I bet you’ve heard from everyone that you should be on LinkedIn as a professional, I’ve said it multiple times myself. But, I’m also one of the few that will tell you not to build a career brand and rely on a platform like LinkedIn.

If you want to have a decent professional online presence, you should at least have a fully optimized LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has positioned itself as the number one go-to tool for companies and recruiters looking for new employees and talent.

That alone should be reason enough for you to level up your LinkedIn presence. Don’t just use your profile as a placeholder for your online resume. Optimize your profile and start attracting more visitors and career opportunities. LinkedIn should be much more than a placeholder of your professional profile. Dive into the platform and discover all the great networking and career opportunities offer.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by having to understand yet another social platform? Then check out my free LinkedIn intro class. There I’ll give you 5 action steps that will help you optimize your presence on LinkedIn.

My Numero Uno Platform

LinkedIn is my number one platform when it comes to connecting with other professionals from around the World. Besides that, it’s also a great place to keep up with industry leaders and companies on a global scale.

To be honest, LinkedIn does give you a bunch of great reasons to build a career brand on its platform. Besides all the obvious networking opportunities you’ve got, by joining some of the millions of different industry/ interest related groups on there, there’s also the chances of a new employer or recruiter pitching a new job to you. And you can even blog and build an archive of your blog posts as well.

So you might sit there and be thinking, why isn’t it the best place to build a career brand then? It sounds like LinkedIn has everything, and it has, except for one thing. I want you to consider this missing piece if you’re serious about your online career brand and presence.

Remember MySpace? Now it’s happening to Vine

I know it’s been years since MySpace was the place to be online, today I don’t know anybody who is on there.

Twitter is killing off its social media video-sharing app and platform Vine as it trims its headcount and costs. The social network said the Vine mobile app would be discontinued “in the coming months”.
– The Guardian – Thursday 27 October 2016

Just a few weeks ago, Twitter announced that they would shut down Vine at the beginning of next year. That means users will no longer be able to upload new content to the platform.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Well, I think you might.

As I see it, the problem with building your career brand on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest is that you don’t have any control of the content you create, and you don’t own it. The platform does.

That is why I don’t believe LinkedIn is the best place to build a career brand. Simply because you’re not in control and you don’t know where or what LinkedIn will be in 5 to 10 years from now.

That’s why I, as one of very few, recommend you not to put all of your career eggs in the LinkedIn basket when you are a professional and serious about building and creating your career brand.

The Best Place To Build A Career Brand

Let’s get to it.

Are you serious about your career and online presence?

Then don’t leave it to chance by building a career brand on a social media platform. There is only one solution if you want to create a sustainable online career brand and have complete ownership of your brand.

You need a personal career blog and website.

That is the only way you’ll be in charge and own the content you create. Stop spreading all your valuable content on other platforms than your own, or at least refer to your website whenever you share your content on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

93% of recruiters scan Google and social media profiles when they research candidates. It shows that it’s becoming increasingly important to have and maintain a certain level of online presence and career brand. That’s why creating a home base for your career brand, by setting up a website in your name, is by far the best way to build a lasting career brand.

Use your website as a home base to create and share content based on your professional interest and passion, focusing on your best skills. That will be a powerful way to attract like-minded people to your network and have better career opportunities come your way.

You’ll even make Google your promotor and have people find you when they search for topics you’re creating content around.

If you think about it, there’s a lot of advantages to having your career blog and website. The sooner you build your website and online knowledge base, the better off you’ll be in the future because of the career opportunities you’ll attract through your website.

Final Thoughts on LinkedIn

LinkedIn isn’t going anywhere, for now. So, yes, you should have a presence on LinkedIn and build a reliable and professional network there. I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for LinkedIn and the people I’ve connected with there. So being there and building professional relationships is essential for your overall career and the opportunities you’ll get in the future.

But, if you are serious and want to build a career brand that will stand out, then having a website as your home base is the way to go, making Google your promoter in the process.

If you want more inspiration like this, then drop your name and best email down below, then I’ll make sure you get my best career and personal leadership tips in your inbox.

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