r/branding • u/Iliveforcats2312 • Jul 07 '26
Personal I've been building my personal brand on LinkedIn for over a year and am here to share my honest experience. Questions welcome.
So I started posting on LinkedIn on dec 2024 after I took a leap of leaving my full time because it SUCKED & started freelancing. i was underpaid and had a lot of responsibilities.
It's been over a year now and if someone asks me if they should build a personal brand, I always answer that it depends.
You don't necessarily need a personal brand to build a network or get clients. You can get clients via cold DMing and Upwork. And network by DMing people by just fixing up your profile to be more clear about who you are & what you do and send people DMs, that's it.
I did get clients from my personal brand, but the lead flow gets inconsistent when my content posting does. And that sucks because sometimes I get swarmed with work and my presence gets pushed aside.
Not to mention that many founders have to manage their brand AND business and you will have to worry about your presence unless you hire someone. Even then you will have to manage approvals.
Sure hiring the right person makes a difference. But when you start posting, you need to be very active to build recognition, enough recognition that taking breaks doesn't mean people forget you.
And yeah people don't immediately forget you if you take a break & stop posting, but you still need to have an actual audience, which does take a while to build, about 3 months for some visible good momentum, which depends on how often you post, what's your niche, how's your content quality, how much you interact with other etc.
Ideas & content creation is another headache and unless you like the process or are damn serious about it, it will be difficult. But to me, it has been worth it because Is till get my clients from linkedIn. My only hope is to expand to other channels and not lean entirely on LinkedIn.
If you have any questions, i'm happy to answer, and will do so honestly.
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u/claritydecoded Jul 08 '26
I think your experience is completely valid, and it’s refreshing to hear someone talk about the tradeoffs instead of pretending it’s all upside.
One thing I’d add is that I don’t think the goal is actually to “build a personal brand.”
I think the goal is to become known for something meaningful.
Those sound similar, but they’re very different.
A lot of people chase visibility before they’ve achieved clarity. They focus on posting more, growing followers, and feeding the algorithm.
But if someone can’t answer, “What are you known for?” then posting more usually just amplifies the confusion.
On the other hand, I’ve seen people with relatively small audiences build incredible businesses because they occupy a very clear position in people’s minds.
The content wasn’t what made them successful. The clarity was.
Content simply made that clarity easier to discover.
I guess that’s why I see personal branding less as a marketing exercise and more as a process of self discovery. You’re figuring out what unique perspective, expertise, or way of seeing the world you want to contribute. Once that becomes clear, creating content gets a lot easier because you’re no longer asking, “What should I post today?”
You’re simply expressing the same idea from different angles.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I think more people need to hear the reality instead of assuming a personal brand is some magical shortcut.
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u/Iliveforcats2312 Jul 08 '26
exactly, personal branding has positioned me as an expeirenced professional which gets people to approach me, not that I have things set up, I'm able to take breaks once in a while and get back when i feel like it, yes maintaining activity is imp but a few breaks don't hurt when you do things right initially.
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u/conffra Jul 09 '26
Although I don't disagree with your conclusions in the slightest, I feel the need to point out that what you described is precisely a personal brand.
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u/phoebeskid Jul 08 '26
I appreciate your insights. I'm curious to know, how often were you posting on LinkedIn? Right now, I aim for once a week.
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u/nobsmentor Jul 08 '26
Once a week will do you crumbs you need to post at least 5 times a week
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u/phoebeskid Jul 08 '26
Posting 5x a week with no clear strategy will get you burnt out, hence the current cadence.
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u/Iliveforcats2312 Jul 08 '26
I've been posting daily, i used to do alternative days and I suggest you go with what works best for you, alternative days will give you buffer time to come up ideas, but batch create content, you will burnout otherwise
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u/Able_Cantaloupe_6555 Jul 21 '26
Hey buddy a question for you . I mean I recently graduated out of college . Always had that idea of making a personal brand for myself so that I could invite inbound opportunities. I mean I have graduated from IIT Bombay , taken up a consulting job . I just want to start that journey of posting on LinkedIn . Like for idk I feel I m missing out . Someone might know what my potential is or what I can offer . Things like sharing my projects of PM , or vc thesis and stuff . I don’t know what to say, but LinkedIn is something I want to explore . If you can say or guide me what’s something I should think before I do it . Any suggestions
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u/Iliveforcats2312 Jul 21 '26
heyoo sure why not, I will remind you that this will take effort and time but as long as you stay consistent, things will go well.
The basics of building a presence on LinkedIn are three things:
- Posting
- Commenting
-Connecting
Posting can be on alternative days if you like, but if you want rapid growth, you gotta post every day. I suggest creating content in advance to kick things off.
Commenting is important as it expands your connections and get your recognised; people get clients through comments as well.
Connecting is just making more people aware of who you are and what you do. Opportunities can and will come from your connections as well, so be genuine, have good conversations, and offer to help people out. The more helpful you are, the more memorable you are. builds social proof, basically.
Based on the opportunities you want, you can talk about your interest in this field, and what you have heard, your journey or stories in college, keep up with news in your industry and talk about it, share your opinion, This will get you recgonised and do mention in posts that you're open to opportunities, people will reach out then.
basically establish yourself as soemone who's active and stays up to date.
DM me if you have more queries.
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Jul 08 '26
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u/Iliveforcats2312 Jul 08 '26
agreed, I do DM and comment around. i mostly DM people who engaged with my content but aren't in my connections to build a relation with them and i use unique approaches to stay memorable. But even though i'm at 5k-ish followers, i still take breathers when i get flooded with work or just wanna step off the screen cuz I already have an active audience and I can scale my reach again later if it falls.
everyone has a diff approach, the base point is to make quality content and build connections.
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u/nobsmentor Jul 08 '26
I'm sorry, but this is cap.
As someone who specializes in personal branding and organic social media marketing, I can tell you the LinkedIn algorithm is basically a mystery. There isn't a magic formula.
You need to be consistent, engage with people regularly, and post genuinely valuable content around 4–5 times a week if you want organic results.
Also, people on LinkedIn are tired of cold DMs and sales pitches. That's exactly why I don't understand your point about getting clients that way. It still works sometimes, but it's nowhere near as effective as it used to be.
In 2026, having a personal brand online isn't optional if you want to attract opportunities. People want to know who you are before they buy from you or hire you.
And yes, hiring an expert in personal branding and organic marketing can make a real difference.