Mike Li (above) is a man on a mission. Don’t be deceived by that disarming smile and casual pose – this man means business when he is focused on something.
An action-taker who says what he does, and does what he says, Mike is also one of the few people I know who is exceedingly generous in sharing his knowledge, insights and experience with others.
Personal branding is often misunderstood by many.
Some consider personal branding an egoistic exercise in self-aggrandizement. Others feel that personal branding is just social media snake oil – an elixir which so-called “experts” and “gurus” try to foist on the naive.
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network. Unfortunately, it’s also probably the most misunderstood.
With a total network size of 467 million users (Jan 2017), LinkedIn has over 108 million active users per month. About 57 percent of LinkedIn users are male, compared to 44 percent female.
LinkedIn is also the “richest” social network in terms of demographics.
44% of LinkedIn users earn more than US$75,000 a year, and 41 percent of millionaires use LinkedIn. The average CEO has some 930 connections on LinkedIn.
Despite its massive size and business potential, few have used LinkedIn effectively to build their professional networks, generate leads or grow their business.
Here are some of the common reasons I’ve heard from friends and acquaintances explaining why they’ve neglected their LinkedIn accounts:
While some of the above may be true – especially point number 3 – I strongly encourage you not to give up on LinkedIn. As the world’s number one professional social network, it has a lot to offer.
I wouldn’t consider myself a LinkedIn expert by any measure of the word, but I have experienced how powerful this social channel can be in generating business leads, attracting talent, and forming professional partnerships.
Here are some of my “vital statistics” on LinkedIn:
And the funniest thing is this – I didn’t pay for advertising nor did I upgrade to a “Pro” account!
So how did I do it?
Like some of you, I started my LinkedIn account out of curiosity back in 2006/2007 during its early years.
As a business blogger, I found it interesting to connect with my fellow bloggers, friends on social media, colleagues, and alumni contacts through LinkedIn.
I also realised that it was more efficient for me to reach out to my professional contacts through LinkedIn rather than dig out their name cards to email, call or Whatsapp them.
Over time, I encouraged my business associates to connect with me on LinkedIn. This worked well as LinkedIn is considered less intimate and afforded greater privacy to those who preferred not to mix business with pleasure.
Through LinkedIn, I also found that I could stay in touch with my contacts. I could congratulate them during their work anniversaries or when they found new jobs, and reach out to them if I needed help in a specific area.
Here’s a very small sample of the folks I’m currently connected with on LinkedIn.
It goes without saying that your profile on LinkedIn is the most important piece of content that you should create.
Everybody who has an inkling of interest in you would check it out:
Thus, it makes a lot of sense to pour your heart, mind and soul into writing a kick-ass profile.
In my case, I paid attention to my headline, used keywords which best described what I’m good at (and why you should work with me), and also included as much of my professional achievements as I could.
Source: Walter’s LinkedIn Profile
Oh, and don’t forget your photograph. Nothing beats a professionally taken photograph to make your LinkedIn profile stand out (or at least not suck).
Have you used the LinkedIn Featured Skills and Endorsements function?
It is a feature where you list down the different skills that you’re good at. Or approve what others have endorsed you for.
Mine looked like this. You can see that my areas of strength are balanced between social media marketing, PR, and marketing communications.
Do these skill endorsements work?
Well, according to LinkedIn, a person whose skills are listed receive 17 times more profile views than those who do not have their skills listed. This would be valuable not only for those looking for a job, but entrepreneurs seeking business partners.
As in anything on social media, the trick here is to both give endorsements and receive them. When doing so, however, it is important to be authentic – ie only endorse the skills of your associates if you’ve seen them in action (either online or in-the-flesh).
In March 2014, I experimented with writing articles directly on LinkedIn using the LinkedIn Pulse app (now defunct). Prior to that, I used LinkedIn primarily as a social sharing channel to promote my own blog posts.
