9 Tips to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

A personal brand is a crucial career investment that heavily influences professional development. Recent graduates and job seekers must invest in building personal brands to improve their eligibility for job opportunities in highly competitive job markets. Your personal brand is the master key to your career growth!

So, what is a personal brand? Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, defines a personal brand as “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” It is the totality of the attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and expectations others hold about you. As such, you must be strategic and intentional when creating your personal brand to ensure it effectively expresses and defines your value proposition. Your branding narrative should be compelling, accurate, coherent, and unique to increase your visibility as a suitable candidate for job opportunities.

Why is Your Personal Brand Important?

Your personal brand should matter to you as a recent graduate and/or job seeker because it differentiates your value in a pool of high-performing candidates. A carefully curated and outstanding personal brand increases your visibility to your target audience. For instance, if you are seeking job opportunities, your personal brand influences potential employers’ perceptions of you. If the image portrayed by your personal brand aligns with an organization’s values, your chances of landing a job within the company increase. Similarly, your personal brand can help you grow your network and attract new job opportunities, facilitating career progression. Furthermore, personal branding enhances your credibility and memorability among recruiters, increasing the possibility of securing new jobs.

Why Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social networking site that enables professionals and business community members to connect. It allows its users to keep in touch with current and past colleagues, network with same-industry professionals, search for job opportunities, and increase business connections. LinkedIn is the professional world’s version of Instagram or Twitter (X), a social media platform that facilitates information and idea sharing in visual and text forms.

A recent graduate and/or job seeker should create a LinkedIn profile that reflects their personal brand. LinkedIn has positioned itself as a business and recruitment game-changer within the modern job market. Hiring managers and recruiters rely on the platform to scout for talent and fill vacant roles. Hence, building your personal brand on LinkedIn increases your visibility to recruiters in your industry, allowing you access to job opportunities that enhance your career growth. It also informs recruiters about your values, interests, and personality, promoting you as a top candidate for organizations with matching cultures. A personal brand on LinkedIn increases your chances of finding job opportunities best suited for you!    

Tips to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

1.  Optimize Your Headline

Your LinkedIn headline is the section right below your name on your profile. The headline allows you to express your professional value to your networks. It should be keyword-rich, clear, concise, informative, current, and personalized. Your headline should concisely express your professional identity in simple language. It should identify your existing skillset and be updated to reflect new skill acquisition. Additionally, your headline should incorporate industry keywords that increase your profile’s visibility on recruiter searches. It should also be personalized to express the uniqueness of your brand. Examples of optimized headings are:

•    “Digital Marketing Strategist | SEO Specialist | Helping Brands Thrive Online”
•   “Content Creator | Business Writer | Telling Stories for Your Business.”

2.  Create a Custom URL

Your LinkedIn URL is the unique link that leads to your profile. LinkedIn automatically generates an online address (URL) for you when you create a profile. While you can keep and use the auto-generated link, you should consider customizing it to fit your personal brand. Customized LinkedIn profile URLs are memorable to you and your professional networks. Think of the LinkedIn URL as your Twitter or Instagram username. Are you likely to remember a generic, auto-generated username or a unique one that reflects a personal brand?

Besides memorability, a custom URL can help you increase your visibility to recruiters offering job opportunities. You can include industry keywords in your URL. An example of a keyword-infused custom LinkedIn URL is “linkedin.com/in/MercyZawadi-GraphicDesigner/.” Such a link increases your visibility to potential employers because search engines are more likely to suggest your profile in top results for “graphic designers.”

3.  Use Action Verbs

Action verbs are words that show progressive/continuing action. Examples of action verbs that can help you build a strong personal brand on LinkedIn include “leading,” “innovative,” and “analytical.” You can incorporate action verbs in your LinkedIn profile to emphasize your professional value, e.g., Leading Digital Marketer, Innovative Interior Designer, or Analytical Researcher.

