3 Awesome Benefits From Creating A Personal Brand On LinkedIn

A few months ago, I did something that I don’t usually do… I shared a blog on my LinkedIn account.

I always thought that LinkedIn was just for people looking for a new job, and since I love my job (it’s true, I’m not just trying to be a suck-up here) and I spend so much time on social accounts for clients, I was pretty inactive on my own personal LinkedIn. But, because we just rebranded the Bluleadz company website, I was excited and decided to share a blog post about it on my page.

Not even an hour later, I received a message from a connection that read the post. They hadn’t come across our blog or site before but really liked the article I shared and wanted to talk about a website redesign for his client. That’s when I realized the importance of creating my own personal brand to share with my connections — not only to help my own professional growth but also to promote Bluleadz’s branding to people that I know.

After that, I made it a point to regularly post on LinkedIn and interact with others. I realized quickly that I should have started this a long time ago.

There are many benefits and reasons why it’s important that every marketer dedicate time to self-branding, some of which include:

People Trust Others’ Reviews

When you go to buy something online, chances are you read reviews about it first! That’s because, in today’s social world, people trust and rely on what other people say about a product or service when making a purchasing decision.

So when I posted on LinkedIn that I loved our new website and my connection saw it and reached out for a website redesign, it was kind of like him reading a “review” about our work. Had I not posted that, he wouldn’t have known and probably would have done research on his own to find companies that could redesign his client’s website. Or he would have asked someone else for their recommendation of a company.

The fact that we had a personal connection made it easier for him to reach out and trust that the rebrand blog post was better than what he could find on a Google search.

By sharing info on your personal page, or by encouraging your employees to post about their work (in their own voice, of course), your company brand and the work you do will reach new audiences that have personal connections to your team.

Helpful Content Improves Client Relationships

Take the time to connect with your clients on LinkedIn. By improving your personal brand and taking the time to share articles, you can help improve relationships with those clients.

For example, when I share articles and blog posts regularly on LinkedIn, I’m providing additional content and tips to my different points of contact that we may not have time to discuss during our weekly client calls. When they see your posts on LinkedIn, they’ll recognize that you’re taking the time to share your knowledge in areas pertaining to their industry as well as others.

This helps to increase your overall credibility, and it further builds their trust in what you say during your meetings and other interactions with them because they’ve seen you post about the same topics.

Sharing Your Expertise Expands Your Own Knowledge

Creating your own personal brand on LinkedIn doesn’t just consist of posting something and calling it a day. It also means taking the time to interact with people. This not only helps your personal brand, but it also helps you to expand your own knowledge as a marketer.

Take a few minutes each week to go through your LinkedIn newsfeed and join LinkedIn marketing groups to engage in conversations with others — chances are, you’ll learn a thing or two that you can then apply to your work.

By commenting and interacting with others, you’re building your personal brand by letting others know your thoughts and expertise on the subject they’ve posted about. Additionally, by asking questions on what others have posted, you also can increase your own knowledge.

Another added benefit is that you can look at what other people are posting for inspiration for your own work. If you see a cool video or innovative content piece that someone shared, think about how you can then create something similar for your own campaign!

For those of you who are like how I used to be and avoid LinkedIn activity, I recommend that you give it a try to see what you find when you start interacting on LinkedIn and build your own personal brand.

For those of you who already post regularly, what benefits have you seen? Please be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below.