How to Establish a Professional Brand with Novice Experience on LinkedIn

A little over a year ago, I was beginning my sophomore year in college. I had just finished my first full-time summer job, my grades were good, I was a leader in three large campus clubs and honestly, life couldn’t seem to be better. 

I decided to work part-time throughout the school year, so, I applied to 24 different companies and the most unexpected thing happened. Every single one of the companies asked for a LinkedIn profile as part of the application process. I had BARELY even heard of LinkedIn before. I thought LinkedIn was a Facebook for parents or something like that. Granted, I had created an account a year earlier, but I never touched it again because I had no idea what I was doing.

In the end, I got rejected by all 24 companies.

The rejections helped me realize how important LinkedIn has become in today’s job search. I was unaware that 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates. 

What I had once considered to be a Facebook for parents, now seemed to be my biggest roadblock in the job search. LinkedIn was not the problem however; the problem was my lack of knowledge of how to use the platform.

How I Built a Professional Brand with Novice Experience

I decided that day that I never wanted to let LinkedIn be the obstacle that held me back from a job again.

Since then, I have spent countless hours researching LinkedIn strategies and interviewing over 50 professionals across multiple industries. I have built my brand to a point where I now receive questions every week from students and business owners all around the world asking for LinkedIn advice. Businesses and universities have requested that I train large groups of students and executives on LinkedIn and personal branding strategies. 

I am grateful to have received many job offers and opportunities through LinkedIn, and I delivered a TEDx talk in November 2019 on how to leverage the power of LinkedIn.

In spite of the success I have found on LinkedIn, I am still a just college student with little experience in the “real world”. I didn’t get an internship with a top company like Google or Apple to boost my credibility. The only difference is that I learned how to use LinkedIn effectively and present the novice experiences that I already had in a professional way so that people will listen.

What was once the roadblock in my job search has now become the catalyst that continues to open doors to new opportunities. 

College Student Demographics on LinkedIn

Despite the myriad of benefits readily available on LinkedIn, I noticed that the majority of my friends in college never accessed the online platform. In fact, it was kind of embarrassing to admit I was using LinkedIn! On many occasions, while my roommates and I were hanging out in the living room, they’d see me on my phone and ask, “Hey Austin, what game are you playing.” I’d look up, pause for a moment, and then say "LinkedIn." After a few scoffs and laughs, they’d reply, “Are you kidding?? Why are you using LinkedIn?”

I wanted to know if I was weird, so I scoured the internet, online databases, and academic journals in search of data that addresses the college student demographic on LinkedIn. I found little information on the topic, so I conducted primary research and surveyed nearly 400 students of various majors from universities across the nation.

In response to the question, “Do you have a LinkedIn account?” 53% of college students reported that they do not.

As a follow-up question, I asked respondents why they do not have a LinkedIn account. The survey results portrayed in Figure 1 show the biggest deterrents to creating a LinkedIn account.

Figure 1: Why College Students Do Not Have a LinkedIn Account

Students reported that the primary reason for not creating a LinkedIn account is because they do not know how to use the platform. However, 79% of students said they would create an account or use the platform more frequently if they knew how.

One cause mentioned for this lack of LinkedIn literacy, is that students are not taught how to use the platform effectively in classrooms. Individuals reported that their professors stress the importance of LinkedIn but do not share tips on how to utilize the platform effectively. This explains why 30% of LinkedIn users created an account because their professors told them to and over 61% of students use the networking site less than two times each year.

Another reason is the fact that LinkedIn is unlike any other social network that college students are used to. The audience is more professional, it can be discouraging to not receive an astronomical amount of likes and shares like Instagram and Facebook, and it requires time to build a following and a brand. 

So, for my fellow college students, or anyone else who feels they can benefit from LinkedIn, but just don’t know how to use it, I want to share techniques that will help anyone establish a professional profile and stand out from the crowd.

#1: Define Your Purpose and Target Audience

The first step to establish a professional brand on LinkedIn is to define a purpose and target audience. An individual’s purpose on LinkedIn is also known as their “why.”

To quote New York Times bestselling author Simon Sinek, “Our WHY is our purpose, cause or belief—the driving force behind everything we do.” 

Before finding success on LinkedIn, it is essential to have a goal or a reason to use the online platform. For example, a job seeker’s goal is to receive a job offer and network with recruiters. A business owner’s goal can be to use their LinkedIn account as free advertising to promote their business and establish credibility. A college student’s goal can be to connect with professionals in their desired industry and get a head start on their career.

Once a reason to be on LinkedIn has been defined, it is important to discover the target audience. A target audience is essentially a LinkedIn profile’s “customer segment.”

For example, a career coach can write their profile to attract an unemployed audience, a video marketer can attract tech startups looking to increase their brand awareness through video campaigns, or, a marketing student can target professionals and recruiters in the marketing industry.

 By defining a target audience, individuals will have a clearer vision of how to set up a profile and establish a niche specific brand on LinkedIn.

#2: Demand Attention with the Headline

The headline is one of the most important, yet neglected parts of a LinkedIn profile. The headline carries some of the highest SEO value, which means, the words included in a headline are more likely to show up in searches by recruiters and employers.

When used correctly, the headline will differentiate a profile from the other 630 million+ members on LinkedIn. We live in an age where everything must grab the audience’s attention immediately. If people don’t have an incentive to click on a profile, it doesn’t matter how optimized the content or body text is because nobody will ever read the profile.

The default headline on LinkedIn is a person’s work position at their given company. If the user is not currently employed but attends a school, then the default headline is “Student at X University.”

If a person's job title or the company they work for is not immediately known or does not demand attention in and of itself, like Google or Apple, then the headline does not stand out from the other millions of default headlines. 

