How to Build Your Personal Brand

I just recently read an article published by LinkedIn News called How do I get started as a creator (and get paid for it) It was an enlightening piece that made me realize I am a budding #creator after publishing 7 different articles. I personally wasn't as interested in the compensation piece, but I would like to highlight one key take-away. The key to a successful post is to...

"...share your knowledge and expertise to help them?[readers] find solutions to problems

This got me thinking. What is one problem I can help solve that would be relevant to the majority of my audience who are primarily part of my LinkedIn network? Well, most people joined LinkedIn to build their network, their online presence, and their personal brand. What better topic than one focused on helping others maximize their own personal brand potential?

What makes me the expert?

I am certainly not the first to post on this topic and I certainly won't be the last. There will be marketing and branding companies, consultants, and people like me who have been doing this for a lot longer. To distinguish amongst the other viable options and sources of data, I would say the following:

Who better to learn from than someone who is just like you, but who recently went through the process successfully?

My Motivation

My motivation for improving my online presence was relatively simple and straightforward. I was looking for a career change and needed to distinguish myself from other candidates. Once I found my new job, my focus shifted but my goal was pretty much the same. This time I needed to strengthen my personal brand in conjunction with my new company and my new role.

There is always room for improvement

I was one of those folks who thought they were the king of LinkedIn - over 2,000 connections, professional profile picture, consistent liking and sharing, and a refined profile page. I once ran into a marketing expert at my local grocery store who happened to also be a friend and she even commented on the strength of my personal brand. To me, that signaled an accomplishment and felt good, but didn't motivate me to do better. It wasn't until another friend of mine and CEO of a global healthcare company said "Brian, your personal brand needs a bit of help" that I jumped into action.

My journey thus far

My journey will be similar to most who have achieved success as an #influencer or creator. First you build your personal brand through your profile; then build your base; then actively interact with others, followed by publishing your own content. I did not really deviate from this path.

How do I measure success?

I wrote my first article, What Compelled Me to Write My First Blog, only a couple months ago and since then I have been nominated for a Board of Directors position, asked to be a guest speaker on a Podcast, and have written 1/2 dozen additional articles (all available on my profile page). When I see people at conferences, they make a point of telling me that they enjoy my blog.

How does the rest of the world measure success?

I like to quote award-winning author, John Parker Stewart , quite a bit in my articles because during my journey, I attended a Leadership Forum with John as one of the keynote speakers and facilitators. He developed 52 leadership gems but one that comes to mind is Gem #30 - Activity vs. Results. We can fool ourselves into believing we are successful when we might just be going through the motions and keeping busy. I like LinkedIn Sales Navigator's Social Selling Index as a way of objectively measuring your impact. I also look at metrics like impressions and profile views. I wish I would have checked my score before this journey to measure improvement, but you can see in the image above that I am in the top 1% in my industry and top 4% within my network with a score of 73. Funny enough, the more quality connections I add, the lower my score goes with regards to "people in your network."

Why do I need a strong personal brand?

I am going to assume since you clicked on this article that you already have a desire to grow your personal brand, but in the event you are just one of my avid followers and read all of my previous articles, I will tell you this:

• A strong personal brand helps you build your network
• A strong personal brand will help you promote yourself and your company
• A strong personal brand will help you find new clients
• A strong personal brand will help establish you as a trusted partner
• A strong personal brand will help you get elected to serve on a Board of Directors
• A strong personal brand will help you find new opportunities to grow in your career

My top 10 "gems" for building your personal brand

Now the part you have been waiting for. The part where I stop talking about myself and start sharing valuable information to help you in your journey:

