As we enter a new year, often we ask what we should change up to stand out. This article will focus on both personal and corporate brand trends and marketing tips for 2024.
Whether you are a business of one or of 100, you have both a personal brand and the company or corporate brand. The trend is toward authenticity and that comes from individuals or your personal brand. LinkedIn is the ideal platform to build and optimize your personal brand profile. LinkedIn ranks very high in a Google search result, which means your personal brand will show up before your company brand.
Personal Branding
On LinkedIn you represent yourself with your individual profile. This is where you have connected with friends, colleagues, clients and prospects. If you’re like most, people know you as an individual before the company you represent. They know what you stand for, what your expertise is, the topics you most like to talk about and even some personal things about you. These are all components of a personal brand.
Personal brands are what builds the relationships and trust, so it stands to reason that you have more connections and followers on your personal profile. (This would hold true for other social media profiles you have).
You can measure your influence by the followers of each social profile, for example…
On my LinkedIn personal profile I have 4,511 followers, 3,850 connections
On my LinkedIn company page profile I have 800-page followers
So, the point is, I can influence more people from my personal profile than I can from my company page. I typically post content 3 times more from my personal profile versus my company page.
The beginning of the year is an ideal time to review your LinkedIn Profile and refresh each section for updates, additions to accomplishments, add recommendations, update skills etc.
- We can help, learn more about our LinkedIn Profile Update Service.
Company or Corporate Brands
Building a corporate brand adds authenticity and credibility. When larger companies are looking for an RFP they request that typically from a company and not an individual. Having a company presence does matter but know that it takes time to build on LinkedIn. Individuals that work for a company can be your best advocates to build your company exposure and training them to share on LinkedIn can be a huge brand builder and also a way to attract new talent.
Always good to remember…
“Relationships are not between a logo and buildings – they are between people”
– David Nour
Authenticity Drives Purchasing Decisions
The trend going into 2024 is toward working with those that are real, relatable, and transparent. Building and nurturing your professional relationships gives you a competitive advantage in the door when you lead with your humanness! Sounds like something we should all know, but with AI gaining huge momentum, what will shake out in the end are those that don’t sound ‘canned’ and can relate person to person.
According to marketing expert Neil Patel who reported “Research by Zippia showed that 86% of consumers consider a brand’s authenticity an important factor when making purchasing decisions.”
Sounds simple enough and yet many companies and their thought-leaders are not stepping out in a way that is relatable and approachable.
According to Neil Patel, If you want to set yourself apart from the competition in the new year, here’s how to do it:
- Be honest
- Be yourself
- Share your story
- Be consistent
Authenticity takes courage, but it will pay off in terms of brand loyalty and long-term success. Incorporating an authentic approach in your business will pay-off the more consistent you are from customer service to thought-leadership shared by company executives.
LinkedIn Marketing Opportunities
LinkedIn’s tools for building that authenticity includes:
- Audio Events
- Live Streaming Events
The trend in 2024 will be toward these live events which offers you the opportunity to be real while sharing your expertise.
