Personal Branding Beyond LinkedIn

People rarely separate personal branding from LinkedIn. But if that’s your only move, let us tell you now, you’re limiting yourself massively. Somewhere along the way, personal branding became shorthand for “posting thought leadership on LinkedIn three times a week”. And yes, we all know personal branding on LinkedIn is powerful. We use it. Our clients use it. It works. But if that’s the only place your personal brand intentionally exists, you’re missing out … big time.

There are so many opportunities to build a personal brand beyond one platform. Online. Offline. In rooms. On stages. On your own website. In DMs. Over coffee. On panels. On podcasts. Even having a pint down the pub with someone who might become your next client. You get it, the list goes on.

A lot of people still misunderstand what personal branding actually is. Personal branding is so much more than a single platform, it’s a presence.

If you want to be seen as an industry leader, build awareness around your business, and generate serious inbound leads, you need a presence that shows up in more places, in more ways, and with more depth – that’s exactly where the real benefits of personal branding start to show up.

Let’s break it down.

LinkedIn Is Good But It’s Not the Whole Game.

Let’s set the record straight: we’re not anti-LinkedIn at all. Not even close.

It’s still one of the strongest platforms for professional visibility and it has done a lot to normalise personal branding over the past decade. Decision-makers are there. Recruiters are there. Founders, investors, journalists, potential clients – they’re all there. It’s one of the few places online where business conversations happen openly.

LinkedIn isn’t the stiff, corporate platform it once was. The platform has become far more human. Personality shows up. People speak normally. Founders share the good, bad and the ugly of running a business rather than pretending everything is perfect.

You’ll see people talking about lessons they’ve learned the hard way, calling out industry bullsh*t, sharing honest opinions and showing a bit of their life outside the office too. The conversations feel more real and because of that, the connections feel stronger.

That’s exactly why LinkedIn has become such a powerful platform for personal branding and at co&co, we specialise in personal branding on LinkedIn. It’s a huge part of the work we do here.

We’ve helped founders go from practically invisible online to becoming recognised voices in their industry. How? By building credibility the right way, with strategy which helps to attract inbound leads and get invited into rooms they weren’t previously a part of. LinkedIn has opened doors that cold outreach, paid ads and traditional networking simply couldn’t.

And the data backs it up. 44% of employers have hired someone because of positive personal branding content on their social media profiles.

That’s nearly half.

So yes … LinkedIn works.

But everyone’s doing it now.

Which means:

• The barrier to entry is low

• The noise is high

• The originality is questionable to say the least.

It’s not imaginative anymore. It’s become formulaic. Hook line. White space. Mini story. Soft lesson. “Agree?” at the end.

You can almost predict the structure before you finish reading the first sentence and that’s the problem.

If your entire personal brand lives on LinkedIn, you risk blending in with every other person following the same playbook – one of the more common personal branding mistakes we see. You might get impressions, you might get engagement, but are you actually differentiated?

LinkedIn should absolutely be part of your ecosystem, but it shouldn’t be the whole ecosystem. When your personal brand only lives in one place, you’re relying on one algorithm, one format and one type of audience to carry your entire reputation. Smart brands diversify their presence. They use LinkedIn strategically but they don’t stop there.

Your Personal Website: Your Digital Home

Social platforms come and go. Algorithms change. Reach drops. Accounts get hacked. Your website though? You own that. It’s yours to do whatever the fu*k you want with it and that’s mega.

Here’s a stat that should wake you up.

56% of people say they wouldn’t trust a business without a website. More than half.

Now ask yourself, if people don’t trust a business without a website, why would they fully trust a person positioning themselves as an expert without one?

A personal website makes your brand feel real, established and alive. It’s where you control the narrative properly. No character limits. No algorithm deciding who sees you. No trends dictating how you “should” sound this week.

It’s where you can:

• Tell your full story

• Show depth beyond job titles

• Host blogs, podcasts, media features

• Position yourself clearly

• Capture inbound enquiries

If someone Googles you (and they will) what do you want them to land on? A half-optimised LinkedIn profile on its own? Or a mega LinkedIn presence backed up by a personal website that seals the deal? Because the combination of both is what really secures credibility. LinkedIn builds visibility. It shows activity. It proves you exist in your industry. It gives people a sense of your tone, your network and your relevance. And your website is what anchors it. It shows you take yourself seriously and if you take yourself seriously, other people will too.

Everyone’s on LinkedIn now, not everyone has a personal website. See that gap as an opportunity. A website actively shows people that you mean business. As always, we can handle the whole process for you. We can create everything you need and help you achieve all your personal branding objectives.

Instagram, TikTok & Visual Platforms: Show, Don’t Just Tell

LinkedIn is text-heavy but the likes of Instagram and TikTok have a different energy. They’re visual. Faster. More instinctive. More human. Content is consumed quickly, yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s shallow. It just means you have seconds to make someone feel something.

If LinkedIn is what you think, Instagram is how you live. This is where your brand stops being theoretical and starts being tangible.

Yeah, we’re seeing reels creep onto LinkedIn, but they don’t quite hit the same. Instagram and TikTok are social-first platforms and were built for personality. For behind-the-scenes. For face-to-camera moments. For showing the in-between, not just the outcome. You have the opportunity to show:

• What you say/what you don’t say.

• How you speak.

• Your tone.

• Your humour.

• Your environment.

• Your pace.

• Your confidence.

• Your awkwardness.

All of this communicates something and this stuff is hard to fully land in written posts alone.

Now, hold up – that doesn’t mean you need to start dancing on TikTok or forcing trends that make you cringe. It means choosing formats that suit you and leaning into them strategically.

