to tell your story. Video is the fastest growing trend on social media, and LinkedIn has officially decided to tap into this market. So post videos on your LinkedIn page that tell the story behind you and your business. With video, show your LinkedIn connections some behind-the-scenes content, or an exclusive peak of a new product release, or a project that is soon to launch. Remember, the possibilities are endless when it comes to video. Pay attention to your connections. It's not just about how many connections you make or how many followers you have on LinkedIn, it's about how many people you reach and engage with. Think quality connections. The more like-minded your connections are, the better chance your content will resonate with them, lead to engagement and generate leads. My next tip is to join industry related groups and monitor interactions. This can help you to better target your market to address prospects' needs, and provide the solution. You can also monitor your competitors to see what type of information they're posting, and their success. Plus, you can use insight shared from these groups as inspiration for your own content, filling in the information gaps for your prospective customers. And last but not least, don't forget to give your LinkedIn page some personality. There's definitely a misconception with LinkedIn. Many users feel that because it's a business social platform that you need to be 100% professional at all times. However, users want to engage with thought leaders who share great value in a personal and relatable way. So be sure to show who you are and what your personal brands stand for. Happy connecting.