personal branding: linkedin best practice workshop

WORKSHOPhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/martinthomasdissident

Workshop agenda

1. Introductions

2. Why LinkedIn?

3. Managing your profile

4. Building networks

5. Building reputation

6. Job hunting

7. Conclusions & next steps

MY SOCIAL MEDIA?

Digital Brand You

• Personal Branding: the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands

• You are who Google thinks you are

• You are increasingly defined by what you have said, shared, posted & Tweeted.

2. WHY LinkedIn?

Key facts433m users worldwide (20m in UK)… although only ¼ regular users

6.5m active job listings

steady (+10%) increase in daily usage… potentially accelerated post Microsoft deal

not being on LinkedIn is starting to look suspicious

3. MANAGING YOUR PROFILE

Why it matters

94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to search for & check out candidates

you are 40x more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn if you are an ‘All Star’ i.e. have a complete profile

‘I use LinkedIn to verify the facts about their career & get a 360o picture of what they are like and what they think. I tend to look at their profile, the events they have spoken at, what they have published and what they say.’Headhunter, marketing services industry

Click here to find settings

Before you start making changes adjust your settings

Do you want to keep your connections secret to anyone apart from your connections?

Really important to turn this off if you plan to make loads of small changes to your profile

Allows you to anonymise your searches

Appropriate photo Background header image

Personal LinkedIn url

Most important part of your profileUse your professional headline to sell your skills … not simply describe current position

High level of profile completion = ‘All Star’ means you are fully optimised for LinkedIn & other search engines.

Option to view your profile as Public or one of your Connections … you can then choose what you want Public to see

Summary needs to be:• Informative• Engaging (video is useful)• Truthful• Consistent with your

other CV information• Optimised for search

with relevant keywords… as with all parts of your LinkedIn profile

Importance of first 120 characters that willfeature in your professional headline.

Proactively solicit recommendations from former colleagues, clients etc.

Exercise:

• Review the quality your current profile in collaboration with team members

• Devise brief action plan: 3-4 actions

4. BUILDING NETWORKS

Learn to network … to make most of social networks

Exercise:

• What does it take to become an effective networker?

The ‘art’ of networking

• Be interested in other people & they will find you interesting

• Communicate in a way that is relevant to the particular context

• Spirit of reciprocity• Play the long game• Make one new connection a day

Building LinkedIn networks• Requires proactivity

• Make it a (post meeting) habit

• 500+ should be your target, but generally quality beats quantity

Use LinkedIn’s tools

Option to upload xl spreadsheet

Search bar is useful

LinkedIn networking protocolStrangers will generally connect if you give them a reason why it will be in their interest

… equally, don’t feel obliged to accept an invitation from a stranger if they simply use default message

5. BUILDING REPUTATION

How can you get involved?LinkedIn rewards active participation. The more you get involved, the more people are likely to see your profile and the stronger your network will become.

Collaborate

Joining Groups• Really useful part of the LinkedIn experience

providing access to relevant topics and the ability to debate and share suggestions with peers

• You can send direct messages to fellow group members even if they are not personal connections.

Demonstrating thought leadershipLinkedIn has become a platform to demonstrate expertise & thought-leadership… & also pick-up knowledge from others

Create

Short-form content, typically built around a link

Longer-form content

Analyse & learn

LinkedIn’s preferred metric

6. JOB HUNTING

Search Tool

Research tool• Checking-out people you are

going to meet

• Establishing mutual connections

• Checking-out potential employer’s company pages

To pay or not to pay?

7. CONCLUSIONS & NEXT STEPS

Exercise: Create your ‘to do' list

35

Take-outs

Actions

Let’s Connect!

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/martinthomasdissident