Maybe that’s:

• Short-form opinion videos

• Day-in-the-life style content

• Behind-the-scenes of projects

• Casual Q&As

• Clips from podcasts or panels

• Visual storytelling that reinforces your positioning

The key is alignment.

If your written content says you’re bold, but your video presence is hesitant and overly rehearsed, there’s a disconnect. Don’t give people mixed signals. Visual platforms give your brand dimension. When used well, they don’t dilute your authority; they only amplify it more.

Facebook Groups & Communities: Depth Over Reach

Facebook might not be sexy anymore, but communities still matter.

This is where authority can be built quietly. Answering questions. Starting conversations. Being helpful without being desperate. It’s less about broadcasting and more about embedding yourself where your audience already exists.

Personal branding isn’t always about reach, sometimes it’s about relevance.

And if you think Facebook is “dead”, the numbers say otherwise.

• 85% of consumers across generations still maintain a Facebook profile.

• Facebook has roughly 3.07 billion monthly active users.

• It’s the most-used platform by marketers worldwide (83%), ahead of Instagram.

• It ranks #1 for product discovery and social customer service with 39% of consumers using it to find new products and 45% using it to seek support.

What does that mean for personal branding? It means your audience is still there.

It means decision-makers, buyers and communities are still active and not just scrolling, but searching, discovering and asking for recommendations. It’s not just a place to post your holiday pics. Instead you can sell your services, products or expertise. It’s a space where commercial conversations are happening every day.

The opportunity is in strategic participation. Showing up in the right groups, sharing insights tied to your expertise and building recognition over time. Because when someone asks, “Does anyone know someone who can help with this?” – you want your name to be the first one to get tagged. That’s effective personal branding in action.

Networking, Events & Activations: Yes, Offline Still Exists

Mad concept for people to grasp nowadays, but your personal brand shows up offline too – because personal branding doesn’t just live on social media.

• How you introduce yourself.

• How you hold a room.

• How you follow up after a conversation.

• What you wear.

• What you say.

• What you don’t say.

Panels. Speaking gigs. Industry events. Hosting roundtables. Even informal meet-ups.

We’ve built relationships at events, on panels, through podcast guest spots, through strategic introductions, and yes obviously over a pint (or 10) in the pub.

The strongest personal brands feel consistent in real life. If someone meets you after following you online, there shouldn’t be whiplash. There should be a brand match-up where people think “oh yeah, she seems the exact same as she does online”.

Offline presence is great because it can help to reinforce your online positioning. That’s when your brand starts compounding.

Community Strategy: Online and Offline

When we talk about community strategy at co&co, this isn’t just for brands, it’s powerful for personal brands too.

It could be hosting a dinner. Running a founder roundtable. Building a private WhatsApp or Slack group. Co-hosting an industry event. Partnering on an activation. These work to position you as a connector. A leader. Someone at the centre of the conversation, not on the sidelines of it. For personal branding, that’s huge.

When you create spaces (online or offline) you stop being just another voice posting content. You become the person bringing the right people together. That builds authority in a way a social post never could.

And like everything we do, it’s built around a clear strategy with a defined audience and a commercial objective behind it. Whether the focus is generating stronger leads, aligning your brand with the right people, deepening relationships or strengthening your position in the industry, there’s always a reason for it and a way to measure whether it’s working.

The strongest personal brands don’t just join communities, they build them.

The Real Benefits of Going Beyond LinkedIn

Let’s be clear, we’re not saying you need to be everywhere.

In fact, that’s usually a terrible idea.

At co&co, we don’t spread ourselves thin across every platform just because it exists. Years ago, we scrapped Instagram completely because it wasn’t serving us commercially or creatively. It didn’t align with where we were or who we were targeting at the time.

Now, we’re back on it because the timing, the positioning and the audience make sense. It fits the ecosystem we’re building today.

That’s the key. Personal branding isn’t static. It should evolve as you evolve. What worked three years ago might not be relevant now. What you need today might be different in twelve months. Reviewing your strategy regularly and getting an external perspective to sense-check it is not optional if you want to grow.

When your personal brand extends beyond one platform and becomes an ecosystem rather than a profile, three things start to happen.

1. You Become an Industry Leader

Leadership isn’t built through content alone. It’s built through visibility, conversation, contribution and consistency across multiple touchpoints.

2. You Build Awareness Around Your Business Through You

People buy from people. When your personal brand is strong, your business benefits by default. Your name becomes attached to credibility.

3. You Generate Better Leads

Not just more leads. Better ones. Warmer. More aligned. People who already understand your thinking before they get on a call.

That doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s intentional and only achieved through your personal branding efforts.

Online. Offline. Everywhere.

Personal branding exists whether you’re trying or not.

It’s in:

• Your LinkedIn posts

• Your Instagram stories

• Your website copy

• Your event presence

• Your DMs

• Your voice notes

• Your reputation

At co&co, yes, we use LinkedIn. But we also use Instagram. TikTok. Podcasts. Networking. Panels. Events. Media. Strategic collaborations. Real-world conversations.

But we’re not saying you need to be everywhere.

Being on every platform just for the sake of it is a fast way to water down your message and burn yourself out. You don’t need to live on all social media but you do need to choose the right channels for you and show up properly on those.

Brands that live in only one place feel flat. But brands that show up across multiple touchpoints, online and offline, feel more established and in turn, this naturally builds trust.

co&co is six years old now. And if we’re honest, we never imagined we’d be where we are today. But we got here by putting ourselves out there. By practising what we preach. By applying personal branding principles to our own business.

Personal branding works.

So if you’re serious about building a personal brand that shows up in ways you can’t quite imagine for yourself just yet, you know where we are. Just get in touch already 🤷‍♀️.