Personal Branding Mistake #41: YOU'RE MAKING EXCUSES

It doesn’t take much to get the wheels turning. Take some time today to think about you and your personal brand. Write about it, talk about it - just see where it takes you! Your personal brand will thank you later.

The most successful LinkedIn users engage with connections and discussion groups daily, so join your relevant groups to optimize your brand and your network. Over 5 million professionals now have endorsements for social media skills on LinkedIn. That should give you an idea of how important regular updates are. The challenge in personal branding is to identify your goals then act to reach your goals. Yes it takes time and yes it’s worth it. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #42: IT'S NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES

Don’t be a slave to social media; make it work for you instead. Have it serve as a platform to leverage your brand and increase awareness. You want to build an audience, not a platform of gifs and memes to distract your connections from the service you provide.

LinkedIn powers 50% of the world’s hires, so make sure your audience knows your brand promise and its value. Represent that promise with relevant text, documents, visuals and links. LinkedIn’s power is in professional connections, so keep your professional profile focused and clear of personal information. Puppies work great on Facebook, not so great on LinkedIn.  

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Personal Branding Mistake #43: YOU NEED A DIGITAL MAKEOVER

You spend money on a new suit and a haircut for an interview, so why not for your digital appearance too? Prospective clients and employees will check you out online before they ever meet you in person. Is your online presence up to par? 

Your social media profiles generally rank in the top five Google search results for your first and last name, so make sure your profiles are complete and represent your brand. Did you know that 80% of companies use social media for recruitment? Hiring managers frequently refer to a candidate’s LinkedIn network for blind references, so include people in your network that will say good things to say about you. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #44: YOUR HEADLINE FALLS SHORT

Your headline is the single most important written component of your profile. Don’t just list your title and company – heighten the appeal! Bring in new business by adding important keywords.

After your picture, your headline is the most viewed item on your profile page. It’s like the headline on an ad. If people are intrigued, they will go further.  The optimal length of a headline is 6 words. We live in a world where people have short attention spans, so less is more. However, make sure your headline reflects your brand promise. Google displays up to 66 characters of a title tag.  Keep that in mind when crafting your headline.

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Personal Branding Mistake #45: THE MORE THE MERRIER

Be sure to list all relevant companies you’ve worked for, schools and credential programs. Make sure all your experience points to your brand promise. 

LinkedIn users who have education listed on their profile receive an average of 10X more profile views. Adding an industry to your profile can you get 15X more views. Adding keywords to support search will generate further engagement with your platforms. With personal branding for social media, more is more.

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Personal Branding Mistake #46: YOU HAVEN'T REACHED YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

LinkedIn gives you the option to list three sites under your contact information – make sure you’re maximizing your outreach capabilities by listing company sites, personal sites, and social pages. 

Instead of using the default “Personal Website” on your LinkedIn page – type anchor text links in your LinkedIn profile. You can change the anchor text to make those links more appealing to people who view your profile. Promote your company’s LinkedIn presence by adding the Company Follow button to your website. Include content such as your contact information, websites, articles and slideshares to cultivate your network connections. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #47: USE IT OR LOSE IT

Maybe you have a free LinkedIn profile, maybe you pay for premium, but simply having a profile won’t bring home the bacon. Optimize your profile and use these helpful tips to take full advantage of LinkedIn.

Having a social media profile will not work if you’re not active. 42% of LinkedIn users update their profiles regularly so post fresh and valuable content often. There are 200 conversations per minute occurring in LinkedIn discussion groups. Actively participate in your groups to enhance your brand presence and to maintain strong relationships with your network. Users who engage with their connections are much more likely to receive profile views than passive users. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #48: YOU'RE WALKING ON A TIGHTROPE

So you want to transition into a new field or career? Make sure the content on your profile builds a connection between where you are and where you want to be. Make your transition happen with a strong brand promise.

Live in the present, create content for the job you want, not for the job(s) you had but make a strong connection between the two. 50% of LinkedIn users have a Bachelor’s or Graduate degree, so make sure you link your education to a strong brand promise to build value for potential employers. Consider making that link come to life in a video. It’s 50X easier to get a video to rank on the first page of a Google search than any other content.

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Personal Branding Mistake #49: NOT TACKLING TWITTER

LinkedIn has been good to you, but Twitter can be generate great business too – 42% of account holders use Twitter to learn about products and services. Give your personal brand a boost and tackle Twitter!

Twitter can enhance your professional life. There are 500 million tweets sent per day. There are 305 million monthly active visitors on Twitter which is significantly more than the monthly visitors on LinkedIn. If Twitter were a country, it would be the 12th largest worldwide. Twitter supports over 33 languages. With Twitter size does really matter. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #50: YOU FORGOT YOUR TWITTER "BUSINESS CARD"

Don’t have a Twitter avatar and completed bio? A profile without a personal brand is like going to a meeting without a business card. Forgetting your business card may make for a sad ending – no business! 

80% of world leaders use Twitter so make sure you are a leader in your field by having a complete and solid profile to actively engage your audience. Tweets with image links receive 2X the rate of engagement of those without. The average number of tweets sent per day is 3, as user engagement slightly decreases after the third post. After LinkedIn, Twitter is the platform of choice for CEO’s. Add it to your business card.  

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Personal Branding Mistake #51: YOU DON'T KNOW THE TWITTER TRUTH

95% of marketers say they have generated business leads though Twitter. Don’t believe it? Revamp your personal brand with a sleek new Twitter profile and try it yourself!

