Why is LinkedIn the best network for personal brand success?

LinkedIn is the biggest and most important professional social network. You can’t afford to ignore it. LinkedIn typically appears at the top of search engine results, and it is the #1 place business professionals go to research or learn about other people. Let’s explore why LinkedIn is the best network for personal brand success.

LinkedIn is a social network, but it is really a business network. Nothing else comes close. According to LinkedIn, “4 out of 5 members drive business decisions, making it an ideal platform for B2B marketing”. They’ve become more serious about new innovative features for users and businesses. LinkedIn is positioning itself as an even bigger and more relevant business network with a renewed focus on AI tools, recruitment and business tools, and LinkedIn-optimized content creation.

2023 saw huge growth for LinkedIn as the network launched wide-sweeping updates. These updates include the ability to use AI to make it easier for users to amplify their profiles, write a post or newsletter with LinkedIn AI, or even use the recruitment AI feature to create job descriptions and more! Find out more about how to use AI and LinkedIn to help your personal brand become successful.

How can you optimize on LinkedIn for personal brand success?

The bottom line is that you need a great LinkedIn profile – not just a “good” or “fair” one. Everyone should have a great LinkedIn profile – even executives who have already built a strong reputation for themselves. LinkedIn is where you build and establish your personal brand and credibility upfront.

While some aspects of LinkedIn are essential to your online presence (a great profile and sharing solid content), we are starting to see the emergence of LinkedIn influencers, or people who are establishing large followings on LinkedIn by regularly sharing interesting, relevant, and useful content. Depending on your objectives for LinkedIn, you can make your presence as big or small as you desire.

If you are serious about building your presence on LinkedIn, you may want to post more often (daily) and focus on more video content that drives more reach.

For most personal brands, the key elements for success on LinkedIn include:

Profile

Make it excellent (not just okay).
Add as much relevant experience as possible.
Your profile photo matters most – ensure it is smiling and your face takes up 60% of the image.
Be sure your headline incorporates your brand building blocks vs. just stating your role.
Add as much keyword-rich content as possible to show up in searches.
Keep settings as open and public as possible.
Use paragraph + bullet format for text sections to drive impact.
Include “other” sections highlighting credibility (certifications, projects, etc.).

People

Add as many relevant connections as possible so that your updates reach more people.
Look at “people you may know” regularly.
Add people through email and your contacts list.
Add strategic business connections with a personal note explaining why you want to connect.
Request introductions to people you don’t know that could be relevant to you.
Build a process to keep growing over time.

Posting

Focus on business and professional content.
Post 2 – 5 times a week.
Videos work great!!!! Keep them short. Include captions.
Tag people and pages to grow exposure.
Don’t forget groups.

Participating

Plan to manage LinkedIn for 15 minutes, 3 times a week
Comment on, like, and share others’ status updates.
Interact with people who matter to you.
Compliment others, endorse skills, and leave recommendations.
Send relevant messages to people (avoid spammy promotional messages that aren’t customized for the person or come across as salesy).
Join and participate in groups.

When you follow this formula, your LinkedIn will be optimized for success! Need help learning how to market on LinkedIn? Learn how to use LinkedIn for marketing, including these key elements.

The information is taken from an excerpt of “Launch Yourself” by Krista Neher. For your free action planner and bonus resources, visit www.LaunchYourself.com/book.