Thoughts on critically branding yourself on #LinkedIn

As a LinkedIn coach, I focus on making client profiles look and read better. Each has an amazing story to tell as a start. I help make them look "amazing-er" as I call it.

When our work is done, every chapter in their career story is in its place, rich verbs paint the picture, and most importantly, my clients tell readers more than merely who they are, more than just what they do, but truly why them; why do they do what they do.

Critical LinkedIn coaching

In evaluating areas of a client's profile that can be renovated, it's easy to be overly critical. I certainly strive to be professionally consultative. Even so, constructive criticism can be painful for some, distancing for others. No matter how self-confident you are, or how well-intentioned my delivery, for everyone (myself included) criticism is not easily swallowed.

As I see it, if I am guiding you to self-define your role in the market you play in, then anything we do together to better articulate that brand, hone that concept, and refine that definition, is value-added.

No matter how much a client pours his or her heart and soul onto a LinkedIn profile, a coach can seek improvement. "It's not {this} enough" or "it's too {that}." Tough professional “love” from a coach to a client, is not always easy to give. But needed:

• One client plastered her LinkedIn updates with nonbusiness-like sayings, slogans, and cartoon pictures multiple times a day, weekends too! It was my role as her LinkedIn reality coach to advise her that she was overdoing it, even if no one ever told her so. She heeded my advice as critical in my coaching; but what was she thinking?
• Another client posted updates of each of the places he was eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, each weekday: all business, but way over the top! Like the fabled boy who cried wolf, no one even noticed when he went cold turkey at my suggestion and stopped posting. No surprise. I was being a critical coach; but what was he thinking?

Neither was thinking critically about their brand message.

They are not alone.

Critical LinkedIn thinking 

LinkedIn is not merely a job search platform; rather, a micro website of your organic brand. It's a powerful tool for being heard over daily noise, with opinions to share with the global business community: articles such as this, plus status updates, and posting links to material written by others whom you appreciate, curated and spread for the greater good. It’s using words and gestures to stand apart. It’s a searchable database to identify and vet you as a business prospect.

But most clients do not use LinkedIn well. They fail to see it's more than the mechanics, far more than copy-paste from your resume into LinkedIn. Simply put, the goal is crafting and finessing a great profile that makes you an attractive business partner, more so than the competitor.

Critical thinking on LinkedIn, thus, is required for a higher level of professional branding: what to convey about yourself takes planning, drafting, refining, and finalizing the ideal combination of thoughtful words into meaningful phrases in finite sections, with rich graphics and effective video adding emphasis to the words.

Using LinkedIn to succeed requires effort, time, and patience; you are “investing” in yourself. Many professionals need an “investment” advisor. It's my job as a coach to draw out and guide my client's personal self-expression, true to whom they really are, articulating why they do what they do.

I am appending a graphic I particularly like, which you can use to self-critique your LinkedIn profile. I normally disdain cheatsheets, and I resist shortcuts, but each time I pass this sheet around at a meeting, I get nods, winks, and thank-yous from colleagues I respect, so it should be useful in some way(s) for you too.

From https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/critical-thinking-skills-cheatsheet-infographic

?Ask who, what, where, when, how, and especially concentrate on why. Critical thinking on multiple fronts leads to a better end-product. Evaluate multiple facets under a sharp lens.

Think these questions through. Don't rush anything through before its time. Errors in judgement and self-examination can be prevented with these critical thinking questions. Write your profile, let it "cool," return, and tweak it again.

I hope this "cheatsheet" is helpful to you in some ways. Please tell me how.

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About Marc W. Halpert, LinkedIn Trainer and Evangelist

I am a “multi-preneur,” (www.dhirubhai.net/in/marchalpert) having started 3 companies, all of which I continue to operate. My latest business, connect2collaborate, spreads my LinkedIn and networking evangelism worldwide to train and coach others to better explain their brand and positioning on their LinkedIn profile pages:

• as an “evangelist” recognized by LinkedIn to help nonprofits cultivate talent pool, volunteers, boards, and corporate sponsors.
• as a corporate trainer for departments needing to know how to optimize LinkedIn for their responsible areas.
• as a coach helping professional practitioners in all industries use LinkedIn to better achieve their goals.
• as a high-energy speaker at conferences.
• as a volunteer coaching and teaching underemployed babyboomers to master new better career objectives.

I blog daily on LinkedIn topics to encourage readers towards a more beneficial use of this amazing tool. I speak about LinkedIn at public events and private corporate sessions too. I was very pleased to be named to the LinkedIn 200 and my book published by the American Bar Association “LinkedIn Marketing Techniques for Law and Professional Practices” was released June 2, 2017.

A new book on LinkedIn for nonprofit professionals is coming in June 2018!

I welcome your comments and encourage you to strive to do better in all you do, with critical thinking and perhaps my coaching….