How to Use LinkedIn for Personal Branding

Social media can help you stay connected with family and friends. But what about using it to promote your career? LinkedIn is one social media platform you can use to help build and grow your personal brand as a healthcare professional.

What is a Personal Brand?

Companies focus on building their brands to become more identifiable. When you see “the Golden Arches,” for instance, you instantly know it’s McDonald’s. This fast-food franchise has become known for its hamburgers, as well as for providing quick food at an affordable price.

Your personal brand is similar in that it helps others identify what makes you as a professional different or unique. It tells the outside world what you stand for or represent — which can help you stand out from your competition while also fostering a stronger connection with others who have the same goals or attributes.

Your personal brand identity is developed based on what you share verbally or in writing, in addition to being impacted by your actions and behaviors. It is influenced by the personal stories you tell, the skills you’ve taken the time to develop, and the values you adhere to when moving through your healthcare career.

Taking the time to build your personal brand offers many benefits. It can help improve your credibility, boost your visibility, increase your opportunities, and even make you feel more confident.¹

Why Use LinkedIn for Personal Branding?

LinkedIn reports that it has more than 1 billion members across 200 countries and regions.² This provides an expansive reach, allowing you to connect with other professionals, industry leaders, and healthcare organizations both inside and outside your geographical region.

While these numbers may sound great, you may be wondering what makes LinkedIn a good platform for people working in the healthcare industry, specifically. Here are a few numbers to consider:³

• Almost 8 million U.S. healthcare workers are on LinkedIn.
• These professionals work for 424,000 companies.
• They have acquired 38,000 skills.
• They belong to 341,000 groups on this platform.

You can connect with other healthcare professionals on LinkedIn, follow companies or organizations that pique your interest, and join groups to have in-depth discussions about the healthcare topics you’re most passionate about. This is on top of using LinkedIn to build and grow your uniquely identifiable brand.

How to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Personal Brand

How do you use LinkedIn effectively when the goal is to build your brand as a healthcare professional? This platform is a place where you can self-publish articles you’ve written about your industry. Write about something you feel strongly about in your field or share a few helpful tips for new hires in your healthcare position and publish it on LinkedIn. Both can help you get noticed by other professionals and establish you as an expert in the field.

You can also build your personal brand on LinkedIn by sharing articles other people have written. Endorsing other people’s content about your industry can help your connections see you are staying active in your pursuit of knowledge while also supporting others who are contributing to your field. This also helps boost your visibility as they may share your articles and content in return.

When you’re involved with anything related to your career, share it on LinkedIn. You can do this through the “Start a post” function at the top of your feed. If you attend a conference for work, for example, post an update telling your LinkedIn connections what you learned and how much you enjoyed meeting others. Or maybe you realized after the conference that you should have spent your time there in a different way. You can also write an article about that.

An Extra LinkedIn Tip: Endorse Your Connections for Their Skills

You can find a lot of LinkedIn tips and tricks for maximizing your results on this social media site, such as having your face take up roughly 60% of your profile picture and requesting that others write a recommendation on your behalf.⁴ One more to consider is to endorse your connections for their skills too.

Once a month, take a few minutes to look at your connections’ profiles and click the endorse button for their skills. (Don’t just endorse them for every skill they have, and don’t endorse them for a skill you haven’t witnessed yourself.) Your connections may appreciate this and endorse you in return, helping you grow your personal brand even more.

Using your LinkedIn.com profile to brand yourself can help you get more profile views from professionals in your field. Additionally, if you apply for jobs, employers will be able to look at your profile and see that you’re active and interested in your field.

How Can UMA Help You?

If you want to advance your career or find a new job, Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA) can help. We offer a variety of services to our current learners and alumni, ranging from interview guidance, resume assistance, and potentially even connecting you with one of our employer partners to seek out opportunities.

Maybe you’re in the beginning stages of your healthcare career and interested in a healthcare diploma or degree to help prepare you for your desired role. UMA can help with this too, and completing this type of program provides you with more information to place in your LinkedIn profile, adding to your personal brand.