Business Owners: Your Branding Superpower on LinkedIn Lies With Your People

I could start this newsletter with the saying ‘people buy from people,’ but I won’t.

Not because I covered personal branding in my last one, and not because I think it is a cliché and we were taught to avoid them like something that could cause another pandemic, but because my focus here is how companies can get more eyes on them by being part of the LinkedIn game.

Yes, I called it a game because I am talking to people right now, not logos, corporations, business strategies, and big business processes. I am talking to you, the business owner or CEO who really feels your business in your bones and wants to see it grow and mature with every fiber of your body.

To you, the one who steers the ship and wants to see it reach far and wide, read on to find out how LinkedIn can be the sails and your employees can be the wind behind the power of your branding journey.?

Firstly, Up Your LinkedIn Content on Your Company Page

Before you can get your employees involved in this masterplan (yes, you can imagine yourself smirking with your pinkie up in the air right next to your face) you must – I said must – make sure your content on your LinkedIn company page is professional, consistent, and worthy of attention.

Have you heard the other cool kids say this in the playground but you are not sure how to get this part of the game right?

(I went back to the game analogue there, it is all in the name of entertainment value and to make sure you are paying attention. See, what I did there. I showed you how to hold your audience’s attention, taught you a lesson, and then became my own business influencer. Please remind me to pat myself on the back later.)

Back to you.

You can make your business LinkedIn page one your employees will be proud to represent and one that can bring in more business for you by:

?? Sticking to your brand package: Stick to your brand colours, your selected fonts, your tone of voice. Make sure each post has the same look and feel. This will make people know the posts belong to your company without necessarily reading them. This makes you recognisable, keeps you in their mind, and gets you more visibility and recognition.

?? Post consistently: Imagine if you were known to show up at the same coffee shop every Monday at 10 am for a chit-chat with a group of friends, and one Monday you didn’t go. You told no one you had something else to do, you just didn’t bother to show any sign of life. Your friends wouldn’t trust you to do what you say anymore, they may even be upset with you, and start to forget all about you. This is what it is like for brands and social media too. If you do not post on schedule, your followers will start to lose trust in your brand, lose interest, and then forget all about you, while your competitors will ask them if they would like to be pushed on the swing.

?? Make it interesting: Yes, even on LinkedIn, your company posts should be interesting. You can find a way to attract attention and entertain in your own, personal way. This will not only keep people on your content for longer, but it will also further help to build trust and differentiate you from everyone else in the feed.

Once your LinkedIn company page is up to scratch, you can start bringing the idea of employee content to the front of the ship.

Encourage Authentic Content on LinkedIn

Most of your employees will have a LinkedIn profile and all of them will have another social media account. This means they already know about social media, they already understand its importance in our lives, and they are probably already used to posting.

Now, the only thing that is left is to start encouraging posting, start letting them know that the company is upping its branding on LinkedIn and that you appreciate those who are already posting. Once that is out of the way and there is already a vibe around the office about the importance of branding on LinkedIn, you can roll the rest of your plan out.

Host LinkedIn Training Sessions

Offer workshops that teach your employees the importance of personal branding and how they can use LinkedIn to better showcase their experience and expertise. The more they post about their knowledge and their story, the more it will benefit them and you.

Incentivise Posting

The more incentive an employee has to post, the more they will be willing to do so. You can give small bonuses to employees who post five times a month, for example. You can feature them as the poster of the month in an internal newsletter, you can give them gift vouchers, and much more.

You can also make it clear that content, where the company is tagged, will get extra attention from you, and posts that tag other employees will also be a big plus in getting them one step further to whatever kind of incentive you decide to put on the table.

Provide Ready-Made Content

Most people want to post but they don’t know what to post, what graphics to use, what kind of hook works best, or even that they need a hook. This is where ready-made content comes in.

Share templates, branded hashtags, graphics, and post outlines that employees can customize and post on their LinkedIn profiles. This will make it easy for them, be less time-consuming, and also make their content look more professional.

?? Tip: Although you can give them ready-made content, make sure you make it clear that at the end of the day, the content is theirs and you are not trying – in any shape or form – trying to take away their individuality. You are just trying to make their lives easier.

Create a Collaborative Culture

A company that shares in branding efforts is a company that will sail the ship away from any storm. Encourage team members to share company news, industry insights, or even behind-the-scenes moments of a day in their life at work. Make it part of the company culture to celebrate successes and milestones through employee posts.

Celebrate Employee Stories and Use Employee-created Content

Showcase individual employee achievements and career growth on the company’s LinkedIn page. Encourage them to share these stories on their personal profiles and tag the company. Also, you can use content that employees have created – blog posts, videos, articles – on the company’s LinkedIn page and tag them. This will make them feel more appreciated, seen, and probably encourage them to keep posting.

Set Guidelines, Not Rules

This one is one of the important ones. Instead of being strict, offer general best practices on how employees can represent themselves and the company. This way, they feel empowered, not restricted, to share authentic posts. Be sure to let them know that it is their LinkedIn profile, it is their social presence, and if they choose to help promote the company in this way, it is on their grounds. Also, make sure they know they will not be judged if they do not take part in it.

There is more, but again, I am over my word limit.

Start by following these steps and turn your employees into brand influencers. Make it a win-win situation for everyone involved and enjoy it when you all reach that horizon together.

??Next Week??

I have shared most of the secrets around personal and company branding. I have tired to entertain and influence you into turning your own potential or your employees' potential into branding gold; the rest is up to you.

Sorry if I sound a bit blunt, I have been talking to a lot of people lately and I see a need for action, not just words.

Now I have said all that, you will want to know what to expect in next week’s edition.

I will try something new. Tell me what you would want me to write about and I will try to do my best.

But until then...

..you know the drill.

Send me a DM if you need a writer to help you with your branding on LinkedIn or other social media platforms. Or even come into your organisation and talk to your employees about the importance of branding on LinkedIn.

There is another option...

...keep me in mind for when you need me, my pen will be waiting.

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