Making LinkedIn Work for Your Firm

Source: AICPA CPA Insider

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Barry MacQuarrie.

LinkedIn is the most popular social networking site among the accounting professionals who participated in the SocialCPAs 2010 Social Networking Survey. LinkedIn outpaced Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

How can accounting professionals get the most out of their time on LinkedIn? This month, I will focus on the seven essential types of connections that you should have in your LinkedIn account.

Co-workers — You can easily start building your network by connecting to all of your current and former employees.

Clients or customers — Often, our clients are our best source of referrals and future business. If you are concerned that people may use LinkedIn to see your client list, adjust your LinkedIn settings to deny anyone access to your connection list.

Classmates — Once you enter your education information on your LinkedIn profile, it will add your classmates to the list of people you may know.

Fellow volunteers — You can find your fellow volunteers by entering their name in the LinkedIn search tool. You may discover that you have mutual connections with other volunteers.

Members of your business networks — Do you belong to the local chamber of commerce, Rotary or other business networking group? These people will also make great connections on LinkedIn.

Family and friends — Your friends and family may be able to connect you with people who can help you develop new business opportunities.

Fellow members of LinkedIn groups — Have you joined any groups in LinkedIn? If not, may I suggest that you start with SocialCPAs? It is a great place for accounting professionals to gather and share ideas about social media.

For the complete article, read “Seven Essential LinkedIn Connections.”

From AICPA CPA Insider, December 6, 2010, http://www.CPA2biz.com.