Network and connection are very important tools when you are creating your professional as well as business career.
Young professionals nowadays have been growing their connections with the use of social media, specifically on LinkedIn. The social media platform has become a gateway for professionals around the world to connect with others and develop their careers.
Various professionals have been sharing experiences, pieces of advice, as well as job postings to create opportunities for others. LinkedIn has become a convenient tool to improve your reach, connections, and knowledge to survive in the professional world.
Building a personal brand has become a dilemma for others. Wondering where to start is the first problem you encounter. Your brand should reflect who you are and what you can offer to your audience especially to clients.
If you ever feel left out with your colleagues who successfully build their brand, don’t worry. Just follow this guideline to catch up and create your path towards success.
Identify your target market wisely
This may be the oldest trick in the book but others still failed to follow this strategy.
This is the most basic concept in the world of marketing. By targeting your market wisely, you are not wasting much of your resources to the people who don’t attract to your brand. It allows you to ensure that you have the appropriate audience for your brand. Targeting also structures your marketing strategy to give more impact to your brand.
Create an image appropriate to your audience
If you are targeting CEOs, managers, or businessmen, offering them with non-business related can just cost you resources. Same thing if you are targeting different types of professions with non-relevant content. Especially to your LinkedIn profile, you are most likely to deal with other professionals.
Don’t take your profile picture with a selfie or dog pictures if you are dealing with intellectuals. Most likely, your credibility and content will receive fewer engagements. After you determined your target market, you can structure your brand accordingly.
Take your ‘summary’ seriously
“The first impression lasts.”
Today, people tend to have a shorter attention span since more brands and contents are worthy of their time. Trying to sell your brand that will bore them in the first three to five seconds is absolute failure. If you build an image that is straightforward to their needs, this will give your brand more engagements.
Having an effective message to your profile will automatically catch your desired audience. You need to utilize short but smart quotations statements can have an advantage with your competitive brands. This will also have an effective marketing communication strategy that will create more engagements for your brand.
Engage your audience with creative and smart content
Since LinkedIn is also a type of social media platform, creating smart and creative content is a challenge for you as you build your brand and credibility. Engagements are your determinants of whether your brand is selling or not.
SEO is the greatest tool in your arsenal
These days, the most popular brands tend to overwhelm smaller brands that are striving to the spotlight. SEO, or search engine optimization, will give you a fighting chance to compete with larger brands. This might be a little frightening to beginners but you can enhance your content with SEO.
SEO is an unpaid strategy that increases traffic to your brand. It processes your website to become more attractive to the search engine giving the site more traffic. With the help of simple keywords, your site can be on the top searches. To further understand how SEO works, click here.
Post on a daily basis with relevant stories
Working on your brands means giving it your best effort as well. It should have consistency and passion. This will create an algorithm for the platform that gives posts high traffic with high-quality content. People who use LinkedIn will know that your brand is reliable. Thus, it will reward many engagements to increase awareness.
In addition, there is also a “share” option where you can share other people’s posts relevant to the industry you belong to. Other professionals, experts, and recruiters will soon connect with you. It will give you more reputation as well as new knowledge of your industry.
Interaction is key
Having an interaction with your audience is one way to market your product. Social media have given people a pathway to interact with others through the platform. Thus, creating this relationship with your audience can boost the visibility and awareness of others. It is also possible that your connections in your LinkedIn can see your posts as well as recognize you.
Moreover, your authenticity will create more audience. People that connect personally can create stronger connections. However, there is a line that you need to keep in mind. Sharing little personal experiences can connect to your audience, but you should need to keep as professional as possible.
Give a mutual benefit to your connections
If you want a ton of endorsements from your connections, giving them are the only way to receive them as well. Not only endorsements you can receive but also a higher reputation. Always be genuine and sincere when giving endorsements.
Don’t be scared of connecting with other people
If you are scared to connect and meet other people that will benefit your brand, this can be your loss. Being scared does not get you anywhere. Connecting with high profile people can increase your brand awareness and opportunities to grow your brand. New connections will also welcome investors and other endorsements with influencers. For starters, it is one way to boost your brand awareness to the industry.
Be an influencer for the professionals
If you have little connections yet, don’t be afraid to share your experience in the industry. Creating an impact can cause a difference to others even though you have a smaller reach.
In addition, it is much better to reach the right people to pay attention to. With unique content and the right people, you will surely stand out from the bigger brands and mainstream content.