(At that time, I was working in a senior Corp Comms position in a government body and only left my job in May 2014.)
That was when things started to move up a few notches for me.
As a blogger, LinkedIn Pulse provided an additional channel for me to promote my thoughts and ideas.
Initially, I wrote anything which inspired or triggered me. It could be on social media, blogging, personal development, or leadership.
Over time, I decided to focus my LinkedIn articles on the hot topics of interest, especially those related to career or HR issues. At the same time, I pivoted my own website Cooler Insights to focus more on social media and content marketing topics.
Here’s my most popular article to date – a piece I wrote to highlight why employers regardless of affiliation should consider hiring public officers.
Here’s a snapshot of how well this article did, and who my readers were. It is interesting to see that many of them came from GovTech Singapore and San Francisco!
Of course, not all my articles do that well. Quite a few have less than 500 views.
However, that hadn’t stopped me from writing – and neither should it stop you too.
Now, as an introvert, I don’t particularly enjoy schmoozing at parties or networking in face-to-face events. I can’t really drink, and my hearing has deteriorated over the years.
(Having said that, I’m far from socially awkward as those who met me in the flesh would attest to.)
Fortunately, schmoozing on LinkedIn is a different thing altogether.
As a geek and a nerd, I like to read what my connections on LinkedIn are sharing – especially if they are thought leaders and influencers in specific fields. I can also chip in with my two cents worth of comments, and stay in touch with occasional messages.
Typically, this is what I do.
Daily
Weekly/ Fortnightly
What I’ve shared above is just the tip of the ice-berg.
Together with my buddy and Super Brand Me founder Eugene Seah, I’ll be conducting my 4th LinkedIn Personal Branding workshop on 29 September (Friday) evening.
During the three hour session, I’ll equip you with in-depth insights and learning materials so that you can achieve the following outcomes:
Past sessions have been popular with tickets flying fast, so do hurry and sign up here to confirm your place.
I guarantee that it’ll be a fun, engaging and enriching night, with lots of valuable tips and tricks that you can use to accelerate your LinkedIn marketing efforts.
The good old days of double digit economic growth and abundant choice jobs are over.
We are now entering an unusual stage in the global economy characterised by slow growth and painful economic restructuring.
Have you wondered how some people lead such joyful and fulfilled lives? What is the secret sauce behind their success?
After studying the behaviours of numerous successful individuals and reading a tonne of motivational and self-help books, I believe that it all boils down to pursuing empowering habits.
Have you heard of Adam Khoo? I’m sure you would if you are a parent or an entrepreneur!
Co-founder of Adam Khoo Learning Technologies – one of the largest training and educational outfits here in Singapore – Adam Khoo was famous for becoming Singapore’s youngest self-made millionaire at the age of 26. Together with his partners, Adam runs several businesses in education, training, learning centres, pre-school education, fund management and advertising, yielding a combined annual turnover of $50 million.
Freddie Mercury of Queen (Courtesy of Queen Photos)
Larger than life, rock stars like Jon Bon Jovi, Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen have captured the hearts of millions worldwide. On and off stage, their passion for their craft has led them to become legends in entertainment.
What are the success strategies of rock stars? How do they build such powerful personal brands?
Everybody is on social media these days.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, YouTube, SnapChat… The list goes on.
Dorie Clark wants to reinvent you (image via HBR Facebook)
You’ve slogged hard for years. Maybe even decades. Somewhere along the way, you lost your mojo.
Maybe work isn’t as fulfilling or meaningful as before. Or you realise that you haven’t made any progress in years.
What should you do under these circumstances?
Calling all Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs)! The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) wants to make you a better leader.
Happening 24 July 2015 (Friday) at NTUC Centre from 8 am to 7 pm, the Future Leaders Summit 2015 is the union movement’s effort to cater to the growing numbers of PMEs in its membership. Through the event, NTUC hopes to equip PMEs with leadership skills designed for the fast moving digital age.