So what can be done?

I researched hundreds of top-performing profiles on LinkedIn and found a simple formula in common with most of the headlines. The formula is as follows:

State the benefit you bring to your target audience + Any current work positions + Skills you possess = Effective Headline

Example: Let’s imagine a public relations student currently working as a social media intern. In a previous content marketing position, the student also developed SEO skills.

A sample headline could be: “I Help Start-up Companies Increase Their Brand Awareness | Social Media Intern at X Company | Experienced Content Marketer | SEO | Copywriting | Public Relations Student.”

The list of keywords mentioned in the headline above would appear in more searches than the default “Social Media Intern at X Company.” Startup companies (the target audience) would also have a greater incentive to click on the profile.

As a side note, this sample headline has 168 characters. Creating a headline on desktop allows up to 200 characters in the headline as opposed to only 120 characters on a mobile device.

Students can easily fall into the trap of “I don’t have enough experience.” The truth is, most people have the experience but just don’t know how to sell the experience in a way that people will listen.

A few weeks ago, a friend reached out to me to ask a question. He is a recruiter and had only been in the position for about a month. He had been struggling to find resumes from potential clients and asked me what he could do to improve his presence on LinkedIn. I shared this formula and suggested that he connect with more people in the industry he is recruiting for. 

The next day, he told me that he had changed his headline, and received seven resumes in less than 24 hours. Candidates simply saw his headline and sent a message with their resumes without any prompt to do so.

 By stating the value upfront, as opposed to making others dig deep to find information, individuals will attract higher volumes of their target audience. 

#3: Create Content

Every week, there are over 9 billion content engagements on LinkedIn, but only 3 million members who create content. This equivocates to .5% of LinkedIn members receiving 100% of the visibility and benefits from content creation. 

As of 2019, LinkedIn reported statistics on the number of members who are in influential positions. Figure 2 portrays these statistics.

Figure 2: Professionals on LinkedIn

As shown in Figure 2, there are hundreds of millions of members on LinkedIn who are consuming content that are in influential positions. This means that on any given day, there is a chance that an individual’s content can be seen by a decision-maker or influencer who can open doors to new opportunities. I know several people who received their current job because someone came across their content on LinkedIn and reached out with a job offer.

Many college students have expressed to me that they don’t feel specialized enough in a given topic to create content on LinkedIn. However, students don’t have to be experts to create content.

How fast does a person have to run to survive a bear attack? Faster than their friend. Likewise, individuals don’t have to be a professional with years of experience to create valuable content on LinkedIn, they just have to know more than the next person. A person who considers themselves to be intermediate at a given skill or topic can target beginners, and those beginners will regard that person as a professional.

I know someone who is good at graphic design and can make beautiful presentations despite having never been trained on how to do so. Every time I need help with the aesthetics of a presentation, I go to this friend for help. On many occasions, I have recommended him to other friends struggling with a similar problem because I know he can help. They in turn, refer him to their friends. As this process continues, my friend’s reputation has begun to grow professionally, not because he has years of professional experience, but because he provides value to people who don’t know as much as he does.

Coming up with content to post about can be difficult, so here are a few frameworks I have discovered to help fuel content creation ideas:

·     Real-life occurrences + an application = content.

·     Answer “get to know you” type questions and invite readers to do the same in the comments. (Why did you start using LinkedIn, what are you passionate about, how would you describe your journey, etc.)

·     Find a pain point and offer solutions.

·     Use an interesting fact to grab the reader’s attention then tie in a relevant application.

·     Ask a question, then use the knowledge shared in the comments as a guideline for future content ideas.

·     Write appreciation or acknowledgment posts.

·     Announcements, events, and accomplishments are all sources for content on LinkedIn.

#4: Recognize and Nurture Your Skills

Individuals should take time to create a list of skills they possess. These skills can be things that they do better than others, or, skills they can perform beyond a beginner level. Examples can be anything, including art, storytelling, Microsoft office, coding, marketing, test-taking, foreign languages, cooking, etc.

Individuals who struggle to find their skills can ask those who know them best, "what do you think I am good at? or What do you consider to be some of my strengths?"

Once these skills have been listed, dive into the technicalities and formulate a process for beginners to follow. Someone who speaks more than one language can help those who speak only one language. Should beginners start by learning the alphabet, pronouns, verb conjugations, rules, vocabulary, or common phrases? A person who is good at storytelling or public speaking can share common mistakes that people make.

Many students erroneously believe that business skills like marketing and sales are the only things welcome on LinkedIn. People want to hear about passions and interests too, not just the same topics that everyone talks about. By creating a formula or path to follow, the target audience will discover similar learning patterns that apply to a broader range of skills in their own lives.

Don’t Wait, Start Now

For those who don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, or rarely access their account, right now is the golden time to start.

Take 15-20 minutes each week to read an article or watch a video to develop knowledge on a specific topic. More and more businesses and decision makers are beginning to utilize the platform. In many industries, a great LinkedIn profile is the expectation. In other industries, a good LinkedIn profile is a competitive advantage because no one else has one.

Eight months ago, I knew nothing about LinkedIn. One day I decided that I wanted to learn so I began to read articles online. As I did, I shared tips with other newcomers to LinkedIn. What’s funny is, those newcomers regarded me as an expert, even though I was just a beginner like them. The only difference was that I had an increased willingness to learn and actively share that knowledge with others.

Whether or not the goal is to be regarded as an expert on LinkedIn, give the platform a shot. LinkedIn is growing at a rate of two new users every second, and with each new user comes new opportunities. It doesn’t matter if a person doesn’t have years of experience in a given field. As individuals invest in themselves and their LinkedIn presence, they will establish a professional brand that will become a catalyst that continually opens new doors in the future.