How to Build a Personal Brand on LinkedIn

LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc., are social networks because they are supposed to be SOCIAL.

Seriously, if you want to build a personal brand on any social media platform, you must engage with other people’s content.

It’s the only way to get them engaging with yours, to build relevant connections, and to get your name out there.

This took me a bit of time to make peace with, as I’m not a big fan of spending hours on social media.

But guess what? You don’t need to spend more than 60 minutes on LinkedIn. I did everything I’m going to cover in less than 60 minutes per day. Sometimes a bit more, other times, a bit less.

Enough of conversation. You want a strategy.

Here’s my exact strategy for engaging with other people on Linkedin

1. Make a list of the top 15 accounts in your niche/industry.
   Pick active accounts, a.k.a., from people who post and regularly interact on the platform.

2. Bookmark their profiles on your browser
   
   

3) Leave a meaningful comment on their posts every single day

Please, don’t use the “good post” comment. Take some time to add value and engage with the person that took the time to write it.

This was a comment I left on Ross Simmonds’ post.

4) Rinse and repeat.

The reason for engaging with other people’s content?

• Learning what works: by paying attention to what other people are creating, you will learn exactly what it takes to create engaging and exciting posts on LinkedIn;
• Building connections: eventually, you will build relationships with interesting people.

The results after engagement?

• Profile visits
• Establishing your presence in your industry;

• Leveraging your personal brand.

Improve: How to Improve your LinkedIn Profile

Once you start engaging with other people’s content, your profile will show up in their feed, and they might visit it.

But if you want to take things one step further and leverage your brand to its full potential on LinkedIn, then improving your profile is a must.

Thankfully, I’ve created an in-depth blog post on optimizing your LinkedIn profile.

You can also watch this video:

How to Create a great LinkedIn profile:

1. Define your target audience
2. Use your headline as a sales proposition
3. Use the featured section to promote your services
4. Your about page is a pitch for potential clients
5. Connect with relevant people in your industry and see what they include on their profiles.

The reason for profile optimization?

• Selling: Your profile is your sales page. It must be optimized if you want people to take any action.

• Branding: People pay a lot of attention to the elements that make or break your brand. By optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you’re optimizing it the right way.

The results after profile optimization?

• Getting profile visits
• Generating leads
• Attracting the right audience

Network: How to Build a Network with LinkedIn

Having a relevant network is key to getting noticed by potential clients, employers, and leads.

You’ve done most of the work already: commenting on other people’s posts and optimizing your profile.

Now, the best part is building connections with these people.

Here’s my strategy for building connections on LinkedIn:

1. Search for people in your niche (top influencers) on LinkedIn;

2. Add them as connections (and send a personal message);
   
   

3. Continue commenting on their posts;

4. Have a conversation. And please, don’t go into a sales pitch.

The reason for building a network?

• Building meaningful connections: When you take the time to add value and appreciate other people’s work, you get the chance to make new and meaningful connections.

The results?

• Reciprocity
• Profile Growth
• Connections

Create: How to Create Engaging Content on LinkedIn

You’re probably wondering: “Ok, I’m commenting and engaging with other people’s content. Now what?”

It’s time to create content!

Creating engaging content is hard, especially if you’re just starting.

That’s why I recommend starting with curation.

What is Content Curation?

Instead of coming up with original content, you simply mention other people’s work, what you’ve learned with them, industry news, books you’ve read, and so on.

The goal is to curate existing content for your audience—no need to reinvent the wheel.

With time, you can go from this:

To this:

And once you get some traction, you should start focusing on leveraging your content for maximum engagement.

I’ve made a blog post with my five secrets to writing an engaging LinkedIn post. Check it here.

Or the video:

The reason for content creation?

1) Recognition as an expert:

2) Scaling your personal brand:

The results after publishing content on Linkedin?

• Perceived expertise
• Consolidate your presence in the industry
• Leverage your business

And this was the LINC framework — the only framework you need to implement to build your personal brand using LinkedIn.

Ready?