Here’s how to build your personal brand on LinkedIn
NurPhoto via Getty Images
If you’re leading a business – and especially if you’re running your own shop – it’s all too common to put personal brand on the back burner. What you may not realize is that building your online presence is no longer a nice to have, or a task to procrastinate on and tack on your long list of to-dos. Growing your personal brand is the key to unlock your business performance, win over key audiences and open transformational opportunities you may have never imagined.
Connection is the new currency, and there’s no better way for brands to connect with their customers than through social media. Research from SproutSocial found that 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs that are active on social media, and 65% said when a CEO uses social media regularly, it feels like real people run the business. What’s more, 76% of consumers said they would buy from a brand they feel connected to over a competitor, and the inverse is also true; consumers are 70% less likely to shop from a brand they don’t feel connected to, according to the research.
So to grow your bottom line, you’ll need to build your online presence first. As a business leader, building your personal brand on social media platforms like LinkedIn should form a core part of your revenue strategy.
To find out how to effectively build your personal brand on LinkedIn, I spoke to expert Jonathon Palmer, LinkedIn’s Head of Content Solutions, EMEA & Latin America.
LinkedIn Is An Opportunity Area For Business Leaders in 2025 And Beyond
As the prime social media platform for professionals today, LinkedIn is the best place to build your personal brand as a business leader or entrepreneur.
“LinkedIn provides leaders and businesses with a unique opportunity to build long term relationships with the world’s largest professional audience: over 1.2 billion members across 230 countries,” said Palmer. “Today, an increasing number of leaders and professionals are relying on LinkedIn not just for networking, but for real time insights, expertise, and news that matters. We are seeing a 52% YoY increase in posts from CEOs in the past two years on LinkedIn.”
It’s not only the volume of professional users LinkedIn attracts that makes it valuable – it’s also the type of audiences that use it.
“Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions and possess twice the buying power of the average web audience. It’s now evident that business begins on LinkedIn – it has transformed from a place you’d look for opportunities, and now it’s where you go to create opportunities,” said Palmer.
Barriers To Building Your Personal Brand On LinkedIn
Gen Z is the fastest growing demographic on LinkedIn, a crucial target demographic for many brands. Plus, LinkedIn has seen 36% growth in video viewership, indicating it’s a platform for captive audiences. Despite the opportunity that LinkedIn provides, it’s still a platform that many professionals aren’t using effectively to reach their goals.
“Whether building your company brand or developing your own professional profile as a thought leader, a common myth is that you need to be ‘all business’ on LinkedIn. The idea that a business audience on LinkedIn is purely rational doesn’t reflect the reality that even professionals are moved by emotional resonance, and they remember stories and personal insights that spark interest or connection,” explained Palmer.
Although there are more than a billion LinkedIn users worldwide, only a small fraction actually post content. Beyond lack of time, fear of judgment from colleagues, peers and superiors is a common reason why many people refrain from posting on LinkedIn.
But to unlock LinkedIn’s value and become known by a wider network of professionals – who might include your ideal customer, your future investor or your next hire – the best way to quiet the self-doubt is to simply start posting.
7 Ways To Build Your Personal Brand On LinkedIn
For the busy company leader, senior executive, or entrepreneur, Palmer shared his top tips to use LinkedIn to build and grow your personal brand.
1. Update Your Profile Page
Think of your profile page as your own personal landing page or your digital shopfront window. Craft a compelling summary in the About section, as it’s often the first thing people see. Use first person – your About section should read less like a resume of your accomplishments and more like a snapshot of who you are and what you stand for. Remember: people connect with people. Cover the basics on your profile like uploading a good photo and header image, a clear headline and add your most interesting posts to the Featured section at the top of your profile.
2. Build A Simple And Consistent Content Strategy
Aim to post at least once or twice a week. To grow your audience faster, post once a day — but don’t overdo it. LinkedIn also lets you schedule your posts, so you can create several in one go and set them to publish over time.
Follow relevant industry leaders, customers, and colleagues. When they post, leave thoughtful comments that add perspective and make you part of the conversation. Professionals typically want to hear from executives and SMEs about your industry, your company and of course, yourself.
Lean on your own expertise to provide your unique point of view on industry news and trends – what seems obvious to you won’t to others, so share your unique value. Tell your network about what your company is doing differently to the rest of the industry, what makes you proud of your work, stories from your team and behind the scenes content. Post your lessons learned on your career journey, or anecdotes connecting your work to your personal values. People relate more to vulnerability than to the polished, finished product so don’t be afraid to show the messy middle.
3. Experiment With Different Content Formats
There’s no hard and fast rule about what formats work better than others so mix up your content to see what types your audience gravitates toward. Try out photos with your caption, text carousels, articles and even newsletters to share valuable insights and regular thought leadership.
4. Show, Don’t Tell – Use Video
Short form video continues to grow on the platform, with video creation growing at twice the rate of other post formats, according to Palmer. Showing is always better than telling, and video offers a way to connect with your audiences and build recognition with you and your brand.
Videos from executives are some of the most engaged content on the platform, because people want to get to know the people leading organizations that matter to them. Plus, LinkedIn research finds that 63% of buyers say that video content helps inform their buying decisions.
5. Change Your The Default Option From ‘Connect’ To ‘Follow’
Build your audience more seamlessly by updating the default button under your photo to ‘Follow.’ Members can still send a connection invitation with a further click, but this helps minimize unwanted invitations while allowing you to focus on audience building.
To turn this on, from your feed, go to Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Followers, then toggle on ‘Make follow primary.’
6. Curate Your Unique Perspective
There’s an oversaturation of similar takes on similar trends on LinkedIn, leading to a lot of weak thought leadership. Instead of generic, repetitive posts, decisionmakers are looking for bold, unique and future-forward thought leadership.
To build your unique personal brand and become known as a thought leader in your field, create substantive content that draws on your own expertise and the experience and learnings that are unique to you. Focus on sharing value, rather than trying to ‘feed the algorithm’.
According to Edelman and LinkedIn’s B2B thought leadership impact study, high value thought leadership should:
- Explore potential challenges or new opportunities your audience had not considered before.
- Offer new perspectives that point out things that they had overlooked in thinking or strategizing.
- Include guidance on how to respond to the issues raised.
7. Don’t Chase Post Performance – Simply Aim To Publish Your Posts
To build a strong personal brand, your posts don’t have to be flawless — people connect with authenticity and the real you. If a post doesn’t work the way you expected, learn from it and improve next time. It’s better to post consistently and honestly than to chase perfection and never hit ‘Publish.’
Following others you admire can be great for inspiration but don’t let comparison paralyze you from posting your own content and building your personal brand. Challenge yourself to consume less and create more.
