Your Guide to Personal Branding on LinkedIn

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile can help you find the right job for your skills, personality, and experience.  How? Let me share a personal story to explain more. My mom is a nanny and is looking for a new position. She has been out of work for a few weeks and was starting to feel overwhelmed and disappointed with her job prospects. She wasn’t reaching the kinds of employers that she wanted to work with. So, last week, she called me asking for help updating her LinkedIn and Care.com profiles. 

Luckily, she has a daughter who knows a few things about personal branding and how to position yourself for the kinds of jobs you actually wants to get. 

Here are some key ingredients you want to consider when writing your LinkedIn profile:

• What are your goals?

• Who is your audience?

• What kind of employer do you want to work for?

For my mom, this meant thinking long and hard about what she wants and doesn’t want in a job. Since she is a nanny, she wants to work with a family that fits her personality, temperament, values, and discipline style. We worked together to create a profile that would attract the right families.

She needs a bio that showcases her 40+ years of experience in child and senior care. This wasn’t hard to do. My mom is a seasoned caregiver and has the certifications to back it up. She is more than qualified for most caregiving jobs. So, I didn’t even need to “fluff” her skills and qualifications; I just needed to let them shine. 

After we posted her new bio on Care.com, LinkedIn, and a local caregiving Facebook page, my mom got a dozen messages from potential clients and is well on her way to getting a sustainable and fulfilling job. Now, she’s feeling as confident as she should be. And I’m glad I could help.

To find the right job, you need to learn how to brand yourself. That’s right, branding isn’t just for big corporations with ad dollars. It’s also for job seekers, content creators, influencers, YouTubers, and others. What is personal branding? It’s identifying, positioning, and promoting oneself in the professional world. You can think of it as putting your best foot forward to land that dream job or promotion.

Personal branding is essential for any influencer, copywriter, CEO, or anyone wanting to share their story. From Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn to personal sites and Google results, our lives are increasingly happening online.

Optimizing and revamping your page will increase your chances of being found on LinkedIn.

If people don’t know you exist, they will be less likely to connect with you on LinkedIn. Your page is your first impression, and you want recruiters, HR professionals, and the people in your professional network to stay on your page.

Let’s say a client is looking for a copywriter; they will enter the relevant keywords into the search bar and engage with the profiles on the first page of the results. That’s where you want your page to show up.

Climbing the ranks of your relevant search results isn’t going to happen overnight, but it is possible. Here are a few tips on optimizing your profile to increase its chances of showing up on the first page: 

LinkedIn Profile Checklist:

• Your profile picture should be recent and clearly show your face

  1. Your headline should showcase your job title and how you can help a potential employer or client

  2. Add an attention-grabbing background photo or banner

  3. Utilize the custom button to link to your website or portfolio

  4. Start your About section off with an engaging story

  5. Show your credibility by listing a few of your stats

  6. Show your enthusiasm for learning by upskilling and keeping your profile up to date

  7. Utilize LinkedIn Learning to help you gain new skills and expertise

  8. Don’t forget to add volunteering experience, publications, awards, or other relevant experiences

  9. Have a few colleagues or friends read your profile and give you feedback on improving the clarity

Bonus Tip:

Even if you are ready to build your personal brand, you may run into some snags along the way. You may be busy working on professional development classes and certifications. You may need additional guidance to make your LinkedIn profile pop. That’s where we come in. Good Writing Co. can help you design a strategy that will get you results. Questions? Reach out to us today.