The power of LinkedIn & a brand!
During such a critical and extraordinary time, it is important to step out of your comfort zone, let go of your fears, and tap into the power of community. In the Ted Talk video: “A Superpower Hiding in Plain Sight,” Sandra Long points out that LinkedIn is about “the people you wish to meet.” How powerful of a notion that this platform allows us to do that very thing. The networking opportunities are endless and sometimes it is just a click of a button away. A lot of us think that we already have to be at 100 before we start at zero. We only need to start when it comes to networking. You have to plant the seed in order to grow the garden of connections and there is a beauty in the journey without just focusing on the destination. Start connecting because there is a community, we just have to be proactive and reach out for it. I’ll be completely honest; I was a bit hesitant about LinkedIn myself and recently have a completely new set of glasses when it comes to my view of what it truly is all about since I started at Idaho Next Steps Coaching and wanted to connect with others in my own industry. It is a way to open doors you did not even know were there.
Last month in May, it was an honor to be a part of a fantastic webinar series titled “Marketing Madness” and one of the webinars was specifically about how important it is to “brand yourself”. When I think of branding yourself as a company, I also realize how important it is to brand yourself as the unique individual that you are as well. And as Tai Tran mentions in the Ted Talk: “Designing a purposeful personal brand from zero to infinity”, personal branding includes your flaws, triumphs, and successes.
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, takes on a whole new meaning in this day and age of technology. Tai Tran brushes upon the idea of tone, which I found so intriguing as a musician who understands the importance of musical notes (aka tones), and how they can affect an audience or even a single listener. It is so important to ask ourselves, what tone are we using? And what narrative are we choosing to express who we are to our recruiters, hiring managers, and organizations? It is important to introduce yourself in different ways to people, to show different sides of yourself because although the older we get there is this notion that it is better to have a safe introduction – people seem to connect more than ever to authenticity. How can you do this? Share posts that really showcase the different aspects of your personality, values, and passions. You can also write a blog of your own, where you share both your "shortcomings" and your triumphs!
At the end of the day, everything in life is about value and impact – in our professional and personal lives we must focus on challenging ourselves to discover and truly know who you are in order to genuinely know what we “sell”. We must be connected to our colleagues, professional associates, leaders, and hiring professionals on platforms like LinkedIn – it is vital to real relationship building in 2020!
Enjoy the ride of getting Linked up!
"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen." ~ Brene Brown
References:
LinkedIn’s Community: A Superpower Hiding in Plain Sight | Sandra Long | TEDxFergusonLibrary
Designing a purposeful personal brand from zero to infinity | Tai Tran | TEDxBerkeley
Marketing Madness | Ron Baker | Idaho Women’s Business Center