Hello Again Everyone!
With the world becoming ever so connected, information is at our fingertips. Literally! But aside from information there are people we don’t know, connections to be made, and opportunity to be explored. But, first we must connect. Ever went to the grocery store and someone approaches you and says “Hi” because they recognize you, but don’t recognize them back? Well fast forward today’s digital age. Chances are high people meet us in the digital world before meeting us in the real world. It’s important as we grow our brands for places like LinkedIn to be an extension of us in a professional sense. This could be similar to twenty years ago submitting a resume and then getting called in for an in-person interview. The paper copy resume was our LinkedIn profile back in the 90’s. Below are some pointers to strengthen your personal brands via LinkedIn. Happy learning!
Profile
LinkedIn’s full experience begins with creating and completely establishing your profile. This is essential to being immersed into LinkedIn’s digital environment. This should include uploading a well composed and professional photo of yourself all the way to the last few recent employers to gain proper traction. For the LinkedIn About section be sure to give yourself a good headline!
Connections
After optimizing your profile, begin to expand and grow your network of people through connecting with them. LinkedIn is a social media platform connecting professionals. It would be beneficial to connect with people you may know like trusted friends or former coworkers. Even getting plugged in to groups related to your field of work for more informative conversations. This allows for increased exposure to leaders in industry, vendors, and many more professionals.
Published Work
Since we are immersed in a digital world, LinkedIn provides opportunities to publish professional content on this platform. This ultimately leads to engaging your audience and letting them know first hand the concepts and ideas your care about. Publishing content can lead to building credibility as a brand and strengthening you as a professional.
Customize Feeds
Learning new things can take a lifetime! As you connect and grow within LInkedIn so can your user experience. LinkedIn can further be optimized to a more personalized level displaying content recommendations based on people, publishers, and even topics you desire. The more interaction based on topics or content LinkedIn will adapt to better content matches.
Below are a few groups I found helpful working in the information technology world. If you work in the same or closely related field, you may find this helpful.