Linkdin and Social Media

Personal Branding 

What is Personal Branding 

'your brand is what people say about you when your not in the room' - Jeff Bezos Amazon CEO

Social Media - Risks & Opportunities 

• Brand 'you' - It's all about marketing yourself
• What do you want to be known/remembered for? 
• Personal marketing collateral i.e. what you post online 
• CV, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
• 70% employers use social media to screen candidates
• A positive footprint is better than no footprint
• 57% are less likely to contact applicants with no online presence 
• what you post affects your professional footprint/personal brand

LinkedIn

• Online business card folder 
• The biggest candidate database in the world - crucial for applying to jobs 
• Professionals - research contacts (business behaviour) 
• Sales people - use to contact 
• Search for jobs (job board) and apply - who in your network works there? 
• Search for decision makers and add them to your network 
• Follow companies you want to work for 
• Use your network to find other contacts - get introduced 
• Participate in discussions to build profile 
• Find groups where decisiion makers hang out
• Networking, eventually taking the conversation off line (talk) 
• LinkedIn is where recruiters find people

James Redfield - celestine monks

• 'There's either an option to connect or pass up on the opportunity with everyone you meet' - these connections could come full circle. 
• Coincidences have a meaning personal to those who experience them

Setting up an Account (LinkedIn)

Photo & Banner 

• Professional head and shoulders photo
• personalised background image/banner/business card
• As a graphic designer; could design banners for companies on side 

Professional Headline 

• State your roles clearly - allows recruiter to see your skill set 

Summary 

• Who are you, what can you do (strengths), what have you done (examples), your philosophy (what are you passionate about) i.e. designs that play on the psychology of the audience, Specialities (skills) i.e. website wire-frames, manual printing, branding, book making.  

Endorsement 

• People can 'like' your skill set - to agree that you do have that skill 

Live Briefs 

• Write the brief up in the form of STAR (Situation, Task, Actions, and Results) -  it simply summarises the structure of your work experience. Essentially, STAR interviews require you to give your answers in the form of a story

Recommendations 

• Writing recommendations for others will publish your recommendation to their LinkedIn page - giving you access to all of their followers. 
• Peer to peer recommendations carry more weight - the algorithm of LinkedIn will place you higher in the search rankings if your connected to peers (graphic designers) over high ranking people
• Put as many 'key phrases' describing your practice in your profile as to make your profile easier to find - graphic designer, web builder, editor, branding.