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"Dan Schawbel is the bestselling author of  Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.\u00A0 He just released the latest issue of Personal Branding Magazine, featuring Evander Holyfield.\nWe've given you a detailed process on how to build your personal brand on both Facebook and Twitter.\u00A0 Now it's time to go over how to do the same on the number one professional network, LinkedIn.\u00A0\nWhether you're a job seeker, consultant, entrepreneur or happily employed, LinkedIn can be an incredible asset for your career. You can connect to over 43 million professionals in over 200 countries around the world.\u00A0LinkedIn is not just a virtual resume that should be tucked away for a rainy day.\u00A0Instead it acts as a resume, cover letter, references document, database of your contacts throughout your life and a place where you can learn, share and interact in a professional manner.\u00A0The following four steps, will help you build a powerful brand on LinkedIn so that you attract jobs you're passionate about, while fostering a network that can support your career moving forward.\n1. Brand your profile\nYour LinkedIn profile needs to be absolutely flawless, since you'll be judged harshly by recruiters who are analyzing you to see if you fit their corporate needs.\u00A0 That means no spelling or grammatical errors and it should be completely filled out, leaving no experience or details out.\u00A0 Think of your profile as an asset and as a portrait of you as a professional who someone would want to possibly hire for a newly available job.\nHow to brand your profile\n\n\n\n\nCustom URL: Your LinkedIn URL should appear as \"http://linkedin.com/in/yourfullname.\"\u00A0 If it doesn't, you're missing a vital opportunity to have your profile rank higher in Google and to make it easier for people to find you. To do this, go to your profile and click \u201Cedit\u201D and then next to where it says \u201Cpublic profile,\u201D click \u201Cedit\u201D again. At the top, you\u2019ll want to click \u201Cedit\u201D one more time next to \u201Cyour public profile URL,\u201D and then type in your full name, without spacing, and click \u201Cset address.\u201D If the unique URL is taken, then try using a period between your first and last name or use your middle initial.\nHeadline: Your headline will automatically be displayed as the last job you've had, unless you change it manually.\u00A0 I recommend that you brand yourself for the job you want, not the one you have!\u00A0 This means that you should revise your headline so instead of \"Marketing Specialist for Toyota,\" it could be \"Internet Marketing Expert for Fortune 500 Companies.\"\u00A0 This way, you're positioning yourself for a future potential job, while leaving your current job within your LinkedIn profile.\nSummary: Your summary should include a brief paragraph summarizing your work experience, especially work experience that is relevant for the job you want.\u00A0 Feel free to spice this section up with your unique abilities and differentiators, such as industry awards and honors.\u00A0 In the second paragraph, you should define your career aspirations.\nExperience:  Don't just list the past few jobs you've had.\u00A0 I recommend that you put every single job you've had that is still related to either your current position or the job you are searching for.\u00A0 The easiest way to complete this section is to copy and paste the bullets from your traditional resume.\nKeywords:  You should flood your entire LinkedIn profile with keywords because recruiters and other individuals will be using LinkedIn as a talent search engine.\u00A0 By selecting a few keywords that are also found in your headline, and sprinkling them throughout your profile, you will rank higher for those terms when someone conducts a LinkedIn \"people search.\"\u00A0 If you show up first or second, then you may get the opportunity over everyone else.\n\n\n\n\nApplications:  If you have a blog, then you should definitely use either the \"WordPress\" or \"Blog Link\" (Typepad.com) applications.\u00A0 With this integration, you're able to show people your thoughts, feelings and emotions on top of a more traditional resume format.\u00A0 List only your past two or three blog posts so you don't overwhelm the reader.\u00A0 Another application that you may want to try is the \"Slideshare Presentations\" application to showcase how you compile information, your formatting and creative skills to employers who may glance at it.\u00A0 Finally, the \"Box.net Files\" application can be leveraged to allow employers to download your portfolio of work.\nWebsites: LinkedIn gives you the ability to list up to three website links.\u00A0 I would recommend that you select your blog, any web pages you own, your company and possibly your Twitter profile link.\u00A0 Instead of leaving each title (for each link) as \"My Website,\" you should change them to the actual title of each of your links, so that the link can be associated with the URL.\u00A0 This will help optimize your profile and drive Google PageRank to your other web properties.\nRecommendations: Many people argue if LinkedIn recommendations are legitimate, especially because they typically come from your trusted network of friends and colleagues.\u00A0 The truth is that they are very significant because when a recruiter searches for talent, they will view and identify profiles that have the \"thumbs up\" graphic next to them.\u00A0 If you don't have a \"thumbs up\" graphic, that means that you haven't been recommended and if you do and you've been recommended several times, there will be a number next to it.\u00A0 If two candidates for the same job had the same background and skills, yet one had twenty recommendations, who would you choose?