In this day and age where competition is fierce among businesses and professionals, it is important to have a personal brand. No matter what your career is – whether you are an entrepreneur, a consultant, or a working professional for a company – a strong personal brand can open up a world of opportunities, not only in terms of financial gain but professional growth as well.
LinkedIn is the ideal platform for building your personal brand. The world’s largest social network for business professionals, LinkedIn is no longer just the site for you to put your resume. It has transformed into an effective social media platform for professionals to share their insights and experiences.
In fact, if you want to build your personal brand on LinkedIn, the best way to start is by coming up with engaging posts that will not only draw your select audience to your LinkedIn page, but also help you to establish networks with other professionals in your chosen field.
What Type of Content To Post
Building a personal brand on LinkedIn comes with a clear understanding of what your personal brand is about, who your target audience on LinkedIn is, and being able to consistently post content for them.
However, while you already know that regular posting is an important key to personal brand building, your dilemma is that you’re not exactly sure what type of posts you should place on LinkedIn that will help you grow your brand.
In this blog post, we show you the type of posts you should be sharing on LinkedIn that will help you in building your personal brand and improving professional engagement.
1. Share Your Expertise
To build your personal brand on LinkedIn, you should look to establish yourself as an expert and leader in your chosen niche or profession. Whether that’s in the field of entrepreneurship, B2B sales or digital marketing, what matters is that you have the knowledge, experience and insights and are willing to consistently share your expertise in your social posts.
Now, you may be thinking that you lack the necessary expertise to talk about a topic. However, just realize that you don’t always have to be the world’s leading expert on a topic to share your knowledge. All you need to do is just be further along the learning journey than your LinkedIn audience members, and be adding value to them through the Insights you share.
2. Share A Contrarian Point-of-View (and Back It Up)
You might be reluctant to disagree with a fellow professional or even a highly respected expert on LinkedIn. However, like with other social media platforms, LinkedIn allows for the sharing of opinions, including dissenting ones.
Generally, you should avoid posting potentially incendiary or provocative topics, such as politics and religion. But even topics like the debate on “Working in office vs Work from home: Which is Better?” can incite heated comments and exchanges.
Before you even consider posting an opposing viewpoint, think about whether it is worth posting on LinkedIn to begin with. Ask yourself if you can handle the criticisms that will arise. If you feel that your opinion has merit, do some research so that you have the facts to back up what you intend to say.
When posting a contrary viewpoint, always start your post on the points that you agree with. As you move on to your opposing view, it is better to emphasize the shift with “however” and “although” instead of “but”, which diminishes or subtracts value from your previous comment. Maintain a respectful and neutral tone in the entirety of your post. Avoid using provocative terms and don’t allow your emotions to get the better of you.
3. Share Inspiring Personal Stories
Your LinkedIn posts don’t have to be about business and career all the time. From time to time, you can share personal stories and photos that will inspire your audience to greater heights.
If you are a young entrepreneur, consider sharing your latest business accomplishments, such as if you have landed a partnership with a bigger company. Make it a point to mention the company in your post, especially if they are on LinkedIn as well. Many LinkedIn users share their educational accomplishments – from graduating from university to obtaining that Master’s or Doctorate degree.
For example, you can find Seniors in LinkedIn successfully getting degrees despite their advanced age (even saying “Better late than never!”). Those who are civic-minded can also post their experiences helping people in their respective communities or doing worthwhile projects to protect the environment.
4. Share LinkedIn Carousel Posts
Nothing can be more enticing in a LinkedIn post than striking visuals. One such visual is LinkedIn Carousel. Not to be confused with LinkedIn Carousel Ads, LinkedIn Carousel is a special feature that allows you to present your static text content in a well-designed and engaging slide presentation.
You can say that it is similar to PowerPoint slides, but with Carousel, your readers are able to engage with your content because they are already presented in the slides in a visually appealing graphic with the key text highlighted and condensed. The carousel formatl is great for presenting information in a brief and concise manner from a much longer blog post. It is also used for presenting statistics and data as slide infographics.
You can also use Carousel for promotions of your services and exciting offers. Best of all, because it is interactive, your readers can easily go through the Carousel slide-by-slide so that they can find the information they need. If you’re looking for ideas for LinkedIn carousel posts, check out our blog post here.
5. Share LinkedIn Native Videos
LinkedIn users have been enjoying the benefits of the feature, known as Native. Prior to its introduction in 2017, users had to upload their videos first on YouTube and Vimeo before they could share them on LinkedIn. With LinkedIn Native Video, users can now upload their videos of 30 seconds to up to 10 minutes duration directly to their personal platforms via the mobile app.
There are many ways by which you can use LinkedIn Native to build your personal brand. For one, you can introduce yourself, your company, and your brand, how you can help your audience, and the specific services that you are offering.
You can also post infomercials, including promotions on new products, services, and events. If you are seeking to recruit people to your staff, LinkedIn native video can also be used as a recruitment tool. You can also post video testimonials from satisfied clients and customers.
Conclusion
While building a personal brand on LinkedIn will take patience, time and effort, the long-term rewards for your business and career are immeasurable. We hope you find the content ideas in this blog post helpful in building your personal brand, and put them to good use.
Here’s to your personal branding success on LinkedIn!
Contributing Writer: Donald Chan
Donald Chan is the Founder and Head of Content at MarTech Wise, a leading online community for digital marketers, agency professionals, and startup founders. He also runs a portfolio of digital agencies and productised services.
