Emmanuel Tonev with tips for personal brand and recruiters on LinkedIn

Emmanuel (Emo) Tonev is an established digital marketer specializing in B2B and B2C social media communications with a particular focus on LinkedIn and part of the Bookmark team. He is an opinion leader in the field of digital marketing and communications, as well as a LinkedIn Certified Digital Marketer. Emo is recognized as a Top Voice in the field of digital marketing and copywriting on LinkedIn, where his ideas and advice are followed by a wide range of professionals.

As the owner of a blog with nearly 5,000 followers, Emmanuel actively shares knowledge and experience in the field of digital marketing. He is a guest speaker at various webinars, podcasts, universities and national level events. His professional successes include the "Talent of the Year for 2024" award in the "Digital Marketing, PR and Advertising" category, as well as the "Student of the Year in the Master's category for 2024" title from the University of Economics - Varna.

On 19.06, Emo and Todor from the TalentSight team will be part of the free webinar: " From building a personal brand to finding staff on LinkedIn. How, what and why? ".

Many Recruitment experts share that LinkedIn is their preferred place for posting, recruiting and hiring. How can building a personal brand on LinkedIn help you find new hires?

Although LinkedIn is primarily perceived as a professional social network, it is often forgotten that at its core is the social aspect and community. Recruitment and selection specialists, or recruiters, often think that their work ends with the publication of an ad and 1-2 posts devoid of logic and creativity, and that candidates will come by themselves. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Well, it may have been 2-3 years ago, but both people and social media are constantly evolving every day. If before building a personal brand was perceived as a luxury and something that one out of every 100-200 people "possess", today it is a necessity. Professionals must maintain a personal brand if they want to stay afloat and keep their jobs, finding the right candidates for their positions.

What does a successfully built personal brand give us, and why should HR professionals (recruitment and selection specialists) simply have it? Very simple - it gives us 3 things:

• It gives us a chance to reach the mass audience much easier, especially if you have a properly built organic network;

• It gives us a chance by using the potential of our network to reach the right people;

• It gives us a chance to escape passive selection and resort to active selection, because we become more recognizable.

If we have to sum up the last 3 things: Personal branding gives us a chance to reach a mass audience much more easily, and in particular to the right people who are interested in us, while escaping from passive selection, and on the contrary - leaning on the proactivity of our country.

Can you give some simple tips for a better LinkedIn profile that the algorithm "loves" and "promotes"?

Speaking about the algorithm, it is important to emphasize one detail - there may be an algorithm, but at the center of everything should be people. If we put them at the forefront of our decision-making rather than some guesswork, then believe me, you will live a much better and more successful LinkedIn life.

But referring to the question, LinkedIn algorithm, people change their preferences every day. But a good summary is this:

What does the algorithm like?

Creativity

The passivity

The bold ideas

What does the algorithm not like?

The lack of action

Ideas supported by data, especially primary ones

Lack of added value

Be bold, be bold, experiment, and always judge your creative ideas based on the data LinkedIn provides. You might have the most brilliant idea, but you've confused your audience. Then, as brilliant as it is, the idea is just another one. It's not how many people you reach, it's how many sales you make, no matter what you sell.

In complete sync with the previous paragraph, it is very important to remember - do not be one of those "ghost-readers" who only read and do not react. You might leave 1-2 comments a day, but that's still something, it still helps! No action is worse than bad action. 

Speaking of successful recruiting - how did you find your position at BookMark? Can you share any interesting moments from your interview?

My interview was quite unconventional as it was not a standard interview with a HR representative etc. My interview was the result of all my work over the last few years, which the colleagues at BookMark had seen and accordingly offered me the job and the position I have now held for the past 6 months.

My "interview" took place in the late hours of an autumn day, when they simply told me - "Let's start tomorrow, what do you say?". I, for my part, gave a counter offer and started after about a month - I had to prepare, after all, it's not every day you start working at the first LinkedIn digital marketing agency in Bulgaria!

What is your message to the TalentSight team?

My message is similar to the advice I gave above in the board. Experiment, be bold and be yourself. Still, no one can say how bold your dreams can be... Well, look at me - until 3 years ago I was selling patterned socks... :)