Twitter is one of the primary platforms for engaging your audience and showcasing your personal brand’s value. Link clicks account for 92% of user interaction on Twitter, so tweet content that includes links to drive engagement. Consider including words in your posts that prompt action such as “Download” to increase clicks up to 13%. Don’t be afraid to actively drive attention by asking your audience to retweet. Tweets asking followers to “retweet” receive 12X higher retweet rates than those that do not. Include Twitter as part of your professional outreach plan. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #52: YOUR'E NOT FACING IT

Is your Twitter avatar not a picture of you? Do you even have a Twitter avatar? It’s time to face it – faces matter and yours is missing. Just like LinkedIn, a photo of you is critical for a credible and concrete personal brand. 

Having a Twitter profile without a photo is pointless. Twitter pages with profile pictures have 10X more followers than those without. People retain 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read so put a face on your brand. Don’t just stop there, Tweets with images receive 18% more click-throughs, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets. Twitter is a great way to build your online brand imagery.

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Personal Branding Mistake #53: NO MANNERS

Make sure to say please when you want to connect, and thank you when you receive an invitation. Manners matter in the digital world. Good manners can get the conversation going!

Using good manners in all online interactions is an important best practice. Simple things such as “Please” and “Thank you” go a long way in the digital world. Just because conversations are brief doesn’t mean your manners should be. Be polite and be professional. With 93% of recruiters looking at your social media platforms be on your best behavior at all times. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #54: SILENCE IS NOT GOLDEN

Before you join a group, check to make sure its members are active and discussing. A silent group isn’t a group worth joining. Get your personal brand going by joining highly active groups.

Build brand awareness by joining and participating in LinkedIn discussion groups. With 1.5 million LinkedIn groups, there are plenty of options to choose from. Join groups that open up meaningful relationships and opportunities. 81% of LinkedIn users belong to at least one group. And 40% of all social media users socialize more online than they do face-to-face. Do lots of first online meetings to connect with those individuals you normally wouldn’t. Participating in group discussions is a great way to grow and optimize your brand. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #55: YOU FORGOT TO SHOW AND TELL

Are you telling but not showing? Consider using LinkedIn Showcase pages. A Showcase page can be an effective tool for presenting your product as well as your personal brand.

Every minute 684,478 pieces of content are shared on social media, so post interesting and relevant content in unique ways to build brand awareness. Consider LinkedIn showcase pages as an extension of your company page to shine a spotlight on your brand. Use this feature to drive traffic and attention to content that you’re proud of. 61% of LinkedIn users use the platform as their primary professional networking site. Make it more effective with showcase pages.

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Personal Branding Mistake #56: YOU’RE HEARING CRICKETS

If you’ve been actively posting without success, it’s time to try something new. Switch up your branding strategy by changing content, posting time, or group involvement.

The same old song only gets attention for so long. The most common reason to unlike a social media page is uninteresting posts, so change it up and make it interesting with new stories, visuals, videos, etc. When you post is important as well. The best time to post on Twitter is Mondays-Thursdays between 9am-3pm. TrackMaven analyzed over 1.7 million tweets and found that the best time of day for a retweet is after hours, between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm EST. Friday is the worst day to post on LinkedIn. Create, share and post relevant content during prime time to get the attention your brand deserves.

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Personal Branding Mistake #57: DON'T BE SO COLD

If a connection comments on your post be sure to respond! The point of posting is outreach. If you’re not responding you’re not communicating your personal brand story.

Engaging with your audience is the key to creating and maintaining meaningful connections. By responding to a comment, answering an InMail or simply liking a post, you are positioning your brand as responsive. Questions have proven to drive more engagement than statements. Posing a question or responding to one will benefit your brand. Emails with social sharing buttons increase click-through rates by 158%, so think about including social sharing buttons on your social platforms to drive engagement. Take the time to get ahead of competition and interact with your audience!

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Personal Branding Mistake #58: DON'T BE A BULLY

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all. Poor behavior on social media means a poor perception of your personal brand. Don’t be rude, play nice.

Your online reputation is critical to building your brand. Using inappropriate language, making rude comments or posting opinions on highly sensitive topics can hurt your brand. 35% of recruiters have rejected a candidate because of online slander. 26% of employers react negatively to overly religious posts and 18% react negatively to political posts. Keep your online presence professional and appropriate. Your brand will thank you for it.

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Personal Branding Mistake #59: YOU'RE HOGGING THE FEED

Sharing content is always encouraged. Drowning the feed in posts is not. Try to find the happy medium. If you get the sense you’re over posting chances are your intuition is right. 

While regular posting is helpful to building your brand, drowning your audience in content is not. 59% feel that over sharing on social media sites is a huge no-no. 53% of social media visitors say they dislike those who share information that they consider private. LinkedIn recommends 5 posts per week. Consider creating a posting schedule to help monitor your activity. HootSuite is a great way to distribute and monitor your posts.

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Personal Branding Mistake #60: BE MORE VISIBLE

Want people to know you’re checking them out on LinkedIn? Make sure to change your visibility settings so people can see who you are and what you’re about when you view their profile.

Make your online presence more visible by actively searching for connections and checking out their profiles. Social networking sites were created for users to see and be seen. Use the publish post and activity feature on LinkedIn to allow your audience to view your activity. 75.7% of LinkedIn users have found the “Who Viewed Your Profile” feature to be the most helpful. Make yourself more visible by using industry specific keywords in your profile. Adding keywords helps your audience find you.

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