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15 Ways to Boost Your Personal

Brand on LinkedIn
Kristi Kellogg 439 4.4K
 February 5, 2020 SHARES READS
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Digital marketers need to be strategic about marketing themselves.

It’s easy to spend so much time focusing on your business that you don’t invest enough
time on your personal brand.

But don’t forget – you are a direct re ection on your brand.

You represent your business, and for that reason, building your personal brand is a
must-do. One way to do that is to create a robust personal LinkedIn pro le.

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Discover 15 ways to boost your personal brand on LinkedIn.


1. Optimize Your Pro le for Search

LinkedIn is just as much of a search engine as it is a social media platform, so the words
you choose matter immensely.

What keywords do you want to be found for when potential clients or employers search
LinkedIn?

Determine those keywords and use them in your headline, job title, summary, and job
descriptions.

Choosing the right words makes the di erence between your pro le being found or
being invisible.

2. Approach LinkedIn Like a Living

Resume
Your LinkedIn pro le is not something you can set and forget.

Update your pro le whenever you make a career move, speak at a conference, publish
a new article, take a new course, etc.

Think of LinkedIn as your living resume.

3. Use Your Description to Sell

Yourself
Take the time to really sell yourself in your description.

Get speci c: make sure to include any facts and gures.

For example, you can state that you increased site tra c by X% – that will be much
more compelling than simply calling yourself an SEO expert.

Highlight your greatest accomplishments that will be relevant to the clients and/or jobs
you want to attract.

Avoid jargon at all costs. Your pro le description functions just like a cover letter – keep
it concise and clear, and don’t shy away from selling how great you are.

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4. Reconsider Your Pro le Photo

You’d be surprised at some of the pro le photos that make their way onto LinkedIn.

Here are the things to keep in mind when selecting your pro le photo:
 It should include your face and/or shoulders – don’t use any extreme closeup of

your face or a zoomed out full body shot.

Your photo should be crystal clear and unpixelated.

No hats, sunglasses or other obscuring accessories.

Smile.

Have great lighting.

Do not use a sel e (or at least something that you can tell is a sel e).

Don’t have anyone else in your picture.

Dress professionally.

All this can be accomplished without a professional photo shoot – all it takes is a little
planning.

5. Get Creative with a Cover Photo

LinkedIn also allows you to add a cover photo to your pro le. It’s a great way to stand
out and add an extra element to your pro le.

Consider incorporating your company’s logo, or an image associated with your

profession (for example, a novelist might choose a typewriter or pen and an accountant
might choose a spreadsheet.

The dimensions should be 1884×396.

6. Customize Your LinkedIn Pro le’s

URL
Take the time to customize your LinkedIn pro le’s URL. Ideally, you’ll be able to change

it your name.

If, however, the name is already taken, consider adding your middle name or using your
profession.

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For example, if /John-Smith was taken, try things like:

/John-M-Smith

/John-Smith-SEO

If at all possible, use dashes in these URLs, as seen above. Why?

Google reads dashes as spaces, and, accordingly, recommends their use over
underscores.

Keep in mind that you can only change your URL once every 30 days, so make sure you
100% committed to the URL you’re about to submit since you’ll be stuck with it for at
least a month!
7. Write Articles for LinkedIn 

Consider publishing articles directly to LinkedIn.

You might wonder why you’d post an article to LinkedIn rather than your own blog, and
that’s a fair question.

The advantage of posting on LinkedIn is that when you hit publish, all your connections
will be noti ed and it will show up in their feed.

There’s an opportunity to increase your chances of your LinkedIn audience reading it.

You can, of course, always publish an excerpt of an article already on your blog or site,
and direct your LinkedIn audience to read the rest on your site.

Or, you can syndicate content from your blog and repost it to LinkedIn. You can also, of
course, create content that’s exclusive to LinkedIn.

For example, there might be a piece you want to write on an entrepreneurial subject
that would resound with your LinkedIn connections that won’t necessarily make sense
on your business’ blog.

