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3 Positive Aspects of LinkedIn’s Redesign for Your Personal Brand

So it’s official, it’s finally arrived. Well, at least LinkedIn’s blog is announcing it’s imminent arrival to your computer soon – the New Desktop Redesign.  You can watch the promo video here that shows you some of the features;

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If you have been following this news it was back in the fall last year that the desktop redesign was first announced, to great fanfare. After several missteps and, as is common for LinkedIn, a number of glaring glitches and errors picked up by some early users, it seems that finally, the look for your profile on your computer will be changing. If you are one of the 10-20% of users so far, perhaps it has already changed.  Of course, you could be one of the 65% or so of mobile users that maybe never uses the desktop version, in which case “Carry On!”

The hope it to see everyone switched over in the next few weeks.

There has been plenty of criticism of the new design, complaints about disappearing features and threats of departure from the platform. At the end of the day none of us really like change, yet if we embrace it and more importantly look for the positives then there are always upsides and it makes for a much better experience.

Now, if you are like me and use the desktop version to access your LinkedIn account the majority of the time, then you may want to note 3 critical aspects of the new design that will impact how your personal brand can be featured on the platform.

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5 Places to be Personal in Profiles to Get Noticed Online

When was the last time you asked a personal question in a business meeting?

Chances are recent. One client meeting I had, just before the holidays, involved at least 25% of the time the two of us covering every subject from politics to parenting to pasta and everything in between. None of which had a direct bearing on the very critical issue about which we were meeting. Before you say,

‘yes, but it was the holidays, so you were bound to be more relaxed’

this was the first time I had spent more than a few minutes with this client, and we only had a limited amount of time.

So, when someone shares something personal on LinkedIn, why do many professionals get bent out of shape? There never seems to be a day go by now without seeing someone on LinkedIn decry the ‘Facebookization’ of the platform. There have even been petitions started.

I am not talking about the functionality of LinkedIn or the look and feel, or even gamification of the platform, which seems to mirror Facebook in several ways. It’s the quizzes, IQ tests, cat photos, and posting something that is tantamount to click bait to which people are objecting.

There has been a highly covered example, generating thousands of comments, of Candice Galek, the owner of a swimsuit company, who posts pictures of models in bikinis.

“One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Roman poet, Lucretius

If you are not happy with the content shared by a connection in your network, the easiest and most effective response is actually to do nothing. Anything else adds to LinkedIn’s ‘interest factor,’ which is what drives the algorithm, makes that post more attractive and ultimately that person’s place in search results. If it gets unbearable, you can choose to receive their updates no longer or finally disconnect from them.

While the platform is a business network and your profile is your own that you take with you throughout your career there are opportunities to reflect your personal brand in appropriate and impactful ways.

LinkedIn’s research has found that 87% of recruiters want to see personality reflected in a profile. Now, they are a picky lot (I know I used to be one!), and not wanting anything superfluous, so you can be fairly confident that others will have a similar viewpoint.

Here are five ways to stand-out in a personal way on LinkedIn;

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7 Ways to Boost Your Career in 2017

I was enjoying a beer over the holidays with a friend and sharing our recollections of the past year and what we had to look forward to in the coming year. Dan had his best year ever, he hit his sales numbers about two-thirds of the way through the year, earned a huge bonus and enjoyed promotion to a senior account manager role.

His boss was expecting to see him take a higher profile role in the team with added responsibility, he was going to be traveling more, and his new sales target appeared atmospheric. He didn’t know how he was going to fit it all in. He was dreading 2017.

If the end of 2016 for you was anything like it is for Dan, you found yourself having to try and wrap up some key projects, drive in some final numbers, perhaps even complete performance reviews and other year-end tasks.

Then, before you can catch your breath or even start to worry about work, you were straight into planning, preparing and, hopefully, enjoying the holidays with family and friends and not getting despondent from all the negativity that many people felt this past year, in particular, brought them.

You must be exhausted already! Kicking off another year can be a daunting proposition. A new year brings a fresh set of challenges and almost a feeling of starting all over again. It doesn’t have to be that way. First things first, bid a final farewell to the last year, you can even use the 15 questions from the Review Your Year With No Fear Workbook to feel entirely complete, get your copy by clicking here.

Now for 2017. How do you find the energy to kick off another year, build your personal brand, maintain momentum and ensure you don’t get bogged down or distracted to still achieve what you want to in your career?

Here are seven ways to boost your personal brand and get things done without feeling overwhelmed.

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Time for a LinkedIn Check-Up

  LinkedIn’s change to the user interface now seem to be slowly rolling out, but it is taking time, so if you have changes that need to be made to your profile go ahead and do them. Then set yourself a weekly reminder to double check if the look of your profile on desktop has changed over to the new design. According to some of the LinkedIn experts that already… Read More »Time for a LinkedIn Check-Up

URGENT – Do This With Your LinkedIn Account Now!

According to the LinkedIn expert in the UK, Mark Williams, who I mentioned last week, the new user interface for LinkedIn is coming out to most of us this month. He had a podcast on this last week which is very useful – click here to access. Something I recommend you should be doing at least quarterly is a download of your connections and data. Mark has advised that once the… Read More »URGENT – Do This With Your LinkedIn Account Now!

Changes Are Coming to LinkedIn…………Watch this space!

Last week I mentioned that there are a lot of changes happening with LinkedIn and several people asked what news I could share. This is a link to the replay of LinkedIn’s press announcement about 3 weeks ago. The news that will probably impact you the most, is that the look and feel of your profile and the features associated with your account will be changing, in some cases quite… Read More »Changes Are Coming to LinkedIn…………Watch this space!

Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?

There are a lot of changes happening with LinkedIn right now, and more to come, so watch this space! The latest new feature to roll out in the US, Canada, and the UK is a salary calculator called LinkedIn Salary. “Earlier this year, LinkedIn emailed members asking them to anonymously disclose their salaries”, said Ryan Sandler, a product manager. “In exchange, they were given insight into what peers in their fields are… Read More »Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?

3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

All Hallows Eve is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. It seems fitting that on Halloween we reflect on the personal brand lessons from the news last week that Twitter will be closing down their 6-second video app Vine. It may have come as a surprise to many of you, however, the ‘Vine Personal Brand Stars’ that it helped to create have already been moving on… Read More »3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

Many believe that the endorsements, given by others, of your skills on your profile, are next to worthless. Following several acquisitions of companies in the artificial intelligence (A.I.) space, LinkedIn has been incorporating some of the technology into upgrades of its platform. This includes looking to make the endorsements of skills more relevant to those viewing your profile. We all appreciate the value of a solid recommendation from a colleague or client.… Read More »Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

Don’t Make the Mistake of Telling Your Boss Your Are Looking for a New Job

A big source of revenue for LinkedIn is it’s recruiter focused accounts. Naturally (as in the ad above) they want to make the platform attractive to recruiters. But not all candidates are public about their job searching intentions because they fear their boss may find out. Now LinkedIn has introduced a feature that you can turn on or off which privately advises recruiters that you are open to new opportunities.… Read More »Don’t Make the Mistake of Telling Your Boss Your Are Looking for a New Job