Branding Byte #004:

LinkedIn is taking an important turn, from the common 'Dear network' platform exclusively used to find a job or network with professionals to showing the way for a new era of platforms for content creators.

It has never been that easy to establish yourself publicly and build credibility for your product/service, I've been doing it for the last 7 months now and the results have been astonishing.

No need to use fancy websites. You can test all your service/product hypotheses directly on LinkedIn(I'll write a detailed newsletter on this).

The first step is having an optimized profile, and for that my friend I am sharing everything you need to know here.

Working on a second source of income has never been that accessible and important at the same time. You can monetize your existing skills and I am here to make this happen.

Inflation Rising, Massif layoffs, and the major advancement of AI make it imperative to be visible and known for something specific.

Unfortunately, the information on how to start is scattered, difficult to access, and not always accurate, but rest assured today I'll help you figure that out.

Having a clear positioning is crucial

If people can't understand what you do in 60 seconds once they check your profile then you're doing something wrong.

Let's jump straight into the different components that make a profile stand out and how you can apply them to yours.

• Your profile pictures are not optimized

• Your about section gives zero insight into who you are

• You're not leveraging the 'LinkedIn creator' mode properly

But hey, that's alright, I spent 5 months creating content with zero purposes and I made all the mistakes cited above

This NL will provide you with all my frameworks to start working on your profile now.

Step 1: We need to see YOU and what you DO

Forget about the ‘super’ professional Network you thought LinkedIn was.

Drop out that suit and that white shirt, people want to see your face so take a picture in which we see your authentic smile. Pictures convey emotions and trust. It's primordial for you to have one that reflects your personality, don't be afraid to be natural.

Zoom on your face, doing so will allow people to see your face in the comments section. As it's through those that you'll start your creator journey and convert people to check your profile and follow you.

How?

1/ You drop a super insightful comment on a big creator post

2/ People see your headline + your face first

If you're not zooming in, you create a distance between you and your potential audience. People don't have time, once they check your profile the first two things they see are your pictures.

Make your background picture standout through Canva:

1/ Create a new design with those dimensions: 1200 x 627 pixels

2/ Add a visual related to your positioning

3/ Call clearly your audience and the pain point you solve:

—> I help you design carousels that make your audience stop.

That can be an example of the headline.

My profile conversion rate(profile views -> followers) went through the roof when I changed those elements: from 20% to 83.5%.

So don’t be afraid to do the same, it works.

Step 2: Link your experiences with your positioning

If you got step one right people will either follow you or wish to see more before they decide whether or not they want to be part of your journey.

Here my friend you have one thing to do:

—> Work on your about section.

How? (examples here correspond to my positioning on LinkedIn)

1/ Define intentionally who's the target audience: Content Creators

2/ How you help them: Identify the positioning + the strategy

3/ Bond with your audience: Why me?

4/ Add a call to action: Subscribe to my newsletter

You can check my About section, I believe it's a good example of how to structure concisely the elements cited above.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/othmane-khadri-b48162236/

However, it's not that easy to get it right.

I know many creators tell you to write unique things about yourself in that section.

No, please don't do that. That's not what will make people follow you, let that small talk for potential viral posts.

Here's the best advice I can give you on this:

Apply to yourself what works for you when it comes to others.

That means would you follow a creator with an about section explaining how unique the person is? No

So please, don't do it.

Everyone is looking for self benefits and that’s ok, use this properly to convey people with benefits.

What do I get if I follow you? How can it transcend my current state?

Answers those questions and you’ll be fine.

Step 3: Stand out with the creator mode

If you read that far, congrats my friend you only got one last step to use your profile as a Landing page.

Only 0.6% of LinkedIn users are using the Creator mode which is quite sad when you see how powerful it can be on your profile.

1/ The # section:

It gives an instinctive insight into what people can await from you if they follow you. Use it accordingly, find the pillar topics related to your target audience, and state them clearly on that headline.

Personally, that's the first thing I check when I go on someone's profile, and if I see that the #s have nothing to do with the posts written I do feel off about the person and decide not to follow.

2/ The feature section:

You got one post explaining your offer properly?

One that got super viral and show high engagement?

One on which you shared social proof on your service?

You can pin them and they become the first thing one see on your profile.

Personally, I am still deciding which posts to feature as I don’t have yet a clear offer to propose to people.

If you found that useful, don't hesitate to send me a message and follow me on Linkedin, I am active daily there.

Till next week for a new Branding Byte!