As we head into the end of Q12023 I wanted to share with you 4 personal branding trends and 4 LinkedIn updates you could do right now to enhance your personal branding in 2023. There’s always more we can do to enhance our personal brand - some are fast to do, while others take a little more time.
If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile page recently, I hope this article will give you some handy steps and tips to build your personal brand in 2023. Although I only discuss LinkedIn tips in this article, if you are on more than one platform, ensure you are consistent across all platforms, and that everything reflects your brand values and personality.
4 Personal Branding Trends To Embrace in 2023
1. Use storytelling (with focus on visual storytelling)
You have probably heard of the use of story telling to build a brand that is compelling and connects you to your audience. How do you do this? You can do this by sharing key events or moments in your life that has led or shaped you to become who you are today. Share the learnings and lessons and how you navigated through those challenges to demonstrate not only your strengths but also your uniqueness and different perspectives.
I’m also seeing a lot of personal branding through using visual storytelling and yes it starts with a good professional headshot in your Linkedin Profile, design elements (including fonts and colour) in your posts and stories and you should be able to see it across all platforms you use. There are many apps you can use to curate unique design elements for your brand.
2. Have a personal website
Creating a personal website which acts as a ‘’hub” for everything about you is such an essential part of creating a strong online presence. Your website should serve to “house” your personal brand, and should include your resume or bio, portfolio, and blog. Make sure your website is professional, easy to navigate, has “call to action” functions to contact you and optimised for search engines, so that potential employers and clients can easily find you online.
3. Network!
One of the most effective strategies to build a strong personal brand is to network! Not just when you need to find a new job or find new clients but to network consistently to build your community. You can do this by attending industry events, participating in online communities and groups and joining professional organisations to meet new people and to expand your network. Remember that networking is the giving and receiving of advice, information and referrals so ensure you know what your objectives are when you network and to follow up with your new connections or contacts after the event to keep your conversation going.
4. Use Video
If you want to create a strong personal brand and amplify your online presence, then incorporating video into your personal branding strategy is a must. Video is effective in helping you build trust with your audience and allows you to share your skills, expertise, working style and personality with impact. Some examples include pre-recording videos and posting them in your social media feed, streaming live for your audience, creating video content for your website, vlogs, and running live masterclasses or webinars.
4 Tips for LinkedIn in 2023
1. Make your LinkedIn summary compelling
I still see many profiles with no LinkedIn summary when your summary is the most personal part of your LinkedIn profile and allows you to tell your unique story. You can list your skills and job titles but a more effective way is to bring your summary to life by telling your audience why those skills matter. You can also express how you contribute and make a difference to the clients you serve or people you work with.
Lastly, you can add a call to action at the end of your summary and tell your audience how to connect with you or work with you.
2. Get Endorsements & Recommendations
People want to see social proof. Endorsements provide a visual sense of what you’re valued for by co-workers, managers, and past clients and are a great way to showcase your authority. They are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of working with you. It is definitely worth the extra effort to think about who you would most value a recommendation from and send a request with a personalised message to obtain their thoughts.
3. Use the LinkedIn Featured Section
Use the LinkedIn Featured Section to highlight more about your expertise and your story. You can also use it to highlight your top-performing posts that show value, links to your podcast, website and anything else you have shared which speak more about you and your story e.g. a video you created to share your ‘why’. This section will help showcase your experiences, specialties, and insights to help build content that establishes trust with your potential clients.
4. Turn on Creator mode.
Creator mode is a profile setting for LinkedIn members to help you grow your reach and influence on the platform. If you create content regularly and want to grow an audience with your content then the creator mode setting is a great profile setting for you as it provides you with additional tools and features to create and publish content in various formats and focuses on creating a following by highlighting your content activity.
Let me know which of the above you will incorporate into your personal branding strategy and if you would like further support, keep an eye out for a LinkedIn Masterclass as well as a LinkedIn Profile Optimisation Guide this month.
That’s it from me. Hope this helps.
Natalie x
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