Nairobi

Should you build a personal brand on LinkedIn?

All right, so my LinkedIn feed has been bombarded with people stating how important it is to post and create a brand on LinkedIn because it brings you more meetings, more job opportunities blablabla.

I personally never post because I don't know what the hell to post lol but I'm curious to know; what are your thoughts on building a personal brand on LI?

👥 Social Selling

👨‍💻 LinkedIn

📲 Social Media

56 comments

Sort by:

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Maybe if you sell to marketing and sales, otherwise it's just... masterbation

Nairobi

Politicker

LOL

brotato

WR Lieutenant

Head of Sales

The short term thinking is building a personal brand to sell more. You don't need a personal brand to sell more, you just need to upskill yourself. A personal brand has nothing to do with your short term job, but your long term career.

Now let's take a step back for a second. What is a personal brand? It's people knowing you, what you stand for, and your quality without ever having met you.

When you develop a personal brand, you're opening doors that you will otherwise never have access to. Posting on the public domain and gaining traction raises awareness of your knowledge beyond the 4 walls of your current job. People seek your advice, want to hear you speak, and appreciate your perspective.

You'll start getting invited to podcasts, speaking engagements, making lists, meeting authors and other influencers, etc. It's a compounding effect. You start taking control of your income, with the ability to make passive revenue that can quickly balloon larger than your job salary.

I guy to follow on this is Justin Welsh. He's showing everyone the model to break free from a traditional career path.

Nairobi

Politicker

Wise words, are you speaking from experience? You seem knowledgeable on the subject. Never heard of Justin Welsh but will look him up, thanks!

StoweSalesmaster

Personal Narrative

Director of Sales

Cool, thanks for the reference to Justin.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Unless you're the product you're selling (coaching, sales training etc) I think it's a total waste of time.

Nairobi

Politicker

Right, all the people that I've seen building a personal brand are selling their services

Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

If you're looking for a job, it's a good way to be seen. Outside of that, it's totally dependent on your industry.

Nairobi

Politicker

What are some industries that you think would be irrelevant and some that would be relevant?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Hey if you want to do it then build that brand. If not, then don't.

It's great if you are a true expert in a certain area or if you are your own business.

Nairobi

Politicker

What if you are none of the above but still want to build something? haha

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

I am starting to think yes, it is. As salespeople, we all know positive rep with the customer helps close the deal, and if you don't have a history with a customer the next best thing is to let them see yours with others.

I'm trying to build my LinkedIn as a problem-solving space as well as a place where we big up our customers and talk about new opportunities. I also post job offers and other stuff not related to us rather than useless shit about me.

You gotta give back A LOT before anyone cares, it's a grind like anything else. It also may not help in current roles, but you never know where you will end up.

Nairobi

Politicker

Interesting, haven't heard that one yet. Best of luck with your LI!

You're right about giving A LOT. Give before you get.

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

Yes, but don't turn into a Gary V

Nairobi

Politicker

hahaha I know the guy but he hasn't shown up on my LI feed yet

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Account Manager

Why not though? Dude makes millions just talking like a smartass who knows everything... I hate him too but at the same time I recognize there's a wee bit of envy there too.

Rigeyyy

Opinionated

Account Executive

This is something that I think is super cool, but something I would never do. It just doesn’t fit my personality. But I’m positive people that do build personal brands on LinkedIn have a lot more recruiters reaching out to them then I do lol

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

If you can do it, but your first effort should be cold calling as a BDR

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Yes/no. depends on how much your industry publicly engages on linkedin. If you have little engagement from your client base it could prove hard to grow it successfully. If you do get a lot of engagement then it could work.

I think linkedin is incredibly powerful if used correctly and most of my biggest deals have come through Linkedin but i think building a personal brand on an social media site takes an incredible amount of time to do it well and to use it to your advantage. i see better uses of my time on linkedin which are more subtle.

MrMotivation

Politicker

Sales

Unless you own your own business, I don't really see the point. If my pitch to you is that I have an easy button for all of your problems, do you really care about me as a person?

Nairobi

Politicker

Fair point tbh but to "counter" would you prefer to buy from someone that constantly posts about your industry and seems to be an expert or someone that you don't know anything about?

AssistantToTheRegional

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Linkedin is good for 3 things and having a personal brand is key to all 3.

social selling
selling yourself (to recruiters / sales leaders)
recruiting others (if you're a manager)

Typically you need to pick a lane.

If you sell to VP of Sales I guess you're in luck and hit the trifecta.

You can build a brand to sell, to get job offers or to move into leadership and hire people.

I've picked the second lane, I use my personal brand to get attention *shameless* and job offers. Job offers have skyrocketed since I started putting in the time on LI.

Hasn't helped me sell though, but that's okay because I'm not using it for that purpose. (tried w/ little success, just a few meetings)

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

I guy to follow on this is Justin Welsh. He's showing everyone the model to break free from a traditional career path.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

Now let's take a step back for a second. What is a personal brand? It's people knowing you, what you stand for, and your quality without ever having met you.

