Do you use LinkedIn to reinforce your personal brand? I was asked to share some tips on this with the Strategic Trusted Advisors Roundtable: Denver at a recent meeting.

STAR-Denver is an invitation-only group of advisors in the greater Denver metro area. Membership is principally reserved to those with more than seven years of professional, business, and/or advisory experience. Board approval is required for membership, and I am honored to be a member of this fine organization.

After I shared these tips, I showed the group how its president, Anson Ross Thompson, was applying them in his LinkedIn profile.

Some Ways to Use LinkedIn to Reinforce Your Personal Brand

  • Use a background photo that’s consistent with the rest of your marketing. Let the image reinforce your story.
  • Include relevant credentials after your last name. These illustrate your commitment to professional development in your field.
  • Make your profile headline catchy and memorable, using appropriate key words.
  • Customize your LinkedIn URL, and, space-permitting, include a term or phrase that represents you. For example, my URL is https://www.linkedin.com/in/joycefeustelsocialmediatrainer/
  • Tell your story in the narrative section. Find fun and interesting ways to differentiate yourself from others in your field.
  • Expand on your position titles to elaborate on the services you offer. You have up to 100 characters in this field. Here’s one of my position titles: Corporate LinkedIn Trainer | Corporate LinkedIn Consultant | Live & Virtual Training
  • Add testimonials to your summary and to each position description. Carefully select the ones that do a good job of reinforcing your personal brand.

 

Some Ways That Anson Ross Thompson Uses LinkedIn to Reinforce His Personal Brand

  • His background photo of a VW bus decorated with “hippie” artwork says he’s fun-loving and a free spirit.
  • The fact that in the picture he is giving his wife and business partner Jenny a smooch shows his devotion to her. Their relationship is very important to him, and this picture captures that.
  • His professional credentials related to his work in commercial insurance are listed after his last name.
  • Anson weaves his philosophy of life and of business throughout his summary, saying things like: “If you are looking for unique, rare, and uncommon, you found it. If you want a traditional insurance fellow, I promise I am not your guy.” And “I work with an eclectic group of people; my business partner is also my life partner. She is my Queen. Our culture, like me, is unique. We smell, taste, and sound different than every other firm in our space.”

How About You?

How are you using LinkedIn to reinforce your personal brand? What examples have you found of others effectively using LinkedIn in this way? Have you found examples that really don’t work? Why do you think they failed?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 45 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com