Ask an Advisor: How do I use LinkedIn for my career?

Ask an Advisor: How do I use LinkedIn to boost my career?

November 7, 2024 4:52 PM

Welcome back to "Ask an Advisor," the advice column where real financial professionals answer questions from real people. The topic can be anything in the world of finance, from retirement to taxes to wealth management — or even advice on advising.

For more than a decade now, it's been conventional wisdom that white collar professionals should use social media to improve their careers. But every platform is different — X (formerly Twitter) embraces snark, Facebook is family-friendly and Instagram typically focuses on beautiful places and snacks.

And then there's LinkedIn. Originally a place to park your resumé and headshot, the website has evolved into something closer to Facebook: a place where people share personal news, accomplishments and ideas — in a way that's not only family-friendly, but also safe for work.

But like work itself, LinkedIn straddles the border between social and professional. There's a thin line between bringing your "whole self" and embarrassing yourself. How can someone make the best of it without oversharing or underutilizing the platform?

This dilemma is as hard for journalists as it is for wealth managers. Today's question comes from a professional right here at Financial Planning: our very own tech reporter, Rob Burgess. Here's what he wrote:

Dear advisors,

When I first signed up for LinkedIn, and for several years after, it was mostly used as a static resume and job board. In the past few years though, I've noticed that it has also become a professional social media network. I've seen friends and colleagues have success on the platform, but I've yet to really use it in this way.

How do you use LinkedIn as a social media network? How is what you post there different from what you post on other platforms? Who are you trying to reach when you post? What have been the most effective types of posts you've made there?

Sincerely,

Rob Burgess

And here's what financial advisors wrote back:

Grow your circle

Matthew Gaffey, certified financial planner and president of

Corbett Road Wealth Management

in Potomac Falls, Virginia

While LinkedIn is a great avenue to source and fill job requirements through job posts, it's also a very easy way to keep tabs on what former colleagues, acquaintances and others are doing and with what firm they're doing it. Without having to actively seek out the information, their updates hit your feed, and, at times, open up doors to opportunities or collaborative solutions with their new firms that didn't previously exist with their former employer. While our industry is of significant size, it's incredible how small these circles and connected networks can be or feel.

Stay at top of mind

Kashif Ahmed, CFP and president of

American Private Wealth

in Bedford, Massachusetts

Advisors are fools for not utilizing LinkedIn. Many think it's just a static résumé on the internet, and it isn't. It should be a living, breathing thing.

Let's say you get referred to somebody. They should be able to figure out what makes you tick, who you really are as a person, what you stand for and what your vibe is — before they ever pick up the phone to call you. LinkedIn serves that purpose.

The way I use it is to stay at top of mind. My brand is unfiltered. I say things as they are, and I use it to educate and create awareness. So if there's some stupidity happening in the world related to personal finance, I'll get on there and I'll make a post about why this is dumb and what you should be looking out for.

I think too many people fall into the trap of saying, "Well, what's my ROI on this? I didn't get any clients out of it." That's not the point. The point is that you're at top of mind.

Tap into others' networks

Joel Chouinard, chartered financial consultant and president of

SharpEdge Financial

in Frisco, Texas

In the past couple of years, I've been focusing on using LinkedIn not only as a vetting platform for prospects, but as a way to nurture prospects over time. As you know, people typically hire a financial planner when they have an issue they can't solve themselves, so timing is everything. Through regular interactions on LinkedIn (posts, newsletters, reactions to others' posts), I stay at the top of these prospects' minds so that when they are ready to hire a financial planner, they think of me first.

Make sure to not only show your expertise in your field but also show your personality. Remember, in our industry, people do business with people, not firms. LinkedIn is primarily a professional networking platform, so I try to keep most of my content educational in nature. That said, I also try to show my personality through my posts the same way I would do it on other social media platforms. I feel like that's a great way to create trust early on. Also, LinkedIn allows its users to create a newsletter that can be sent directly to subscribers' email inboxes, so that's another differentiator that other platforms don't have. I've also been leveraging short-form videos (or LinkedIn reels), a new feature on LinkedIn.

Recently I put together a list of the most influential LinkedIn members for my niche audience (young attorneys), and I tagged them in my post (together, the five members have almost 100,000 followers). Some of them reshared my post or commented on it, and it's gotten a ton of eyeballs! The bottom line is to tap into other's networks as well.