Building Your Brand & Career Using LinkedIn These right strategies can help to climb up the career ladder

A large number of jobs are filled through referrals and a great majority of that is achieved through networking.

At times, getting the right promotion or job opportunity is just about making sure that the decision-makers remember your name at the opportune moment. For this, building yourself as a brand is crucial.

Whether you are starting your career or are in a managerial position, a great place to build your brand is on LinkedIn!

First-time meetings today seldom occur without a prior LinkedIn profile visit.

• There are 645 million LinkedIn members

• Around 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in senior management & c-suite positions

• 40% of LinkedIn members visit the site every day

With such prodigious numbers, the right strategies can help to climb up the career ladder. Whether it is a new job or growing within the organisation or building a business via valuable networking.

Here are nine suggestions that could help in:
- Making better decisions
- Being more productive
- Opening doors to leverage opportunities
while using LinkedIn.

1) First Glance: What you write is how they find you!
A professional picture and a headline that speaks about your core skills, current role, credentials & achievements. What you can offer & what they can expect is what clearly shows on profile search.

2) Summary: While writing your summary, in addition to writing what you have accomplished, also try answering real-world questions like:
- Are you self-initiated
- Success & failures if any & what has it taught you
- How do you adapt to new teams
- What can your peers expect working with you
- How quickly do you learn new skills

3) Work Experience: It should not just be about your job role. Tell an insightful brand story which highlights skills like:
- Cultural competency that shows you can work in cross-cultural settings
- Empathy which shows, you value people first
- Teamwork for a great synergy
- Complex problem-solving ability of how you handle pressure situations
- Self-initiation and ability to learn new things

4) "Start a Post" to Power Boost Your Brand: This button on the LinkedIn home page allows you to share an update. It's a highly under-utilized space by many young professionals. Don't worry too much about "what if I don't sound intelligent enough or is my story worthy?'. Rather, ask yourself, "Which of my real experiences shows the world how I have grown, faced failures, tough situations & learnt. What drives me?'.

Such posts have a tendency to reach out to large audiences.

So imagine, the kind of connections and organizations that you can get to reach out to!

5) Write an article: Writing an article allows like-minded professionals and experts in your industry to take notice and connect with you. It tells them that you are passionate enough about your field of work to:

• Stay updated

• Keep learning

• Do research

• Exchange know-how with peers

• Be open-minded, welcome feedback from like-minded professionals

• Put yourself out there

• Tell your superiors or prospective recruiters that you are ready to grow

Here, you can reply to the comments and build new professional connections based on readers engaging with your content and vice versa.

6) Networking Relationship: LinkedIn notifications is a fantastic way to show that "you listen as much as you love to talk'. Take time out every now and then to wish others on their professional achievements, milestones or insightful posts. This ensures they remember your name & tells them you value & respect the connection.

7) Accomplishments: Add your core projects, awards, accolades, publications, course certifications, social work, and other skills which shows that the learning curve for you, never ends!

8) Recommendations and Endorsements: These act as worthy testimonials with a major trust boost for your profile. A simple way to earn it would be by doing exceptional work. At the same time, reciprocate someone's great work by obliging to their recommendation request for the job they have done with you or for you.

9) Network connections: Focus on having connections where there could be a mutual exchange of value, learning and professional growth. Extend invites to decision-makers or recruiters of organizations which you aspire to be a part of. Follow influencers who could inspire you and motivate you to be better professionals.

On LinkedIn, while building a brand, if you want people to listen to you, share stories they can relate to and find valuable. Most important of all, be authentic!