Using Visual Content to Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

by Vince Rogers

When it comes to career and professional branding,LinkedIn www.linkedin.com is the most powerful tool available on the World Wide Web. It enables users to manage a well conceived and consistent on-linepersonal branding strategy. LinkedIn empowers them to control the dynamic content they share and the important people they share it with. Now LinkedIn has responded to the needs of savvy professionals who desire to add unique visual content to their profiles as well. This enables users to further distinguish themselves from their competition.

Standing out from the competition is the primary objective for achieving success with your branding strategy on LinkedIn. In the process of creating a powerful LinkedIn profile, most people simply strive for completeness and accuracy. They rely on effectively communicating their skills verbally. The only advantage comes from hopefully doing this better than the competition. Yet for a decision maker examining one after the other text heavy profiles, using the right words just may not be enough to grab their attention. Effective writing is certainly a powerful tool, but in many casesUsing Visual Content to Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile may be the best way to gain a leg up on the competition.

Visual content includes (but is not limited to) the following:

1) Videos
2) PowerPoint Presentations
3) Infographics
4) Book Covers

Of course with any successful branding strategy, you must take time to conceive and execute a plan that will produce your desired outcome. This strategy should achieve the dual goal of positioning you as a trusted expert and networking with the people you want to make aware of your expertise.

There are essentially 4 Keys to Creating a Successful Branding Strategy on LinkedIn:

1) Upload a Profile Photo that tells your Brand Story in one image
2) Complete your Powerful Profile page.
3) Strategically Build Your Network of Contacts.
4) Join the Right Groups.

When you complete the major sections of your LinkedIn profile (Summary, Experience and Education)you will now find a new symbol next to the word “Edit”. This symbol is also found beneath the individual entries in each section. This button enables you to “Click to add a video, image, document presentation….” It also allows you to “Add a Link” or “Upload a file”.

Some tips to consider when uploading visual content you should consider are to:

1) Only upload unique content that you have created
2) Only display your best work not the most work

Brand conscious professionals are using visual content to enable visitors to see the product of their labor rather than just a simple description of their work. For example an Artist or Chef may want to share a picture of their most eye-catching creations. On the other hand, an Anchorman or Public Speaker would greatly benefit from uploading a video of them commanding an audience rather than simply state that they are a dynamic orator.

Savvy professionals who use visual content effectively on LinkedIn will find it to be a “game changer” It is an essential tool for empowering their on-line branding strategy. Used effectively it will enhance your perceived expertise and the quality of the professional contacts that you attract.