I get this question a lot from podcast hosts and from audiences I am fortunate enough to speak to:

“What is one piece of advice you would give to your past self when you were first building your LinkedIn presence? Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?”

Since you asked, I will answer (often along these lines, always customized to the audience):

When I first started out, I was reticent to fully express myself, to perfect my brand, with my differentiators, and then my credo morphed into “why I do what I do.” I learned that being in a constant state of change, my readers were themselves changing too and were thirsty for my views on best practices to use LinkedIn well, especially if it was not delivering the lofty ROI they expected.

My collected viewpoints became a weekdaily blog, now over 2800 posts in total, which is my voice to the global business community: how to be your very best and impress others who are referred to you to make them want to know more about how you can help them.

Another lesson I have learned: at first I did not encourage commentary on my posts, not seeing my ideas as useful enough, but with time, I found I was thinking ahead of my colleagues in my areas of expertise, now I openly engage in conversation around my posts with a global readership, teaching others at the same time as I continually develop from my experiences, which they can interpret to their own personal branding.

Win-win for all. And I trust for you too, as my reader here.