Here’s how you build you professional brand on LinkedIn. It will amplify your career and sales prospects and you can do it in under 30 minutes a week.

There are several crucial reasons why branding is essential.

• Customers and clients know what to expect from you and your business, and get an insight into your values before partnering/buying from you. You become more relatable to people.Your branding impacts how all different types of stakeholders (customers, prospects, partners, potential employees) perceive you and your business and whether or not they’d like to work with you.
• Effective personal branding allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
• Your reputation builds up whether you do something or not. It’s best to have some structure about how it develops.
• You can demonstrate expertise in a particular area and gain credibility in a specific area.

For professional branding, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to choose. If you operate a professional services business, an agency, or any B2B company, have a look at our other blog, 5 reasons you should build your professional brand on LinkedIn, to understand some key metrics and why you should consider your personal branding on LinkedIn. Once you’ve considered why it’s important, how can you go about building it?

1. Complete all the fields on your LinkedIn profile.

Use all the free real estate you’re given. Your headshot is the first impression of yourself. Make it approachable, professional and genuine. Use the banner to showcase yourself and who you are. You usually have to pay to get top real estate on most platforms, so don’t let yours go to waste on your LinkedIn profile.

2. Use media with your posts (videos, PDFs, slide decks, images).

Posts with visuals increase dwell time and engagement with almost all social media platforms. You can get more information across in a more exciting way. People like that. LinkedIn is no different in that regard.

However, one of the many unique things about LinkedIn is that you can attach PDFs and slide decks to posts, and a preview of the document is rendered in your post. Because people can read your content without having to open it, they can get a taste of what your document is about, and you capture greater attention.

3. The rule of thirds (promote, share, engage).

When looking at your content, you need to ensure a balance between the different types of posts you create. Fortunately, there’s a handy rule called the rule of thirds. It’s generally considered a good starting place if your content is ⅓ promoting your product or services, ⅓ interacting with others, and ⅓ sharing industry news and tips that you think could benefit your followers.

4. Choose an underserved niche.

Focus on an area where you have genuine interest and expertise that isn’t crowded, and start being the expert there. Find other people who are also experts in that area and connect and comment on their posts. You’ll most likely have more meaningful content to share and gain visibility from their audience.

5. Create an interesting profile.

It’s not only essential to complete your profile, but you also need to make it stand out. By viewing your profile, will people easily understand your area of expertise and what makes you different? Use direct sentences and demonstrative examples of value generated to stand out.

6. Actively engage with people with similar interests in a genuine way.

Build relationships by following or connecting with people who have similar interests, and like and comment on their posts. LinkedIn rewards conversations on posts, so people will most likely respond to you if you have something interesting to say. Avoid clichés and be authentic. People are much more likely to engage with and trust you if you come across meaningfully.

7. Optimise your profile for search.

Now you have your area of focus, you want to optimise your profile for that target group. Make sure the relevant terms, skills and tag lines are in your headline, About section, previous job experience and skill recommendations. You’re more likely to show up in LinkedIn’s search results.

LinkedIn is an excellent professional networking and branding tool. Take control of your online brand and reap all the benefits of having a professional and engaging online presence.