Are You a Commodity or a Brand?

There are more than 8 million HR managers, 23 million marketing managers, and 17 million CEOs on LinkedIn. If you’re still using your job title as your LinkedIn headline, you’re just a commodity, positioning yourself with words that are identical to millions of others who do the same work.

But here's some good news! You now have dozens of powerful tools at your fingertips to help your profile stand out from the crowd. Yes, start by adding to that headline something that shows that you're unique. And of course, make your LinkedIn About compelling, authentic and differentiated. Use as many of the 3,000 characters you need to tell your unique and captivating story.

With your Headline and About sorted, you can focus on six visual elements that will make your profile magnetic and help you stand out!

In this episode:

• Read
• Soar

Here are the six ways to brand your profile.

1. Background image

This one is at the top of my list because it’s at the top of your profile. I recently took a look at all the profiles of people who sent me connection requests, and I tallied up how many of them were still using the boring, standard-issue LinkedIn background image. Answer? A majority. This means that just by adding a background image, you will stand out from the herd. But as a personal branding pioneer, I can’t let you add just any background image—especially for the most prominent zone of your LinkedIn profile. Take the time to choose an illustration, photo, or color panel that captures the essence of your personal brand.

2. Pictures in other sections

Background images aren’t the only rare sighting on LinkedIn. Very few profiles have images in the About (formerly Summary) and Experience sections. But those sections are text-heavy and crying out for a break in the wall of words. Consider adding images of you speaking at an event or advising a colleague, or add infographics or location shots.

3. Portfolio samples

Your LinkedIn profile is a portfolio, even if you don’t think you need a portfolio in your industry. You can upload a variety of samples and other evidence to the Featured section of your profile to confirm what you’re saying about yourself and to clarify what you want to be known for.

PDFs of work products like presentations, white papers, or explainers that you have created will attract the attention of your audience and entice them to get to know more about your great work, and the cover sheets can make for eye-catching thumbnail images.

4. Activity

Yep, activity contributes to the Visual You. Simply being active on LinkedIn generates a visual summary of who you are and what you care about. From simply liking other people’s posts to producing your own LinkedIn articles (this newsletter that you’re reading right now is an example of my activity!), images associated with those actions are featured prominently on your profile page. In fact, when someone sees your profile, your articles show up in the third content block—even more prominent than your Experience.

5. Enhanced text and symbols

A little-known feature in LinkedIn allows you to add a few flourishes to your typography. Most LinkedIn profiles use standard text that uses the same weight and stands up straight. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can add italics and boldface to your content to put the spotlight on key messages while making your profile stand out. A LinkedIn article by Ahmad Imam describes the step-by-step process for creating visual differentiation with text.

In her article “Symbols Spice Up Your LinkedIn Profile,” social selling expert Brynne Tillman says, “Used well and sparingly, symbols have their place on the LinkedIn profile.” Her article provides categories of symbols you can add, such as Phone, Copyright, and many others. Just don’t overuse them. Once an element is heavily used, it’s no longer distinctive.

6. Video

I saved the best for last. When it comes to digital branding, nothing exudes your unique personality better than video, and LinkedIn gives you the bandwidth to make copious use of this dazzling tool. Where should you place your videos? For starters, look at 2 and 3 above. Anywhere you can add a photo or a PDF, you could include a video instead. As for category 4, you can even add videos to articles you write. By listening to your voice and watching your eyes, your audience gets a much deeper understanding of who you are and what makes you unique. And the best news is that thanks to our short attention spans, effective videos can be as short as 30 seconds.

Be YOU in LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the best platform for promoting Digital You (here's a link to my latest book which happens to be called - Digital YOU - in case you'd like to read it).

I’ve looked at thousands of LinkedIn profiles over the years, and it amazes me to see how few members (from entry-level strivers to C-suite executives) are capitalizing on the features that turn up the volume on your online identity. Take advantage of all the options I’ve shared to make your profile not only more relevant, authentic, and compelling but most importantly, more distinctly YOU.

Here's your challenge

Choose three of the LinkedIn profile branding options from above (you overachievers can do all six!!!) and act on them. Pen them into your 'do-list' to make it more likely that you'll make it happen.

Once you've branded your profile, let us know in the comments so we can check out your brilliant work and see the truly branded YOU!

Join me!

Want to get clear about your personal brand so you can build an authentic and differentiated LinkedIn profile? Join us for a lively webinar:?The Surprising Connection between Self-Awareness and Personal Branding . It's on July 25th at noon ET. And if you can't attend live, register, and we'll send you the recording.

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