When I left BCG last year, the firm provided an unparalleled amount of resources and support to ensure I landed in an incredible place post BCG. This is something that I will always grateful for.
While I was networking and searching for my ideal roles, BCG’s career services team challenged me to think about what comprised MY personal brand. The one question they kept asking was, “how can you concisely communicate your personal brand?”
What is Your Personal Brand?
If you’ve never really thought about your personal brand, it can be somewhat daunting to start figuring this out. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you’re building your framework.
- Who I am
- What makes me unique
- What was I looking to do in my next role
This required a lot of internal reflection and brainstorming on my part, but it was incredibly helpful and insightful.
Which brings me to LinkedIn- an ideal platform to communicate your personal brand. Think of how many 100’s, even 1000’s of people who have glanced at your profile, scrolled through, and have no idea what you stand for?
How is a recruiter, a client, a business partner, a new colleague supposed to know the value you can provide if you do not clearly articulate that story to them?
After going through this process, I used my experience to create a framework that can help YOU build out your personal brand.
The PEG-D Framework for Personal Branding
Power (strengths and passion)
- Where have I excelled at work and outside?
- What do I do better than most of my peers?
- Which of those skills and attributes excite me, and are transferable for the next stage of my career
Experience
- What am I currently working on, and how can it be applied to my next stage?
- What previous relevant work and non work experiences have shaped who I am, and what I want to do next?
Goals
- What am I looking to do next?
- How will I apply those strengths to the goal?
Differentiation
- What makes me unique?
- How can I apply those to the personal brand?
Leveraging your Personal Brand on LinkedIn
The beauty of LinkedIn lies in how incredibly easy it is to communicate and reinforce your brand to the LinkedIn audience.
1- Complete the basic requirements so the LinkedIn platform categorizes your profile as an “All Star” profile. If you need some help there, check out my free resource vault for a LinkedIn optimization checklist here.
2- Keyword optimize your job titles, descriptions, experiences, etc. Make sure it is consistent with your brand
3- Update and prioritize skills/endorsements that align to your brand
4- Join industry groups, follow companies and thought leaders who are aligned to your interests and branding.
5- Engage, publish content, share your expertise, communicate your skills, have a strong point of view and communicate it online
I’ll end by re-iterating that last one. Have a strong point of view and communicate it. The LinkedIn search algorithm prioritizes and rewards engagement (e.g., conversation/ banter/ discussion).
While sharing cute cat videos may generate a bunch of likes, saying “cat videos stink” may generate a lot more conversation and engagement which will get your profile noticed more frequently on many more LinkedIn feeds. Remember, likes are a vanity metric but conversation and discussion are what move the needle.
Happy Networking!