\u00A0 Exactly!\u00A0 Recommendations can come from colleagues, teachers, managers and even celebrities.\n2. Develop your network\nNow that you have a compelling and immaculate profile, it's time to start developing your network.\u00A0 A LinkedIn network is all about your professional network graph.\u00A0 That means that your first, second and third degree contacts are visible and can help you with career opportunities.\u00A0 The more first degree contacts you have, the more second and third you will gain, which is why I recommend that you accept everyone as a contact.\u00A0 You never know when someone can help you!\nHow to develop your network\n\n\n\n\nImport your contacts:  If you're brand new to LinkedIn or you want to start building your network, without having to search for people, you should use the import function.\u00A0 LinkedIn allows you to important contacts from Windows Live, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! and AOL.\u00A0 You can also search through your college or workplace and add people you've worked with or have gone to school with.\nBe open and available: A huge part of LinkedIn is its messaging system and by being available and open to accepting contact requests and continuing conversations, it will help you build relationships.\nLeave your email address: People cannot add you to their network without your email address, so you should either leave your email address at the end of the summary area or put it in the contact field and label it public.\nPromote your URL:  Take your distinct URL and put it\u00A0 in your email signature, on your traditional resume, on your blog (with an optional icon graphic), your website, your presentations, and possibly on your business card.\nUpdate your status: Don't worry, you don't have to update \"yet another\" status bar with a message.\u00A0 Try using Ping.fm or hellotxt.com to push your status to all of your social networks at once.\u00A0 Make sure that your LinkedIn status message is extremely professional because the audience is more career minded people and hiring managers.\n3. Position yourself as a leader\nNow that you have a remarkable profile and you've developed a sizable network, it's time for you to become a leader on LinkedIn.\u00A0 This professional network allows you to do a few key things that will help you gain followers, attention and, possibly, a new job.\nHow to position yourself as a leader\n\n\n\n\nStart a group: Groups are extremely powerful assets for your brand.\u00A0 Instead of starting a group based around your company, if you have one, do it around the topic you want to \"own.\"\u00A0 Decide whether you want to localize it (Group Name, Boston) or make it international, allowing anyone to join.\u00A0 By starting a group on LinkedIn, you're automatically portraying yourself as a leader.\u00A0 You should invite your current contacts to your group, especially after analyzing their profiles to see if they would be interested.\u00A0 You should also promote the group on Facebook, Twitter and your blog to gain an initial base of members.\u00A0 After a few months of delivering news content, helpful articles and seeding it with discussions, you will see (just like any other community) that it will grow based on member activity.\u00A0 Another important strategy is to syndicate your blog through LinkedIn; you'd be surprised how much traffic you can get from it.\u00A0 I still am!\nStart an event: LinkedIn events are strictly for professional interests or for conferences.\u00A0 By starting your own networking event, you can easily promote it to your current LinkedIn audience, as well as your second and third degree contacts.\u00A0 It's a great way to become a known connector and leader in your niche.\n\n\n\n\nAsk and answer questions:  If someone in your network asks a question pertaining to an area that you have knowledge in, you should answer it.\u00A0 By participating in these types of discussions, whether you're asking or answering them, you are perceived as a valuable contributor to your network and someone to go to if people need help.\n4. Leverage LinkedIn as part of your unified brand strategy\nWhen it comes to your personal brand, LinkedIn is only one piece of the puzzle.\u00A0 You'll want to supplement LinkedIn with profiles on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to your own blog or website and profiles on industry specific social networks.\u00A0 Your LinkedIn profile should be consistent with your online presence, which means you should be using the same avatar, your full name and your personal branding statement.\u00A0 As you grow your brand over time, make sure that your LinkedIn profile is updated with your latest job information and experience.\u00A0 If you're looking for a job right now, toss away your traditional resume, click on \"PDF\" on your LinkedIn profile and print it out for your interview.\u00A0 This, in effect, displays more of who you are in a different format than recruiters are used to, so you stand out.\nDecide how much time you want to invest in LinkedIn, as opposed to your other online assets.\u00A0 LinkedIn requires less upkeep, but to leverage it to the best of your ability, you will have to put your time in.\u00A0 By building your personal brand on LinkedIn, you'll be where people are searching and you'll have access to those who can help build your brand now and in the future.\nMore personal branding resources from Mashable:\n- Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand- Personal Branding 102: How to Communicate &amp; Maintain Your Brand- 5 Ways to Take Control of Your Personal Brand Today- HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook- How to Build Your Personal Brand on Twitter"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/07/27/linkedin-personal-brand/>