Presentation for 2022 AAFCS Annual Conference

1. Leveraging LinkedIn for Career
Advancement and Professional
Development
Dr. Barbara O’Neill, CFP®, AFC®
Owner/CEO, Money Talk

2. What Types of Social Media Do You Use?
Do you tweet?
Do you use Facebook? Instagram? TikTok?
Do you make YouTube videos?
Do you have a blog?
Are you LinkedIn?

3. Street Cred: My LinkedIn Story
Very casual user for about a decade
Updated profile 1/1/20
Started posting content regularly
Dozens of requests to connect
Dozens of “People are Watching You” e-mails from LinkedIn
Several LinkedIn queries led to work for clients

4. Workshop Content
• Background statistics about benefits of using LinkedIn
• The mechanics of using LinkedIn
• Potential LinkedIn content to share
• Standing out on LinkedIn
• Premium LinkedIn features
• LinkedIn resources for educators

5. LinkedIn
History
Began in 2003
Business-oriented
social networking
site
Headquartered in
Mountain View, CA
Became profitable
in 2007
Acquired by
Microsoft in 2016
for about 26 billion
Clickable hashtags
allowed in 2016
Trivia Factoid: LinkedIn account
holders must be at least 16 years old

6. What is YOUR Relationship With LinkedIn?
What is LinkedIn?
I know what it is, but I do not have a profile
I have a profile, but do not check it regularly
I check/maintain my profile regularly

7. Yes, if you…
• Are looking for employees
• Are looking for a job
• Are looking for useful information
• Are following key thought leaders
• Want to be a thought leader
• Want to build a personal brand

8. Is LinkedIn Important?
Source: NextGen Personal Finance webinar, May 2021

9. Is LinkedIn Important?
Source: NextGen Personal Finance webinar, May 2021

10. Is LinkedIn Important?

11. Have a LinkedIn Mission Statement
My LinkedIn Mission
Statement
“To provide useful, research-
based personal finance
information (and occasional,
non-controversial personal
anecdotes) to an increasing
number of connections”

12. Have LinkedIn “Guardrails”
My LinkedIn
Guardrails
Positive language Kindness
Useful
information and
links
Non-
controversial
“Barbservations”
No controversial
topics
No politics
Visuals for
increased
engagement

13. LinkedIn Sample Home Page and Profile

14. Profile
Optimization
Source: NextGen Personal Finance
webinar, May 2021

15. Consider Adding a Profile Tagline
Source: NextGen Personal Finance
webinar, May 2021

16. Customize Your LinkedIn URL
• Example: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaraoneillmoneytalk/
• Looks more professional than a random string of numbers
Two Easy Steps:
• Click on “Edit Public Profile and URL”
• Enter a customized URL (NO spaces, symbols, or special characters); if the URL
is already “taken,” you will be prompted to retry with a new name.

17. Getting Started With LinkedIn
• Go to https://www.linkedin.com/
• Set up a unique username and password and start account
• Search for/invite connections
• Locate the “Start a Post” box and post content (3,000 character limit)

18. Content to Share on LinkedIn
Articles that you write
Articles written by others
Informative video clips
Professional accomplishments
Questions for your connections

19. Post Content
Regularly
• The objective is to be visible
and valuable to others
• Provide valuable links and
resources
• Celebrate achievements
periodically
• Consider posting at least 3
times a week
• Create an impression that you
are an active and productive
professional

20. Consider a Content Calendar
Examples:
• Blog posts/articles
• Polls/poll results
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Question of the week

21. Aim for 500+
LinkedIn
Connections-
It Shows You Are a
“Serious Player”
Similar to friends on Facebook and
Followers on Twitter
The more connections you have, the
more likely you are to be found by
colleagues, recruiters, and people
interested in what you do
The best connections are people
that you know personally
Holy Grail: 500+ connections (the
highest number that LinkedIn
reports)

22. Inviting and Accepting LinkedIn Connections
Default Connection Message
Personalized Connection Message
Which person would you most likely connect with?

23. Accepting
LinkedIn
Connection
Requests
Do you know
the person?
If not, do
they tell you
how they
know you?
Do you have
things in
common?
Are they
trying to
“pitch you”
in the
request?

24. Engage With Your Connections
• Avoid pure “broadcasting”
• Like, comment, and share
• Ask questions
• Compliment others
• Provide useful information and links
• “Work out loud”

25. Visuals Increase Engagement!

26. Types of Visuals for LinkedIn Messages
Stock images
Personal
photos
Hand drawn
sketches
Microsoft
PAINT graphics
Canva
graphics
PowerPoint
jpeg images
Photo collages
Charts, tables,
infographics
Professional-
looking videos

27. LinkedIn Messaging

28. LinkedIn Premium
• Four tiers for job seekers
($29.99 to $59.99 per
month)
• Higher costs for sales
professionals and
recruiters

29. How to Stand Out on LinkedIn
• Professional high resolution headshot and background banner photo
• Eye-catching headline below your name
• Interesting career summary (about 1,000 characters- not 2,600)
• Details about education and career experience
• Customized URL
• 500+ connections
• Recommendations and skill endorsements
• Regular activity (at least 3 times a week)
• All-Star profile rating from LinkedIn

30. Final Tips From LinkedIn Pros
Questions?
Comments?
Experiences?