LinkedIn: humanising your branding to boost your business

1. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your career?
   

I am Thibault, I'm 40 years old and I've been living in Switzerland for eight years. I've been an entrepreneur for 15 years and today I support other entrepreneurs as a ghostwriter and strategist on LinkedIn.

Over the course of my career, I've set up six companies. The last one, founded in Switzerland, was a school specialising in tech careers, with campuses in Lausanne and Zurich. I sold the school at the end of 2021 and continued my operational commitment until 2024.

It was in this entrepreneurial context that I realised the power of LinkedIn. I used the platform strategically to develop the business, recruit teachers and build a solid ecosystem around the school. LinkedIn has played a key role in the growth of the project.

After this adventure, I naturally wanted to share my experience. I started by supporting some entrepreneur friends, helping them to make better use of LinkedIn to achieve their professional goals. Gradually, this activity became more structured: managers came to me, attracted by my approach and the results I achieved.

My role involves defining and deploying a communications strategy on LinkedIn: clarifying the key messages, working on perception, aligning communications with business objectives, and then translating this strategy into concrete content, posts, articles, newsletters and targeted interactions.

What really motivates me in this job is the pleasure of writing, of popularising complex ideas, of passing on and above all of exchanging ideas with demanding and inspiring people.

2. How have social networks transformed the way companies and professionals speak out and raise their profile? 

Social networks have profoundly transformed the way businesses and professionals build their visibility and speak out.

When I started my own business, publicity came almost exclusively through intermediaries: press agencies, journalists, traditional media or large advertising budgets. You had to «get permission» to speak, be well introduced or have substantial financial resources. For many, these channels constituted real barriers.

Today, this model has been turned on its head. Social networks, and LinkedIn in particular, have democratised public speaking: everyone can share their expertise and build their visibility. Algorithms now play a role comparable to that of traditional media, whose consumption is declining, and each executive can become his or her own media.

But the need for substance and form remains intact. Having access to the spoken word is not enough: you need to know what to say and how to say it. This is where the role of the ghostwriter comes into its own.

My job is to help managers bring out their ideas, their vision and their experience, then structure and format them in a way that is readable, engaging and aligned with their objectives. It's a question of finding the right balance between the value provided to readers and writing that is adapted to codes and algorithms: content and form are inseparable.

3. Everyone has a presence on LinkedIn, even if it's silent: how can you tap into this “invisible” audience?

On LinkedIn, the vast majority of the audience is “invisible”: almost 90 % of professionals are present, but only 1 % publish and 5 % interact; the rest consume silently.

I am regularly approached by executives who have never interacted with my content but have been following me for months. The indicators (impressions, reach, profile views) enable us to adjust content, identify effective formats and reinforce the business impact. Provided, of course, that you understand the data, have a clear strategy and accept that awareness is built over the long term. We must always bear in mind that LinkedIn serves as a sounding board for an offer that has already been tried and tested.

4. What role does personal branding play in recreating credibility?

Today, personal branding plays a central role in rebuilding credibility, for businesses and professionals alike.

We are seeing a growing distrust of brands and institutions. Speeches that are too institutional, too smooth or too impersonal resonate less and less. On the other hand, audiences are looking for a voice that is embodied, delivered by identifiable individuals with a vision, an experience and a sensibility. This is precisely where personal branding comes into its own.

We can see this very clearly in the rise of the founder-led brands, This dynamic is beginning to take hold in Switzerland too. It does, however, require a cultural adjustment. It's not about ostentatiously «putting yourself forward», but about talking about yourself in the right way, with a view to sharing and being useful. Personal branding is not an exercise in ego, but a lever for making your experience resonate, inspiring and bringing value to others.

People are an essential part of the communication. A brand that expresses itself alone nowadays finds it harder to create trust and commitment. People want to talk to other people, to understand who is behind an activity, an expertise or a vision. Personal branding responds precisely to this need for authenticity and proximity.

There's also a major new factor: artificial intelligence. It represents both an opportunity and a risk. Readers want to read human points of view, not content that is perceived as artificial or interchangeable. To entrust 100 % of your personal branding to AI is, in my opinion, a strategic error. AI is an excellent tool, but it must remain a support, not a substitute.

I personally use it in a very targeted way: either upstream, to explore avenues, generate ideas and broaden the field of thought; or downstream, to challenge a hook, a conclusion or propose variants that feed my thinking. AI can help to structure, refine and question, but I believe that the vision, intention and responsibility for the message must remain human.

Today, personal branding is a key lever of credibility because it puts the human element at the heart of communication, and this is precisely what audiences expect.

5. What advice would you give on how to use LinkedIn as a genuine business lever while remaining authentic?

To use LinkedIn as a genuine business lever while remaining authentic, I recommend a structured, aligned and progressive approach.

The first piece of advice is to clarify your objectives and strategy: know what you are trying to achieve - awareness, commercial opportunities, credibility, recruitment or partnerships - and how you want to be perceived. This makes content production more coherent and effective.

The second point is alignment: writing while remaining true to what you do and know. LinkedIn is not a visibility contest. You don't write for views, but to convince, reassure and create trust. Sharing feedback, case studies, sector analyses or concrete lessons learned builds lasting credibility, unlike an approach focused solely on the algorithm.

Finally, don't hesitate to ask for support if you need it: mentoring, one-off coaching or overall support. Even on your own, it's useful to draw inspiration from other profiles or refer to experts.

Some choose coaching to structure their approach, while others delegate all or part of their LinkedIn presence. In all cases, the key remains the same: rigour, regularity and consistency.

Used properly, LinkedIn becomes a powerful business lever, serving credible, human and aligned communication.