A convenient place to upload your resume; that is how many marketeers still view LinkedIn. In the world of influencer marketing LinkedIn is a platform that is barely used. It might look less appealing than other social media like Instagram and one might think that it’s not worth to put too much time and energy in LinkedIn, but when you take a closer look you will see that the structure and possibilities of LinkedIn are tailor made for building a strong personal brand.
For both influencers and marketeers LinkedIn is becoming increasingly attractive. In recent years LinkedIn has expanded the possibilities for marketeers. Brands can for example use LinkedIn Market Solutions to post dynamic content like videos and carousel ads. It is also possible to send sponsored InMail.
Consumers, however, no longer believe everything they see and read on the internet and they distrust advertisement. Therefore people more and more rely on individuals they “know” and consider reliable: social influencers.
LinkedIn influencers with a strong personal brand can like no other promote brands or products to a specific target group. They can mentions brands, tag them and endorse qualities or attributes.
What is a personal brand?
In a nutshell personal branding means creating a professional image. How does an influencer present himself? What are her or his qualities? What kind of specific knowledge does he or she have? The most influential influencers have all carefully crafted their personal brand. These personal brands are crucial in online marketing.
LinkedIn is the perfect platform for shaping a personal brand. It offers great possibilities (photos, descriptions, URLs, contact info, history) to model a profile. Unlike other social media, people use LinkedIn almost exclusively for professional purposes, unlike Facebook and Instagram (Let’s be honest, who doesn’t watch funny cat videos on Facebook?). On no other platform you can build a professional network as quickly as on LinkedIn. By adding your skills and people endorsing these you rapidly gain credibility.
How to build a personal brand on LinkedIn?
But how do you create such an image? First of all it is important that you create a strong profile that is 100% complete, provide a personalized URL and make sure your profile is public. Then build a community.
Step by step building your personal brand:
• A professional title: use the 120 characters for an appealing headline that reflects your personal brand.
• A picture:profiles with a photo are viewed 11 times more often.
• Background: choose a background photo that matches your personal brand.
• Contact info: here you can direct people to websites and blogs
• URL: personalize the default LinkedIn URL
• Media: add videos, images and other media that makes your profile stand out.
• Slideshare: this allows you to easily publish additional media that fits your personal brand.
• Skills and endorsements: adding skills provides a boost in profile views. Endorsements make your profile reliable.
LinkedIn as your gateway to influencer marketing
LinkedIn is therefore much more than your online resume. By using the extensive possibilities of LinkedIn you can create a strong, reliable and sustainable personal brand. This offers tremendous opportunities in online and influencer marketing. After all, it is much more likely that consumers trust an influencer with a strong personal brand than advertisement by brands.
