Originally I wrote this post from a personal branding perspective, and to show an example of a LI Profile brand that is not congruent with the corporate brand – this stuck out like a sore thumb because (a) Southwest’s brand is so strong, and (b) Gary is the CEO, and (c) Southwest seems to have some kind of social strategy in place, but this is like the neglected ugly duckling.

Contrast that to Tony’s… I have no idea what their social strategy is, except that Tony is super hot on Twitter and has done a FANTASTIC job using that social tool to share ideas, get ideas, share his brand, etc. LinkedIn isn’t much for getting or sharing ideas… not like Twitter, anyway.

Tony has a lack of info here, and only 3 connections, which isn’t surprising… it just looks to me like he has chosen to not do anythint with LI (won’t hurt him at all, as Chris mentions).

The difference is that SW put a link to this Profile from when of their websites… whereas I’ve never seen Tony or Zappos put a link to Tony’s LI Profile from any page. (granted, I haven’t really looked)

I’m thinking that if everybody knows your brand, you don’t need to sell it as hard in your LinkedIn profile. In Tony’s case he’s well connected and everybody knows who he is.[/QUOTE]

Yes, especially the folks over at Amazon.

I don’t expect a CEO to be totally up to date with established branding trends. Especially in something as new as Social Media. Heck LI’s been around only 6 years? Gary’s job is to lead.

I’d say his LI profile in in the final 1% of execution strategy. He doesn’t need to be there but he’s a company man.

Another interestingly boring profile is for Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.

I’m thinking that if everybody knows your brand, you don’t need to sell it as hard in your LinkedIn profile. In Tony’s case he’s well connected and everybody knows who he is.

But…it’s a linked in limitation. They give you room for three links. The first two of these only accept canned pulldowns like “My Company”, “My Website”, “My Blog”, etc.

The last link allows you to customize the anchor text, hence Gary’s choice of “productivity tips”.

It makes me NUTS when I see a CEO who is SO tied to a creative, profitable, viscerally branded company like Southwest, come across as a corporate drone on LinkedIn.

It just kills me. I feel like shaking Gary and saying, “What are you thinking!!!!” Your customers LUVVVVVVV your airline and they know you’re the visionary and they want to know about YOU. But no, we get corporate speak.

Gary needs to take the courage and vision he’s shown in leading Southwest to have among the best customer loyalty of any airline and use that courage to get real in his profile. And he should be on Twitter and Facebook, too, if he isn’t already. Even if he has to use a surrogate who understands and can project his brand to get him started on it. A brand that elicits such an emotional response from it’s fans, need to fuel that emotional connection right from the top, and not just in a blog.

My colleague Barbara Safani and I presented a LinkedIn seminar to a select group of CEOs last fall (thanks Jason, for setting that up for us). We found that almost every one of the CEOs was very distrustful of LinkedIn because they felt it would open them up to unwanted attention from job seekers, vendors, etc; destroy their privacy; make it seem like they were looking for a job; and subject any high-level connections they made to the same difficulties.

So it’s possible Gary (and/or his marketers) have the same concerns. But I’ve never had a senior-level client regret being on LinkedIn or have difficulties. Quite the reverse in fact — the more branded and open they are, the better the results they get.

So Gary, as a personal brand strategist and as a loyal, even fanatical Southwest passenger (I won’t ever move to a city not near a Southwest hub and groan when I have to fly to an area Southwest doesn’t serve), I beg you, PLEASE extend your cool brand to your Linkedin profile and see what happens.

You can always go back to the old, boring “this is Gary not really being Gary” profile. But why would you want to? Be bold — its your brand — feel the LUV.

Jason, maybe you need a version of your “You get it” contest for LinkedIn profiles?

Deb Dib, the CEO Coach
http://www.ExecutivePowerBrand.com