1. Spend a lot of time on your profile. What's the saying? You never have a second chance to make a first impression? This is so true when you are "cold calling" through social media. Pick a professional picture; pick a nice background picture that stands out; redefine how you describe yourself so you aren't just what you do at the moment; incorporate relevant buzz words; and give thought about your career and volunteer write-ups. Have a friend or friends review it for you and provide feedback.
2. Build a quality network. The best way to get your message out is to have a large a network because everyone in your direct network is a potential reader or someone who can share your post. You also want a diverse network to reach a broader audience. Invite your family, friends, co-workers, vendors, neighbors, or parents/children of your friends to join your network. When you meet someone, invite them to be part of your network. Some would argue, like news, that any connections are good connections, but I would argue that you need to make sure that your network includes other influencers and creators who have existing networks. Each quality connection expands your access to 2nd level connections.
3. Be Active. The easiest way to be active on social media without much effort is to like, share, re-post, and comment on relevant and compelling content. Join groups that are related to your future audience to better understand what others are posting. Follow influencers in the same field to learn from them.
4. Start posting. Once you have built an impressive network, start posting small things. It can be sharing an article you read; mentioning a trade show you are attending; sending out a poll; etc. You want to start acting like a creator before diving deeper into the world of publishing articles. Be relevant. Find out what's trending and who is trending.
5. Start publishing. Of everything I mentioned above, publishing articles will probably be the gem faced with the most resistance. What do you write about? How do you do publish? I think I can answer both of those questions. You write from the heart about something for which you have a shared passion with your readers. In terms of how you publish, LinkedIn makes that very easy. Just click "write an article" where you normally post.
6. Promote your articles. I still remember the first time I hit publish. I expected to see the likes, shares, and comments pouring in. After all, I had recently changed companies and had almost 7,000 impressions when I announced my new role. Surely, I would see similar results when I put in time to write a well-thought-out article with pictures, titles, links, and hashtags. What I didn't fully appreciate is that LinkedIn algorithms control who even sees your posts despite your best efforts. You can still tip the scales in your favor - use hashtags; share the post in your specialty groups; add the article as a "feature" on your profile; publish to everyone but re-post to your network; tag others in your post; and ask for help from friends to share with their network.
7. Be consistent but not stagnant. Publishing one article won't get you to the top of the SSI score. It requires perseverance and consistency. First the computer algorithms need to recognize you as an influencer or creator before your connections even know that you are publishing. Although you need to be consistent about publishing, you need enough variability to avoid boring your audience.
8. Don't forget about video or audio. There are people who like to read and people who prefer to watch. If you only post text than you may miss the part of your audience that relates better to audio and video.
9. Keep your posts short and sweet. This is a matter of "do as I say and not as I do" because if you look at my writing style, you can tell that I like to create a story with a background, purpose, advice, and action that spans multiple pages. With that said, LinkedIn tells the user the approximate time to review an article. People are more likely to click on "2 minute read" than they would a "30 minute read."
10. Never stop working towards your goal. When it comes to your personal brand, this is not something you achieve but something you continuously work to improve. There is no "perfect" so you can always be better than you were yesterday. If something is working, then continue to do it. If something isn't as effective, then adjust your approach until you achieve success.

Key Take-Aways

Although the gems are catchy, I want you to remember that you have to work at building your brand. Becoming LinkedIn famous doesn't happen by accident and doesn't happen overnight. If you put in the work, you will reap the benefits. Building your personal brand is about starting with a strong foundation of a large network and then gaining trust through posting and publishing. You not only need to appease your readers but you also have to cater to those algorithms that decide whether or not your article will even show in someone's feed. As a fellow creator and influencer, I would appreciate any likes, shares, or comments and I will make sure to do the same for your journey.

About the Author

Brian Levine, MBA, PMP, CSM?is an innovative and accomplished Business and Technology Leader with extensive experience and global perspective in commercial and government contracting and acquisition in simulation, training and gaming with a focus on medical simulation and public safety. He holds three degrees from?Stetson University?– a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, and a Master’s in Business Administration.

Mr. Levine has been a contributing member and leader in the local simulation community for the past 15 years while working at?SAIC,?Presagis,?CAE, and?CAE Healthcare. Although he has had a prominent focus on medical simulation with the goal of improving healthcare and patient safety, Mr. Levine has a broader simulation experience in Land, Air, and Sea.

As a contributing member and leader in the simulation community, Mr. Levine has served a variety of leadership roles in such events and initiatives as the NTSA MS&T Congressional Caucus Committee on Patient Safety, Florida Simulation Summit, I/ITSEC Healthcare Track Planning Committee, Co-chair of the MODSIM Healthcare Track, Co-Founder of the Florida Alliance for Simulation in Healthcare, and speaker at such conferences as the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, I/ITSEC, MODSIM, Florida Simulation Summit, and TSIS.

Mr. Levine has recently joined DLH Corporation as a Director of Business Development in Modeling, Simulation, and Training. He will be helping lead the organization as DLH establishes greater presence in the Modeling, Simulation, and Training community and a greater local presence in Orlando.