If you have a name like Art Garcia or Tom Smith, the addition of a middle initial within your LinkedIn title makes a lot of sense.
A few years ago, I thought I was the only Matt Scherer on LinkedIn, and research showed that I wasn’t the only person among the 900-plus million users.
And as Matthew is my middle name and I rarely use David, my given first name, except for truly official purposes, I changed my title to D. Matt.
When I meet someone and they ask to connect with me via LinkedIn, I tell them to look for my preferred moniker (see above graphic.)
I discovered another bonus from this. Whenever I get a “Dear D.” salutation, I know that it’s someone that doesn’t know my true identity.
As a LinkenI coach, I always ask my students to update the title with a middle name. For those folks like me who use the middle part of their format name, I encourage them to use a first initial like mine.
Once you have made that middle initial change, you can update your business cards or the title of any presentation. With some common names out there, like the three Mike Garcias I know here in south Texas, it is helpful to have those with a common surname use their middle initial as a LinkedIn branding tool.