Being in control of your digital brand is essential in today’s world of heightened search. From colleges and employers, to your future partner/spouse, everyone is turning to Google to see what they can discover about you. Huffington Post states that 80% of employers do a Google search before initiating an interview. Some personal content is out of our control. It could be public mentions from campaign donation sites, that speeding ticket you got last year, blog comments you made in 2005 before you knew the importance of your digital brand, etc. You get the point without even a mention of your digital shadow- those images and text statements made ABOUT you by someone else on their own social media sites.
One great place to harness your digital brand and showcase all of the wonderful things you have to share about yourself is professional social networking site, LinkedIn. The platform went live in May of 2003 with nearly 370 million members today and has transformed the face of networking, recruiting, and business operations.
The art of being discovered is all about marketing. Some of the greatest marketing techniques involve telling stories that draw the target in and allow content to resonate leading to a deeper connection with the brand. I wanted to share some elements of a branding exercise that I use with my clients to help prepare them for telling the greatest story of their lives on LinkedIn. This branding story becomes the basis for LinkedIn’s Summary Statement which is one of the key marketing pieces for your profile. It’s your billboard opportunity to discuss what value you bring to the table and how your unique qualities, talents, experiences, and strengths place you ahead of your peers.
Let’s take a look at a few of the questions from the C3 Branding exercise:
-
What is your area of business or expertise?
-
How are you unique?
-
What are your strengths and how do they solve the customer/client/hiring company’s needs?
-
List some key terms that others would use to search for you or your business online______
The exercise contains more thought-provoking questions (this was just a sample) that ultimately lead to the creation of a branding statement that can be used across all social media platforms. The key is to create it and then have a consistent message no matter where someone finds you first online.
Want access to the full branding exercise? Contact us [contact-form to=’[email protected]’ subject=’Branding Exercise from Blog Post on LinkedIn’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
If you would like to take it a step further to ensure that your LinkedIn profile is best representing your brand, we can help. We offer the following LinkedIn Services to help you share your story:
LinkedIn Profile Review
LinkedIn Coaching Session
