Why Build A Personal Brand On LinkedIn?

Most people don’t use a new app or product until it becomes necessary. This makes sense. After all, why would I need to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop when Canva suits my needs for free? Or better yet, why would I invest in a resume writing service if I had just accepted my dream job? Bad timing. When it comes to LinkedIn, there is no bad timing. Don’t wait until you need a job to get started with networking and building your personal brand on LinkedIn.

It takes time to create connections and build trust with a new audience. And please don’t use LinkedIn as an opportunity to bombard anyone with a message asking for a favor before you’ve taken the time to build a personal brand! Here’s why it’s important.

See also:

• Build A Personal Brand On LinkedIn (How To In 3 Steps)
• What Is LinkedIn Personal Branding?
• Who Needs A Personal Brand on LinkedIn?
• Best LI Post Formula To Build A Personal Brand
• 5 Ways To Ruin Your Experience On LinkedIn
• Storytelling Is The Key To Building A Valuable Personal Brand

Always start with ‘why’

Last week a friend sent me this text message:

This friend is a mom of two with a full-time job and a small business she runs with her husband. After I shared my first post about my 3 steps to building a personal brand on LinkedIn, she reached out with some questions of her own. I love that her question started with “Why…” Pulling back the layers to understand the ‘why’ behind anything is such a striking example of critical thinking, a necessary skill of any empathetic leader.

Here are some of my favorite reasons for using LinkedIn to build my personal brand:

• Very low threshold for entry – LinkedIn is free to use (Premium features are available for a fee)
• Text based content performs well here so no videos or curated photos needed
• Direct access to key decision-makers
• A directory or ‘who’s who’ of just about everyone who works for a company
• Connect with others in your industry
• Surround yourself with those you admire and look up to

Start using LinkedIn now if this is only the first time you’ve heard about it. If you already have a LinkedIn account but haven’t done much with it because you feel so overwhelmed about where to start, we can set up a call to chat things through on my Work With Me page. The sooner you start engaging with other LinkedIn users, the better. Start jumping into conversations where you have an insightful or thoughtful addition to the conversation or a helpful answer.

Life before LinkedIn

Let’s go back in time. Not as far back as Doc and Marty McFly from Back to the Future, but back far enough to a time when the internet was very different than what we know it as today. Believe it or not, there was a time when we had to look up the right word in a dictionary or a location in the phone book.

What are those?

Right?! Finding out who the CMO of Nike was used to be nearly impossible back in the days when we only used the internet for job searches on monster.com. That was a long time ago! We’ve progressed so much since then, even though the job search remains largely frustrating.

LinkedIn is fully responsible for bringing together the people behind the brands we know and love. It is a directory of who works where and it is a place where we have direct access to the world’s most successful people. LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers and men in suits. No, LinkedIn has evolved to become the social network for professionals that it was always meant to be, and that includes showing up as exactly who you are.

It’s so heartwarming to see stories from previously underrepresented groups and to feel a connection with those individuals. If there’s one thing that the pandemic taught us, it was just how broken our system of work was prior to 2020. And LinkedIn offered our marginalized groups a place to collectively share our true experiences. Parenthood and neurodiversity and equity for race and gender all took center stage as we spoke up to share our stories on LinkedIn, a professional environment.

Engagement is your personal brand

Building a personal brand on LinkedIn is important because it allows you to get in front of the people who matter to you (or your business) most. The easiest formula for starting on LinkedIn is:

• Engagement
• Posting Content
• Connecting

When a new user joins LinkedIn and adds their photo and bio, the easiest way to start creating connections is by interacting with other users. Use the search box at the top of the screen to enter a topic of interest, a person or business name, or a specific role. Then scroll through the different posts to see what resonates with you as a reader and find a way to add value to the conversation by leaving a thoughtful comment.

Mix things up and find a variety of conversations to jump in to and start connecting with others right away. Don’t worry about feeling like you might be barging in on a conversation. LinkedIn is one big never-ending networking event online where everyone is welcome. When the time is right, start to post your own content. Share your stories with authenticity, always coming from a place of wanting to be helpful.

It’s important to remember that building your personal brand on LinkedIn will take time. You might write a viral post on week one. Or it might take months to get anyone to engage with anything you’ve shared. But, the more you interact and engage with others, the more likely they are to do the same with you. People are interested in people who show interest in them. Now is the time to start building that history.