LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable resource for building your personal brand. The platform currently has over 500 million users, which provides you with a substantial audience to showcase your company and contribute to the larger conversation within your target industry. We’ll provide you with some key insights on what it takes to create a personal brand for your target audience and how you can leverage thought leadership to expand the reach of your company.
A personal brand is a bit different from your company’s brand—as an owner, CEO, or operator, your online persona affects how your business is perceived and whether or not people want to do business with you. After all, clients and partners make lunch appointments with you, not your logo. If you think about how the cult of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are inextricably linked with public perceptions of Tesla or Amazon, you’ll understand how important it is to craft an impeccable public profile for yourself.
Creating Your Summary
First, you want to ensure that your personal summary aligns with the overarching goals of your business. Consistent messaging is a key aspect in developing a personal brand on LinkedIn, and as the face of your company, you’ll want to ensure that you have a clear concise summary that communicates values and specializations that will resonate with your target audience. You don’t need to showcase specific products and services that your company offers in this summary, but you will want to make sure that it sufficiently communicates your dedication to the core values and principles of the business you’re representing. You’ll want to try and keep this summary to three concise paragraphs because having too much length will hurt your chances of capturing the attention of your visitors.
Sharing Relevant Content
Although LinkedIn has over 500 million users, only 3 million of those users share content on a regular basis. This presents you with an excellent opportunity to establish an influential presence as a thought leader within your target industry. Something you’ll want to be extremely conscious of as you share articles and information on your page, is whether or not the content is relevant to your audience, and whether or not it speaks to larger conversations within your market. You can, and should, share articles and information related to your company, but you want to make sure that this isn’t the only type of content that you’re providing. If you focus only on promoting your own business, the audience won’t feel that you’re sharing content that speaks to a larger conversation, which means they won’t take you seriously as a thought leader. This is why it’s extremely important that you share a variety of different content because as you establish your own legitimacy as a leader within your industry, you’ll also be establishing the legitimacy and relevance of the company you represent.
To talk with one of our specialists about building your personal brand, contact us at River Avenue Digital.