The best tool for starting out on a new professional path: look after your personal brand on LinkedIn
Over the past few years, personal branding has gone from being a competitive advantage to an indispensable requirement. Any self-respecting professional, regardless of the sector he or she works in, must have a well-defined and valuable identity online.
In fact, we could go so far as to say that, recently, digital personal branding has become a trend. It has established itself as a phenomenon that not even big businessmen, politicians, or celebrities who had previously made a name for themselves in the global media landscape can ignore.
This is the case of Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, with the social media network Twitter, where he already has more than 100 million followers, or that of Ariana Huffington on LinkedIn. The community of Thrive’s founder and CEO exceeds 10 million users.
Both public figures have managed to position themselves as points of reference through their profiles, leading the conversation around their area of business and promoting their brands on an international scale.
Meanwhile, if we go down to a less well-known level, we are seeing more and more senior profiles, entrepreneurs, and managers, who have begun to work on their personal brand more strategically.
We only have to look at some of the profiles that have managed to become points of reference in their respective professional fields thanks to the active, constant, and careful work of their personal brand.
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At the same time, in the field of corporate communications, a growing number of companies are relying on the people who make up their teams to project the brand’s services, reinforce their digital reputation and reach new potential audiences.
They are committed to Human Communication, placing people at the center of their communication strategy, and making them the protagonists of the messages and business narrative. We must never forget that the people who work in a company can act as excellent prescribers of the brand in the digital environment.
Personal Branding: the driving force behind new ideas and projects
However, developing a personal branding strategy can also be a good option for those profiles that are starting a new professional path or are thinking of starting their own business.
LinkedIn is often the most useful social media network for building a new personal brand from scratch. Because with a little creativity and without the need for a large budget, this professional social network can become your best letter of introduction on the digital continent.
According to the latest report by Hootsuite and Semrush, 92% of society trusts recommendations from people, even if they are strangers, more than from brands or companies themselves.
Therefore, working and developing a personal brand can be much more practical for boosting a new professional project than activating a corporate account.
In addition, optimizing your own digital channels and maintaining active communication through them can open up endless professional opportunities for entrepreneurs or experts and allow you to connect with other profiles that may be of interest.
However, in the world of personal branding, not everything goes. To achieve a successful personal brand, it is essential to define daily communication objectives and work meticulously to maintain digital minimums. It is also important to project a certain coherence between the digital self and the professional self.
That is why many profiles decide to collaborate with specialized consulting firms to help them define the verbal and visual identity of their personal brand and to position themselves as a point of reference in their sector or professional area.