Why You Still Need a LinkedIn Profile as a Member of The Collective Rising

You may be wondering if I have a profile on The Collective Rising; why do I still need to have a LinkedIn account?

At The Collective Rising, we strive to equip our members with the necessary tools and resources they need to stand out from the pack online and rise to new heights professionally. While we passionately advocate our members to take a quality-over-quantity approach towards establishing their personal brand, we are also well aware of the many benefits a platform such as LinkedIn has to offer. With over 675 million users, LinkedIn is the ultimate mega-resource for all professionals – both men and women.

Having a LinkedIn is a first check-mark, while your profile on The Collective Rising grants you double verification. While everyone can have a LinkedIn, The Collective Rising is a membership platform that you have to be accepted into in order to access the community’s offerings. To build the ultimate personal brand, you should be using LinkedIn in conjunction with The Collective Rising. LinkedIn is a great place to share your work history as well as additional professional aspects of your personal brand. Before we get into how LinkedIn enables users to do this, let’s discuss why personal branding is essential in today’s age.

As Alex Pirouz, CEO of Linkfluencer, said “You are who Google says you are.”  

A large part of your personal brand is what comes up when people search for you online. What appears on google when people search your name or your company’s name is your personal brand and is who the world perceives you to be.

Personal branding today is more important than ever. 

We live in a strange time, dominated by fake news coupled with the public’s growing desire for authenticity and transparency. A strong personal brand is your only protection. Having a visible and meaningful personal brand could be the determining factor as to whether or not a prospective employer hires you, new clients want to work with you, and potential investors choose to back you. In a world where you have access to everything, you must learn how to “brand” yourself so that you appear online as the best option for you are.

 7 Benefits of Having a LinkedIn Profile: 

• Linkedin allows you to be visible amongst co-ed professionals, business people, and journalists. 
• LinkedIn appears at the top of Google search results.
• You can join topic and industry-specific LinkedIn groups that encourage connections and meaningful professional discourse. 
• You can stay on top of trends by following professional thought leaders and influencers. You can also use the platform to share your expertise by publishing articles on the platform.
• LinkedIn provides space to list your achievements, skills, and work experience. You can also receive work recommendations from past or current colleagues.
• On LinkedIn, you can recruit people to work for you and people can recruit you to work for them.
• LinkedIn offers unparalleled access to a vast number of professionals across a wide range of industries. 

If you are looking to advance professionally, it is essential to utilize LinkedIn and take advantage of the platform’s resources as you go about establishing and strengthening your personal brand. Below we have outlined four personal branding strategies that will help maximize your time on the platform. 

Identify who you are.

• Assess your skills, abilities, education, and professional experience.
• Identify your passions and what brings you joy and satisfaction. 
• The key to success and standing out is to brand yourself with a niche specialization. Reflect on what makes you stand out from the pack.

Reflect on how others perceive you.

• Personal relationships: What do your friends say about you?
• Professional relations: What does your boss, colleagues, clients, or customers have to say about you?
• Online Reputation: What information does Google reveal about you?

Begin to establish your brand on your terms. 

• Give thought to your name. Make sure you secure your full name across all social platforms and that you own your name’s web domain, even if you have no plans to build a personal site anytime soon. 
• Decide upon a color scheme and a general aesthetic. Think about how you want others to perceive you. Do you want to come across as friendly and approachable? Select a photo of you smiling for your LinkedIn profile picture and make your background image an upbeat color. 

Connect and expand your network. 

• Follow industry thought leaders, experts, and influencers in your line of work. Follow what they post on LinkedIn, and if they are founders or entrepreneurs, follow their companies on the platform as well. 
• Join in on conversations. Consider joining one-to-three LinkedIn community groups or forums and partake in discourse relevant to trending topics in your industry. 
• Commit to expanding your network outside the realm of LinkedIn. Keep your eyes peeled for events or conferences advertised on LinkedIn that appeal to your professional interests and consider attending one in-person event each month.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can establish and strengthen your personal brand, please visit our Join Us page to learn more about The Collective Rising’s membership offerings.