Author: Gerry Moran

A LinkedIn invitation is a personal branding doorway. It’s the portal through which others decide to walk through to be a part of your community. Are they going to answer your networking knock or pass you by?

It’s the first step in making a first impression with someone you want to add to your network. There are two mistakes most members make with LinkedIn invitations. One is not customizing it. The other is not responding to acceptances. 

Yes, a bigger LinkedIn network is better. It’s better for your social selling, job searching, and reputation-establishing efforts.

Small ones can work too. It’s what you do with your network that’s important. The more attention you can provide to your connections, the better! The more value-add touches you make, even better!

Are you locking down your LinkedIn privacy settings or unlocking your reputation’s potential? A couple of the wrong choices and you could be unfindable on the world’s best reputation destination!

You have 34 choices to make when it comes to your LinkedIn privacy. Adjusting these settings is like turning on the lights to your personal-branding house — your reputation destination. The more you turn them off, the less your audience will be able to see you from the outside.

It’s time to stop listening to your friends, life coaches, and some career advisors about your LinkedIn profile. There’s too much ‘I think’, ‘I’ve heard’, and ‘they say’ personal branding strategy advice floating around.

Understanding the proven research and native behavior of your network is critical to building a successful LinkedIn profile. If you’re not using the facts, then you’re building a reputation destination based on hearsay.