Read How to Hog The LinkedIn Limelight with a 3D Profile – Part 2 – click here
Growing up, my lasting memory of cinemas was birthday outings when we got the chance to see 2 full length movies with , bags of popcorn and the usherette at the interval selling mini ice cream tubs with wooden spoons that always made my tongue send shivers down my spine.
What are your lasting memories of the movies?
Fast forward a few decades and now we have movies (professional or amateur) everywhere we look. Streaming movies on demand, access through just about any technology device and a cinema industry that is constantly innovative in order to remain relevant and attractive.
For some of us, even visual stimulation is no longer enough.
Cineplex, the major movie chain in Canada, has just announced the arrival this summer of the 4D movie experience.
“Premiering at Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP in Toronto, Ontario, this summer, Cineplex’s new 4DX auditorium will feature specially-designed motion chairs and environmental effects like wind, mist, bubbles, snow and scent working in perfect synchronicity with the action on the big screen.”
Whilst our social media streams may not have the capability to give us the 4D experience (yet!!) they are now increasingly becoming a visual collection of videos, high quality images, youtube links and GIF’s (Graphics Interchange Format). The written word is becoming almost ignored, unless connected to eye-catching media, and visual seems to be the expected norm.
Reality is that in order to stop someone from scrolling right past you online, your LinkedIn profile, posting and how you update, now has to be visual too.
LinkedIn has been realizing this shift for a while and has been rolling out updates to its platform enabling that enable you to post and embed more visual media.
7 Visual Media to Boost Your Personal Brand
This is great news for all of our personal branding efforts. You may not feel you have Shakespeare’s gift for prose, or you have been told you have a face for radio, or you have such a fear of presenting that, as Jerry Seinfeld once quipped, you would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy. It doesn’t matter because now there is a media that you can utilize that plays to your own personal branding communication strengths and can still be embedded in to your profile.
Video
This scares a lot of people because we are so used to seeing slick productions that are edited and scripted. You want to have an idea of what you want to say but a video on your profile could be a simple ‘welcome to my profile’ video from you and only , a matter of a few seconds. Or, if you have been filmed previously for an event or speaking or corporate video, then you can use that.
Slide Decks
Slideshare is the premier destination to access presentations and because it is owned by LinkedIn (in fact now called LinkedIn Slideshare), the two integrate seamlessly. Take a previous presentation (be sure not to share any confidential information) and upload that or put together a short overview deck of you, your skills and what you have to offer. This helps position your personal branding position.
Audio
Some voices are very distinctive; think of Morgan Freeman for example. This can be a very effective way to communicate part of your personal branding and be memorable. Like the video, it is good to know what you want to say. Alternatively if you have been a guest on a podcast, like I was on Entrepreneur on Fire, click here to listen, or other another type of show or interview, this is often because of your area of expertise and can be a very effective personal branding media.
PDF’s
Have you created documents, white papers or reports that highlight your skills and personal brand? If you have them posted elsewhere on the web, you can link to them and if you do it right the report ‘shot’ or pack can appear as the link.
I am not personally a fan of uploading your resume in to your profile as you run the risk of elimination by default versus giving youself the opportunity to tailor the resume to a position, but others might disagree.
GIF’s
For a while you were able to embed GIF’s in LinkedIn updates but that seems to have been curtailed by them for now. However GIFs can be very effective media to get a point or message across, or highlight more of the personal, fun, side of your brand.
Images
I love great photography and a stunning image can really stop you in your tracks. If you have the skill to take your own then use them. You can also edit them further, build collages, add text, etc by using editing services like Canva.com or PicMonkey.com
If you need to use other people’s images, then there are many places where you can access royalty free shots. I have found some great ones at Pixabay.com. Christopher Gimmer posted a very useful article with a list of 17 free image websites – https://bootstrapbay.com/blog/free-stock- photos/
Please be mindful that for many artists this is their living, so if attribution is required or asked for, do use it and NEVER use an image that you do not have permission or a license to re-use. It could be an expensive mistake.
Charts
You can share information finds and data via Chartblocks
The latest research suggests that our attention spans are one second less than goldfish – about 7 seconds. This alone should be reason enough for you to consider the use of visual media to garner enough attention to stop someone from scrolling right past you.
It is not a replacement for good content. You still need to engage the reader once you have stopped them. But do not let the lack of visuals make you invisible.
A number of the profile sections can provide links to outside web resources, but not display the visual nature of the link. In Part 2 we will cover the main areas where visual media can be fully utilized.
Polls
According to LinkedIn you can even survey your network or readers with a custom poll from PollDaddy. I created one to poll the readers of this article to let us know which visual media they use in their profiles but without success in embedding it here. If you would like to take the poll click below and I will post the results in the Part 2 article.
Click to take the Poll: Which visual media do you use in your LinkedIn profile?
Read How to Hog The LinkedIn Limelight with a 3D Profile – Part 2 – click here
There are 22 key areas on your LinkedIn profile that you can edit and brand to stand out more. In fact a full personally branded LinkedIn profile can increase opportunities by up to 40 times according to LinkedIn. In our free report “5 Steps to Boosting Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn” you can get a head start – click here to access the free report.