Action verbs are vital personal branding tools because they help you communicate your experiences and skills to potential employers. They are “power words” that give you a competitive advantage over other job candidates because they demonstrate initiative, highlight impact, and quantify your professional achievements, leaving a lasting impression on recruiters. Impressed recruiters are more likely to consider you for job opportunities! 

4.  Use Keywords in Your Profile Summary

Keywords are recognizable professional terms that make your LinkedIn profile easily discoverable to recruiters. Apart from including them in your headline and URL, you should use keywords in your LinkedIn summary to increase your visibility further.

When building your personal brand on LinkedIn, you should use keywords to describe your experience, interests, and skills. As such, when hiring managers and recruiters are searching for talent, your profile is more likely to appear among the results suggested to them. Using the right keywords in your profile summary increases the number of job opportunities available to you, especially through recruiter invites to apply for open positions.   

5.  Update Your LinkedIn Resume (s)

LinkedIn has an “upload resume section” that allows you to add your current or most frequently used CV (s) to your profile. It stores up to 4 resumes, easing your job application process, particularly for jobs advertised on the site. The version (s) of your CV (s) uploaded to your LinkedIn should be updated regularly to include your most recently acquired skills and job experiences. Furthermore, despite the perceived convenience value, you should avoid re-using resumes for different job opportunities. Instead, use the CV (s) on your LinkedIn profile as a template (s) you update and customize while applying for jobs.  

6.  Share Valuable Content

Creating and sharing valuable content on LinkedIn amplifies your personal brand’s voice. LinkedIn allows all users to share posts and write articles, tools that can increase your brand’s visibility. Sharing updates, articles, and insights on your LinkedIn profile can portray you as a thought leader in your field of expertise. Regular and valuable posts attract more followers and connections on the platform, enabling you to grow your professional network exponentially. Moreover, statistics reveal that LinkedIn members who post regularly have up to 29 times more profile views than their counterparts who don’t.

And, yes! Even recent graduates have valuable insights they can publish on LinkedIn. For instance, you can read an article and post what you learned. Alternatively, you can write about your observations of changing industry trends. Your LinkedIn content can be engaging without being complex. There is value in simplicity!

7.  Expand Your Network

Connecting with professionals in your industry will help you expand your network. Building a personal brand on LinkedIn furthers that agenda by enabling you to interact with like-minded professionals who become “connections” or “followers” on the platform. A bigger LinkedIn network translates into higher job opportunity access because as you connect with more people, the number of those likely to recommend you for a job or hire you increases. So, don’t be shy! Connect and follow other professionals to expand your network.

8.  Follow Your Interests

Effective personal brand building on LinkedIn requires you to remain updated on industry trends and hot topics. As a result, you should follow pages and join groups that align with your interests. This will help you keep up with dynamic industry shifts and enable you to position yourself as an ideal candidate for emerging job opportunities.

Additionally, following your interests on LinkedIn will allow you to engage in discussions with same-industry professionals. Such discourse can improve your knowledge and enhance your skillset while increasing your visibility to potential recruiters. Be confident and express your valuable insights on LinkedIn! Your future employer could be watching!

9.  Seek Recommendations

Did you know LinkedIn has a “recommendation section?” Yes! It does. As a recent graduate and/or job seeker, you should use LinkedIn’s recommendation section to make yourself stand out to recruiters. Professional recommendations are powerful tools job seekers can exploit to differentiate themselves in competitive talent pools. Request thoughtful LinkedIn recommendations from former employers, colleagues, or supervisors to offer potential employers a third party’s perspective of your abilities. A professional recommendation increases your personal brand’s credibility, making you a top candidate for job opportunities in your niche.

Conclusion

A personal brand is a must-have for any professional in the modern job market. LinkedIn is a well-equipped platform with tools like customizable URLs and a recommendation section for professionals interested in creating personal brands. 

In three simple steps, you can start building your personal brand on LinkedIn today. One, sign up for a LinkedIn account. Two, use the information in this article to create a winning personal brand on LinkedIn. Three, prepare yourself to explore the job opportunities coming your way!