Presentation made on June 28, 2015 at Social Media Days South Florida.
LinkedIn is the largest business networking platform on the planet. Today, LinkedIn has over 340 million members worldwide, and over 100 million in the U.S. The majority of the Fortune 500 CEO's are on LinkedIn, and actively building their personal brands - so where are you?
2. "We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in
business today, our most important job is to be head
marketer for the brand called You.“
-Tom Peters, Management Guru
Forbes Magazine 1997
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5. Staggering Statistics
• 364 million members – first
quarter 2015
• Fortune 500 CEO’s are on
LinkedIn
• Companies aggressively using
LinkedIn as a recruitment tool
for talent
• 2.7 million companies have
company pages on LinkedIn
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6. 6 BILLION PROFESSIONAL SEARCHES IN 2014!
... People are checking you out!www.bigcouchmedia.com
8. • Stay connected to colleagues and business associates
• Receive notifications when connections change jobs or gets a
promotion
• Connections will also see your updates in their news feed
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9. • Value Proposition: What do you stand for?
• Differentiation: What makes you stand out?
• Marketability: What makes you compelling?
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20. • 2 million Groups on
LinkedIn
• Actively engage –
become a thought
leader
• Group participants
get 4x the profile
views
Groups
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21. LinkedIn Publishing
• Establish as a
thought leader
• Followers alerted
when published
• Automatically feeds
to Twitter
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22. Summary
• LinkedIn is a great opportunity to build your
PERSONAL BRAND – due to its massive reach
• Put your best foot forward with your profile
to reflect the quality and credibility of your
PERSONAL BRAND
• CONNECT!
• Use the robust tools and engage with the
active LinkedIn social community to build
your PERSONAL BRAND
• HAVE FUN!
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23. “Your brand is what people say about
you when you leave the room”
- Jeff Bezos, Founder Amazon
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Good afternoon everyone, my name is Georgie Brown -----I am with Big Couch Media Group----
8 year old strategic consulting and full service digital agency based ------in downtown West Palm-----
Talk about leveraging LinkedIn as components in building your personal brand
But before we get there I first wanted to talk about the concept of building your personal brand - from a philosophical perspective
Tom Peters - renowned management guru is believed to have coined this term - as stated in an article back in 1997
“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.“
This really stuck with and resonated with me when this concept was first introduced
Now for all of us brand marketers here today, just like building your company’s or client’s brand, it takes a multi pronged or holistic approach to build your personal brand
So - this is where LinkedIn comes in as one of the building blocks in personal branding
I choose LinkedIn as this is a very powerful tool and deserves its own “15 minutes of fame”
My goal today is that you get inspired to simply “do something”
So our discussion today
First “Why LinkedIn” - quite honestly - why should you care
Secondly “Provide some “Best Practices & Tips” for you to consider
Lastly - of course will leave time for questions, as well as open discussion - I want to hear how you might be using LinkedIn as a personal branding tool
So Why LinkedIn is important in building your personal brand
First - it’s the largest business network on the planet
LinkedIn now has over 360 million members worldwide, with over 100 million members in the US alone
Many of you attend networking events all the time, even like the party tonight - why wouldn’t you be putting your best foot forward on LinkedIn
Most of the Fortune 500 CEO’s are on LinkedIn - and actually publishing - meaning they are building their personal brand - which we will be talking about later how you can start doing this
Most companies are now aggressively using LinkedIn to recruit talent and there are over 2.5 million company pages on Linkedin
So here is my favorite statistic
In 2014 there were over 6 billion professional searches
People are looking you up!
You have to put your best foot forward - as a key aspect of building your personal brand
And – in the day of Googling everything – your LinkedIn profile will have high ranking in search engines
Also think of LinkedIn as a social CRM
Stay in touch with colleagues or business associates
Get notified when connections update their profile, as well as your connections will be notified when you update your profile
So the first critical component in leveraging LinkedIn for your brand is your profile
---Like building a company brand when building your own brand you want to think of these 3 things:
What is your value proposition - what do you stand for?
Differentiation - what make YOU stand out
Marketability - what makes you compelling
So now lets translate that into your profile
And today I am showcasing Sam Lewis - couple reasons - he works for LinkedIN and he is my cousin - and his profile rocks
Just like approaching any branding project – first is our look and feel ---So first we are going to start with a good photo - doesn’t even have to be a professionally taken photo, but should be clear and maybe something that reflects your brand personality
Next is the background - LinkedIn has template backgrounds or you can upload your own background
So what is your value proposition - what do you stand for
This is showcased in your Professional Headline
This is where you really want to grab someone’s attention - Sam has taken a more whimsical approach - but it is very engaging
Now – I took more of a hybrid approach – the “what I stand for” and also included my Big Couch information -
Differentiation is next - what is going to make you stand out
This is where you will use the Background portion of your profile
And this section also can include adding images and other media
Now lets talk about marketability - what makes you compelling
This is where your background and experience come into play ---- also remember here you can use many of the new features that LinkedIn has added over the past few years such as presentation decks
Also remember here to link to the company pages that you are or have been affiliated with
Also there is an opportunity for you to add a lot of other information - like any certifications, secondary languages, as well as volunteering
It is all part in building your story – what does your brand stand for?
Recommendations are key in building your personal brand
Actively solicit recommendations from your boss, colleagues, clients, etc.
This will absolutely help you in building trust in your personal brand
Another aspect of building your personal brand on LinkedIn is through endorsements
Add the various skills you are experienced in
Now some might think this is somewhat obnoxious how LinkedIn prompts users - but I still feel this is important
And as you gain new skills and experience - add them
All part of building your brand
Now you have a great profile - and now you need to connect
Aggressively pursue connections
When you meet people - connect with them
Go back and connect with former colleagues, clients, or business associates
Also - when connecting – make sure you write a personal note
So now you have an awesome profile, but now you need to get active on LinkedIn - so first I will start with groups
There are now more than 2 million groups on LinkedIn
Joining relevant groups and actively engaging in discussions - contribute thoughts, have a point of view - this is another aspect of building your personal brand - establishing yourself as thought leader leader
Could be industry groups, subject type groups, networking groups
Next is LinkedIn Publishing
This is a very powerful engagement tool
When you publish new content each of your followers will receive alerts
Also, this feature can automatically feed to your Twitter
Simply access from your homepage - under profile and Your Updates
LinkedIn is a great opportunity to build your personal brand - it is the biggest business network on the planet
Put your best foot forward with your profile - show the quality and credibility of your personal brand
CONNECT
Use the tools and engage with the community
Have fun!
Thank you for your time today - I could talk for hours on the subject - but I won’t
So now I’ll open up for questions and discussions
Does anyone have a good personal story to share about LinkedIn? Michael – I think you have some great success with Publishing.