14 MNCPA Footnote April 2016

Look great, be found. Learn how LinkedIn can do

both with this expert advice for CPAs

By Anne Pryor, online brand strategist, Meaningful Connections

I consider LinkedIn to be a fl ashing digital billboard that I change every Sunday at 3:30 p.m. I call this changing my oil.

LinkedIn is not a résumé, which is an historical document highlighting past jobs, achievements, education and community involvement.

As a futurist and strategist, career coach and LinkedIn specialist, I teach my clients how to leverage LinkedIn to get what they want going forward, not to get what they have always had.

Having written more than 7,000 successful LinkedIn profi les for CPAs, attorneys, C-level executives, business development clients and job seekers, I off er these 10 ways for making your LinkedIn profi le look great and be found for success, not only with potential employers, but as a way to bring in new clients.

Know your goals. Th e fi rst and most important tip is to understand the purpose of your LinkedIn profi le, and the goals for being on this tool. My clients must complete my workbook, answering many questions

that help them discern their goals, such as:

What three things do you want to be known for?

What happens because of you?

Who do you want to connect with?

Who do you want to fi nd you?

Who do you want to fi nd on LinkedIn?

What are your keywords (industries, titles of people you want to serve, specialties)?

Look great. On LinkedIn, a great photograph is the key. People want to know that the LinkedIn profi le owner is real, authentic and genuine. Be sure to get a professional headshot for your profi le. (I do not even

click on profi les without photos).

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Do not use a selfi e for the LinkedIn profi le.

Know your brand. Take time to unearth and understand your brand and communicate that in the Professional Headline area on LinkedIn, under your name. Th is area allows for only 120 characters, and

because it’s high in search engine optimization, you’ll want to get it right. Start with your title, your brand statement and your specialties.

Headline example: Accountant, CPA | Advising Small Business Owners, Manufacturing and Professional Services Clients for Success.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: I change my headline based on what I desire, adding and removing keywords, titles and industries that I am targeting. My branding remains consistent but the keywords may change based on the jobs or industries I’m targeting, i.e., LinkedIn Trainer, Sales Coach | Accountant - Look Great, Be Found, Get Known and Make Meaningful Business Connections. By adding the word Accountant, I recently added two more CPA fi rms to my client list. Th ey found me on LinkedIn.

Target your audience. In your Summary area, which has a 2,000-character limit, make sure there are at least 50 keywords. If you are seeking to grow your business, start the fi rst two lines (50 characters)

with the people, titles, industries or types of companies that you want to work with. Th is way your profi le will come up when people search for the services (keywords) you’ve listed. In the Summary, let people know:

what you desire

what your goals are

what you have accomplished

why you do what you do

how you can help them

how to contact you

Summarize achievements. In the Experience section, provide a list of businesses that you’ve worked for and what you helped them accomplish. I coach my clients to rank these

accomplishments based on what they want to do in the future.

I also coach clients to use my “frosting and cupcake” format, which means creating a headline (frosting) for each key accomplishment (cupcake) that quickly tells the story with keywords. Th is is important, because when you apply for a job through LinkedIn or download your LinkedIn profi le into an online résumé format, the frosting and cupcake format is very easy to read and the keywords stand out. Example:

SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION REDUCES COSTS:

Designed systems integration structure to ensure executive line of sight to $100M in annual costs.

Created logistics productivity and measurement tools with fi nancial reporting.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Never use the words ‘Responsible for’ in the Experience section. Clients want to know what you’ve achieved, not what the responsibilities were. Always put past job accomplishments in past tense.

MNCPA Footnote April 2016 15

People want to hire winners! Th ere are many new areas on LinkedIn where you can display your experience.

Highlight successes. People want to hire winners! Th ere are many new areas on LinkedIn where you can display your experience. Begin adding the Volunteer, Honors and Awards, Publications, Organizations,

Certifi cations, Courses and other sections to the profi le.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Each Sunday when I “change my oil,” I add a new keyword to the Interest area on LinkedIn. Th is area is high in search engine optimization and I use it as my ‘secret sauce’ to help get picked up in searches. I have hundreds of client success stories about clients who added a new keyword and were quickly found for a great new business lead.

Show your stuff . In the new media-rich formatting area in the LinkedIn Summary, Experience, and Education sections, you can add links to articles you’ve authored, videos of your instruction, PPT,

PDFs or photos. If you don’t have any of these visuals, then create some.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Visit www.linkedin.com/in/annepryor to view many media-rich format suggestions. With one client, we created a PPT slide showing how he has been successful in creating business analytics. Th is visual got him noticed by a potential employer.

Flaunt your skills. Th e Skills and Endorsements area is important on LinkedIn. You can add up to 50 skills, but make certain the top 10 skills get at least 20 endorsements. You can move the skills around

now by clicking ‘Manage skills’ and then clicking on the skill and dragging it to a new position.

Recommend others fi rst. Give recommendations to clients. Give three recommendations per week and watch how many you receive back. Recommendations are an important way for new clients to see

your character.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Always highlight the client’s brand attributes and accomplishments in the fi rst six words of a recommendation. Th is is all people can see on a LinkedIn profi le, and it’s all they notice.

Invite top infl uencers. Once you have your profi le looking great, it’s time to identify the top infl uencers you want in your network and start inviting them. Make a list of fi ve

industries and 40 companies you wish to target. Th en list the top 33 people that refer business to you and to whom you do the same. Make certain people from these industries, companies and top contacts are in your network.

ANNE’S EXPERT TIP: Always add a personal message when inviting people to LinkedIn. Here’s my 5-step process for creating eff ective invitations: 1) say how you know them 2) give them a compliment or a connection point, 3) invite them to connect, 4) ask how you can support or help them, 5) sign off with your brand statement, name, phone, and Twitter handle (LinkedIn does not allow you to add a URL on the Invitation message prior to connecting).

Now go be foundNow, armed with this information, you can leverage your LinkedIn profi le to go to work for you. Just try a few of these tips and let me know how it works for you!

Anne Pryor is recognized as a Top 10 LinkedIn Trainer in the World, Certifi ed Online Brand Specialist, Future Mapper and cofounder of Meaningful Connections, a national leader in personal branding, online visibility using LinkedIn, and career and new world of work strategies. See her blog posts at www.linkedin.com/in/annepryor,

www.MeaningfulConnections.com or contact her at anne@meaningfulconnections.net or on Twitter @annepryor.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/pryorchecklist for a free Best LinkedIn Profi le Checklist