Using social media for YOU: Professional branding on LinkedIn

Using social media for YOU:
Professional branding on LinkedIn

Scott Brown, Social Information Group
SLA Pacific Northwest Chapter
23 May 2012
© 2011 Social Information Group

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Twitter: @socialinfo


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What are we doing today?
 What do we mean by brand? And what does LinkedIn have to
do with that???

 LinkedIn
 The essentials
 Writing for LinkedIn
 “Advanced” features

 Connecting and visibility

 How does this fit into my “brand?”
 Settings and that
 Maintenance and workflow

 Q&A

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Branding


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Branding


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What’s your brand?


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Professional vs. personal

Vs.


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Intentional branding


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Owning your brand – and your future

 What are your passions?
 Combined with - what are your skills?

 What do you want to learn?
 What do you really want?

 Your uniqueness


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Social tools give you another
means of being in the world.


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Why LinkedIn?
More than 120 people signing up every hour.
More than 150 million members in over 200 countries.
4.2 billion people searches in 2011.


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Why LinkedIn?
• Familiar format
• Great place to jump in and “get good” at social
networking practice
• Centralized place to have your professional
content
• Part of your marketing of yourself and your
services


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The essentials


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Photo

• Why?
• People can put a face to
a name
• And because, this looks
unprofessional:

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Headline

• Why?
• Your “one-liner” about you and your impact
• Gets posted anytime you are active in
LinkedIn!


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Customized profile link

• Why?
• Personal branding – looks professional
• Put anywhere – signature, business card, web
site, etc.


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Customized URLs

• Why?
• Personal/customized look
• And because, even though this is standard, this
looks unprofessional/unbranded:


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Writing for LinkedIn


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Summary

• Why?
• This is your “elevator pitch” in written form
• Quickly illustrate your impact, key points
• Key words and phrases for searching
• Can also call out “Specialties”

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Summary examples


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Summary examples


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Position descriptions

• Why?
• Specifics of your experience & impact
• Add in keywords & details that don’t fit in your
summary

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Talk about benefits
Some words and phrases that might show up in
your skills:
• Value-added
• Provide insights, identify trends
• Facilitate good decision-making, better decisions
• Competitive advantage
• Customer service (not just “reference”)
• In-depth research for content Google can’t find
(not just “online searching”)
• Information analysis (not just “search results”)

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Benefits!
“We don’t make the strategic decisions; we
make them better”

“I bring insights from the outside”

“I help people make better decisions”

“I make critical information findable”


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Benefits!
“I saved $50K in a very tight budget year by
identifying non-essential programs that could
be reduced.”

“Ensured excellent customer service by
providing quick and accurate search results.”


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More “advanced” features


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Skills

• Why?
• “Tag” yourself for more “findability”
• People searching for you use these to find you!


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Honors & awards

• Why?
• Highlight your awesomeness!


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Publications

• Why?
• Draw in your additional content
• Let your employers/clients know more about you

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Applications & extras

• Slides, blogs, skills, certifications, reading list,
events

• Why?
• Draw in your additional content
• Let your employers/clients know more about you

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Connecting & visibility


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Connecting

• Search
• Import email contacts
• Colleagues
• “People you may know”
• Groups – and “Groups You May Like”
• Good connections for expanding your network:
• HR recruiters
• “500+” connections
• Large groups

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Connecting


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You never know who you might find!


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Groups

• Why?
• See your industry/employer pain points
• Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise
• Connect with industry and professional experts
• Capture industry “buzz”

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Status updates

• Why?
• Demonstrate your industry awareness
• Keeps you in your connections’ awareness
• “Like” & comment on others’ posts

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Settings and that
Maintenance and workflow


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Settings

• Go through them all & understand them

• Check and set your public profile settings
• What are your goals?
• Visibility?
• Research?
• Both?

• Review quarterly

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How do you market?

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Maintenance

• Update bit by bit

• Moving around your profile sections

• Review quarterly
• Add articles, new presentations
• Tweak your summary, specialties,
descriptions
• See what new features are available

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Workflow
• Task-oriented
• “I update LinkedIn after I check my email”
• Schedule-oriented
• “Friday AM is my LinkedIn time”

• “Real-time” interaction

• It has to work for you
• It’s OK to take a break

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Building social capital

• Expertise • Participation
• Contribution • Inclusion
• Openness • Quality
• Integrity • Service


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Keeping the big picture

• What’s working for me?

• What’s not working for me?

• How does this fit into my career objectives?

• How does it change with my career plan and
goals?

• Am I having fun?

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Why subscribe?

• InMail: LinkedIn “email”, can send without
connection or introduction
• Who’s Viewed My Profile
• “Featured applicant”
• Job seeker community on LinkedIn
• Additional features


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In summary
Be visible.

Be yourself.

Your value is in your passion, your skills, and
your experience.

Your brand and career are bigger than your
current position.

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Your next three steps


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Now… It’s your turn.

What are your questions?
What are your next three steps?
What’s got you fired up?


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Thank you!
Scott Brown
Social Information Group
Don’t hesitate to contact and connect with me:
 scott@socialinformationgroup.com
 http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrbrown
 http://www.socialinformationgroup.com
 @socialinfo
 303-834-7553

Coaching also available virtually


Using social media for YOU: Professional branding on LinkedIn

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