Small-town matters: 4 tips for building your personal brand on LinkedIn

By Monica W. Wamsley

 

Here in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the newspaper is a weekly, there is no town-specific Craigslist, and many businesses don’t have websites -- but small business is big here. In a small town, how does one build and maintain her personal brand?

One of the things that makes LinkedIn a professional’s paradise is its searchability. To capture LinkedIn’s power, you need to stand out — just as you must in your small town’s more traditional advertising methods. This is where your personal brand comes in.

 

Main Street, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Write your personal brand statement

A clever business name is a great start, but does it explain who you are, what you do, whom you do it for, and what makes you unique? A personal brand statement is not your business’s mission statement.

Write a sentence that gets to the heart of your business — and you. You are probably often asked what you do. Take the time to craft your personal brand statement and show the value you provide to your community.

Jörgen Sundberg’s post for Undercover Recruiter is a great resource for breaking down the parts of your personal brand statement.

Post a personable photo

When someone lands on your LinkedIn page, the first thing she sees is your photo. In a small town, members of your community identify you in a few ways, but all physical: They might recognize your vehicle or the cowgirl hat you always wear.

Anita O’Malley’s post for New Jersey Tech Weekly is not limited to tech businesses. Take her advice and look straight at your camera for your default photo.

Be approachable. Being aloof on Main Street and in your LinkedIn profile sends the wrong message to your community.

Ask for endorsements

Martin Brossman posits that “social validation ... is more important than marketing.” This author doesn’t think you should rely on one and ignore the other, but social validation is key. (Think about why you trust Yelp.) You ask for testimonials from clients in town — don’t hesitate to ask for the LinkedIn version. It’s as easy as a click of the mouse, and it can add up.

Produce content and join groups

Can it get any more personal? Your blog will have your voice. Combine your business niche and your personal writing style to share developments and thoughts with your community. The letter you write to your town’s newspaper editor might not be printed, but in the blogosphere you are your own publisher. Write your own content (maybe snag another pair of eyes for editing) and produce it consistently. Use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your blog and to engage clients and recruiters.

If you’re part of your town’s chamber of commerce or a professional guild, you know the benefits of being in a group. Join groups on LinkedIn to interact with other professionals in your field and in your geographic area — you can share your content here, too. As Reade Milner points out in his Leadership in Life post, take care to familiarize yourself with group rules on posting, and comment on others’ posts to share insights.

In a different way, these LinkedIn group members are your neighbors, just like the department store on the corner and the farrier down the street.

In places that seem to eschew 24/7 tech, LinkedIn is alive and well. Knowing how to rock your personal brand on LinkedIn will help keep your business alive and well.

LinkedIn Maps: Useful or Merely Playful?

 At Ideen, we’ve been examining LinkedIn and assessing its usefulness for different types of people, different sizes of organizations, different types of organizations, and so forth.  Recently, we started playing with LinkedIn Maps.  

We like maps.  They visually tell a story and often are easier and faster to comprehend than words.  What type of personal story does LinkedIn Maps help us to understand?

First, LinkedIn Maps answers the question, “What does my LinkedIn network look like?” LinkedIn’s Chief Scientist explains in a video at the LinkedIn Labs site that each cluster and color represents a “different group within your professional world.”  It is up to you, however, to figure out what these colorful clumps mean.  So, you have to invest some energy into deciphering your own map.

Second, LinkedIn Maps helps you see where you’ve invested personal time and energy linking with folks.  Is your biggest clump centered upon a particular time in your career?  Does it display a large number of connections that are associated to your hobbies or volunteer work?  You may be surprised by what you see.

Third, LinkedIn Maps may help you see where there are gaps.  For example, if you’re looking to make a career move into a different type of organization or career field, it would be beneficial to create a number of links in that area.  Let's say you’re working in strategic communications in a large corporation, but your heart is pulling you toward applying your skills elsewhere, such as a nonprofit.  How strong is your network among nonprofit organizations?  How many connections do you have for the “cause” you seek to support?  How strong are your links to other strategic communicators? 

Fourth, LinkedIn Maps is very, very playful.  The colors are bright, so you get sucked in immediately.  Colleagues’ names pop up that you’ve not thought about in years.  Some of your associates have become the hubs of a discrete universe, perhaps to your surprise.  Set aside time to explore your map, both for the fun of it and for its professional benefits.  It's like GEOINT for your career.

Code of the West, Small Business & Branding

We recently had the pleasure of traveling to Wyoming for Cheyenne Frontier Days.  While the event is best known for its rodeo – branded as the “Daddy of ‘em All” – we were there to immerse ourselves in the spirit of entrepreneurialism and individualism. 

We were not disappointed.

Major sponsors such as Coors, Coca-Cola, and Bank of the West are important for the financial health of CFD, but the small mom-and-pop businesses fascinate the crowd with their creativity, clever products, and down-to-earth approach to marketing.  We started examining this spirit, and in doing so, rediscovered the Code of the West or Cowboy Ethics (ala Jim Owen). 

The Code of the West isn’t complicated or complex, but in an age of hyper-branding and misleading marketing, it is particularly relevant:

• Live each day with courage
• Take pride in your work
• Always finish what you start
• Do what has to be done
• Be tough, but fair
• When you make a promise, keep it
• Ride for the brand
• Talk less and say more
• Remember -- some things aren't for sale
• Know where to draw the line

We saw many small businesses exemplifying the elements of the Code. Individuals and families invested not only their money, but also their love for their products and hours of hard work.  They took time to talk with their customers, customize their products to customer needs, and deliver value.  This wasn’t about the hype created by social media or “uber” brands that tend to dominate the landscape.  This was about integrity. 

The concept of “brand” is about making a promise and delivering on it.  At CFD, craftsmanship abounded, business was brisk, and entrepreneurs were building a personal brand. 

Lest this appear overly simple in our puffery-filled world, we’re not alone in seeing the connection between the Code and the value to business. The Wall Street Journal asked, “Where have all the cowboys gone?” in an article last September that examined cheating scandals across the country and how the Cowboy Code could be used to counter the trend.  We would suggest that the Code is thriving among the small businesses in Wyoming and provides a marketing lesson for us all.