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Depends the reason for doing so. If it's just to try and sell more, that doesn't always correlate. I've found very little sales drive from LI activity, but still enjoy doing it

Nairobi

Politicker

Do you post only about your product or it's a mix of other things?

Tres

Politicker

Account Executive

Only about our product/company

leadswithasideofbacon

Good Citizen

Independent Sales Consultant

My entire consulting business has been supported by leads through my LinkedIn network - and I got my last 3 jobs through it as well. Haven't used a resume in 10 years - all my offers came through my personal brand and network. And I started out as a BDR as well. :)

Nairobi

Politicker

Oh nice, congrats! Did you start building your brand when you were a BDR?

leadswithasideofbacon

Good Citizen

Independent Sales Consultant

I did - My first SDR job was with a social media monitoring company and having profiles on LI, Twitter, Klout, and Foursquare (haha remember those??) was a requirement. However I learned a couple things - in my prospecting when I check someone's profile, they very often reciprocate. So what will they see when they get there? Just a resume-style profile? Or someone who has expert knowledge in their role? Now more than ever most buyers do their own research on you and your product/service - so when they google you what is there for them to find?
I totally understand this might not apply to every industry but I think it builds more trust when people can see you are a human with thoughts and opinions.

Nairobi

Politicker

I totally just googled Klout & Foursquare haha seems like Klout inspired an episode of Black Mirror.

And yes I understand what you mean, sounds right.

SDMHGWarrior

Tycoon

CEO

only if it can make you benjamins

Nairobi

Politicker

Well that's always the goal haha

Saasyaf

Fire Starter

Director of Sales

ABSOLUTELY.

Nairobi

Politicker

Any tips?

Saasyaf

Fire Starter

Director of Sales

Post industry related content, best practices- be an expert in your field. I’d also show your personality in your posts- make them human. For example: corp bros posts are real, they’re what the people want. Think that when you post.

Nairobi

Politicker

Got it, thanks!

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Industry and individual dependent. A personal brand goes far beyond selling alone. You can attract jobs, clients, freelancing opportunities etc

Nairobi

Politicker

When you say Industry do you mean the industry as for us like sales or the industry of your company?

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Both. Sales and company
I'd not be wise to be in sales and create a brand around philosophy to attract prospects with it.

Nairobi

Politicker

Right, make sense.

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Thanks

Finance

Member

sales

I see LinkedIn as your personal billboard. If you're a BDR and your role is to grow, consider connecting with people you're looking to sell or even collaborate with in the future. Share industry relevant information to them, and how what you do solves their pain points.

You can also post about interesting fun posts too. Whatever that brings value to your viewership, that then translates to greater trust in you.

Nairobi

Politicker

Got it, thanks for the advice!

swizard

Celebrated Contributor

Sales Evangelist

It's a must if it serves your short/long term biz/personal objectives! it's a great place!

Cothrock

Catalyst

Account Executive

The self promotion/outright bragging about yourself that seems to be required really turns me off. That and I don't think I know enough to share insightful shit.

illexpenseit

Opinionated

Account Manager

I sell into Automotive supply chain. There are a lot of rules around delivery in that industry. It's worth while for me to be seen as someone who understands the industry and how to be successful in it. So posting, Writing articles, trying to get some speaking engagements at conferences, are worthwhile.

CCISAP

Fire Starter

CEO

100% agree you must build your brand, your companies brand on LinkedIn. You also need to be very strategic and how you do that, yours should flow with your company but you can be a little bit more adventurous with yours keep your companies linked in profile tight use yours to expand into grow and to go deeper on what you love.

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Account Manager

This is a no-brainer. You are either building your brand or leaving it up for interpretation, but seriously fuck LinkedIn, as long as you're half-way smart you will put out quality content in a see of douche baggery...

posercloser

Valued Contributor

VP Sales

I think you can build a brand by commenting on other existing copy, like industry blog posts that you put your personal experience/opinion on. i.e. I work in cybersec and a well-respected report was published, you can share on LI and add your thoughts.

Strangis

Valued Contributor

Key Account Manager / BDM

Get a personal logo created for yourself, use it as cover pic. Referrals are also good.

AlexT

Politicker

Account Executive

Let me guess, are the people providing that advice "coaches" who just so happen to have a course/coaching on that topic?

Lambda

Tycoon

Sales Consultant

i have a super hard time building mine, no clue who i am

Jpnelson09

Executive

Senior Account Executive

Personal brands sell. Especially in your next career move where resumes don’t exist.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

Nairobi

Should you build a personal brand on LinkedIn?

56 comments

Related posts

What's your take on folks starting companies and businesses to teach others how to 'build your brand' on LinkedIn?

Do you use Twitter to build relationships with prospects?

How do you feed your personal network?