I have been giving workshops on how to use Linkedin for professionals and one of the main benefit of Linkedin is to raise your reputation and your brand.
But how to do that?
I have identified 4 reputation building tools on Linkedin.
1) Status updates
Everytime you post a status update, you communicate about what you are doing…you can really use the status update to communicate your brand and mentioning the things you are developing according to your target. For example if I want to be known as the expert in the marketing for consumer goods, I will share articles or conferences I have seen/attended in this industry. I will show up my knowledge through sharing. You build your reputation with the status update over time!
2) Groups
You need to find and select relevant groups according to your target. For example, with the same example mentioned earlier, I would look for consumer goods groups or marketing groups in my region/country. The idea is to select groups in your industry/function or region. Once you have selected and got into these groups, you can interact with members and offer your thoughts and comments on the hot topics. You can even share the articles you wrote on your blog in the “news” section or promote a conference/event you are organizing. People will start seeing your contributions and comments and you will be part of the community and you will be seen as an expert.
3) Events
This is probably the most under utilized section of Linkedin. The section “Events” can be used in 2 different ways. The 1st way is to find and spot conferences/events you could be interested in. Everytime you register to a specific event, it will appear in your news section and your contacts will see it. The 2nd way is to organize yourself events and promote them through Linkedin. You will build your reputation by showing that not only you attend and participate in events of your industry but by organizing events or even speaking at events.
4) Questions and Answers
This is the trickiest section. A lot of experts on Linkedin build their reputation through answering questions of people who are looking for expert views. This is a great way to put a foot in the door as many people start by asking questions before hiring someone…this is another way of building your reputation as the more “best” answers you will get, the higher your expert ranking will be. I have seen a lot of people crafting ready made answers to gain time. That is the main problem of this tool: it is time consuming!
5) All the apps available on Linkedin
To reinforce your message and your brand, you can leverage all the apps available on Linkedin. If you have a blog, you can use Wordpress application. You can use Google doc presentation and embed a video on the presentation. And last but not least, you can re order the sections to put the most relevant information at the top of your profile ie I put my recommendations at the top of my profile but if you are a student you can put your education first.