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8. Choose Your Skills Strategically

Every LinkedIn pro le can list up to 50 skills.

You should choose relevant skills to ll all 50 slots, and furthermore, you should think
strategically about what skills to include.

Fifty might seem like a lot, but it’s once you start adding skills you’ll nd it’s actually not
that many (especially considering skills can include things as generic as “writing” and
“editing.”)

The 50 skills you choose should align with the skills that potential employers or clients
will be looking for.

Not sure what those skills are?

Look at jobs you want and see what the desired skills they list are.

If you have them, make sure to include them (and if not, start working on them so you
can include them down the road!).
9. Set Your Pro le to Public 

You want your pro le to be public, no matter what you’re using LinkedIn for.

Why would you alienate future employers, colleagues, and customers from seeing your
work?

The only reason you might choose to keep your pro le private is if you want to check
out other people’s pro les without them knowing it (we all have our reasons).

But, in that case, you can just log out of your account and before viewing a pro le, and
they’ll never know.

Now, you have no reason not to go ahead and make your LinkedIn pro le public!

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10. Participate in Groups

Don’t underestimate the power of participating in LinkedIn groups.
Joining groups is a fantastic way to nd other professionals whose interests align with

yours.

Down the line, those connections can lead to opportunities and contracts.

Find groups relevant to your industry and not only join them, but participate.

Comment, start threads, pose questions, o er advice – strive to be a useful, active

member of a few key groups, rather than a silent lurker in many.

11. Accept All Connection Requests

There’s literally no reason not to accept a connection request, whether you know the
person or not.

Given that your pro le is a professional, public-facing component of your personal

brand, you should welcome any and all connection requests.

Growing your connections will only lead to a wider network and more opportunities.
Plus, you’ll show up more.

Every time you accept a request, you’re now going to be part of that connection’s
network, and accordingly, you’ll show up as a second-degree connection in their
network.

Obviously, there’s one exception to this rule: if someone is harassing you online, you
shouldn’t accept their LinkedIn request.

Other than that, however, accept requests – they’re a good thing!

12. Engage Meaningfully

LinkedIn shouldn’t just be a platform for your own posts.

Set aside time to go through your LinkedIn feed and nd opportunities to share, like
and comment.

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This is key to building relationships over time.

If, for example, there’s someone you’d really like to work with in the future or a client
you’ll like to land, make a point to engage with their content on LinkedIn.

That way, if you ever are in a position to partner with them or pitch to them, they have a
background with you – you won’t be just another connection, but someone they actually
interacted with.

13. Personalize Invitations to

Connect
Taking the time to write a personal note along with an invitation to connect will boost
your chance of acceptance and also open the door for further communication down
the line.

Write a brief message (even a paragraph is ne!) and mention how you met, why you
want to connect or something you admire about their business.

14. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for

Recommendations
Don’t just wait for recommendations to oat your way – be proactive and go after them!

Reach out to your connections with a request for a recommendation!

Good places to start include your colleagues (past and present), or over-the-moon
clients who you can count on to share good work.

Be sure to include a personal note, politely requesting a recommendation on LinkedIn.

It helps to share why you want the recommendation, as well (i.e., you’re looking to boost
your online reputation, you’re applying for new jobs, you’re looking for good references
for clients, etc.).

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Once they give you a recommendation, always take the time to thank them and write a
recommendation for them, in return.

15. Keep Your Content Positive and

Helpful
LinkedIn is your professional calling card – don’t comment/share/publish anything that
you wouldn’t say to a client or employer.

Keep your posts and comments positive, thoughtful, and encouraging, and always treat
LinkedIn like a professional workspace, rather than a personal social media pro le.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn to How to Advertise on LinkedIn:

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Kristi Kellogg
 CEO and Founder at Dazzling Digital

Kristi Kellogg is the founder of Dazzling Digital, a full-service digital
marketing agency based in Los Angeles. Kellogg specializes in high-caliber
content strategy and SEO. Her clients include Vogue, Brides, ... [Read full
bio]

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