How to Write a Good Summary for LinkedIn as an Accountant

LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals. Primarily known for its benefits for job seekers, LinkedIn is also a valuable platform for professionals, such as accountants. Business owners and individuals often turn to LinkedIn for references, reviews and to read more about accountants and what they offer.

With the appropriate headline for an accountant on LinkedIn, along with a well-crafted summary and a comprehensive experience section, you might bring in more business than you realize just by using those important keywords and these helpful tips. By using LinkedIn along with TaxDome software, you could have the winning ticket to a successful accounting practice or career.

Ways to Craft an Amazing Accounting LinkedIn Profile

Writing a bio for an accountant on your LinkedIn profile is the key to bringing in more clients, and even employees. Fortunately, there are many ways to do this: creating content, sharing other businesses’ content and proving your accounting skills on LinkedIn.

Using some or all of these tips will help you to gain traction and build a larger audience.

Here are a few simple pointers:

Use Client Endorsements

There’s no one better to hear from than past clients, so don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for endorsements or reviews on your LinkedIn page. If the businesses and individuals you already do business with like what you offer, the chances are they’ll be willing to provide you with recommendations that will help you build more business.

Don’t forget to reciprocate, though. If your clients or other professionals endorse you, make sure you make the effort to do the same for them or others in the industry. 

Share Messages and Posts That Clients Will Share

LinkedIn offers the opportunity to share your thoughts, much like other social media platforms. The difference is that your thoughts should be business-related. This is a chance to show off your expertise and share some of it with your audience.  

You never know when past or current clients will take what you have written and share it with their own followers. Of course, the same goes for you too; if you see a posting by a client that interests you, or you think relevant, you can share it on your page. You never know when your content might reach a pool of potential clients.

You can post short blurbs just to get your network’s attention or link entire blog posts you’ve written and want to share.

Recruit New Employees

If you’re in the market for new employees (or even if you aren’t), utilize LinkedIn’s extensive recruiting platform. Since LinkedIn is for professionals, you’ll likely accumulate a much better selection of potential employees when you’re ready to hire.

You’ll attract a significantly more suitable audience when you share content widely on your LinkedIn profile – it means potential employees can see the culture they’d be joining.

Create Social Proof

Social media is all about social proof, right? Your accountant summary on LinkedIn is no exception. You can trust that people (individuals and businesses) will view your LinkedIn profile, especially if it shows up in a Google search when they research you. 

Make sure your LinkedIn bio for an accountant has as much proof as possible that you’re good at what you do. This includes a professional photo, credible references and, whenever possible, even a portfolio of your work.

Now that you know how important it is to have a quality LinkedIn profile, next up are the top elements you want in your profile (or to improve in your current profile).

LinkedIn Profile Tips for Accountants

When you’re creating your profile on LinkedIn, accounting skills aren’t the only thing potential clients or even potential employees look for. Consider the following factors when building your LinkedIn bio for an accountant.

Create a Professional Profile Picture

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this even includes your headshot on LinkedIn! It creates an added level of personalization and may even lower an individual’s anxiety when talking to you for the first time because they can put a face to the name.

Your headshot should be a high-quality and professional photo, one that tells visitors to your profile that you are worth contacting. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the same headshot you use on your website, or a different one, just make sure it’s clear and looks professional.

Craft a Unique LinkedIn Headline for an Accountant

Don’t let LinkedIn use your job title as your headline, because there’s nothing engaging or intriguing about that! Instead, make your LinkedIn headline for an accountant unique and attention-grabbing. Give viewers a reason to learn more about you.

Your headline should state clearly what you do, and use keywords that those looking for an accountant of your stature would use. Don’t overglamorize it or use keyword stuffing; you’ll only end up turning potential clients away.

Create a Powerful Accountant Summary on LinkedIn

Your summary is one of the first chances you have to catch the visitor’s attention. Make it powerful, yet short. Don’t inundate the reader with too much information, but make sure you include sufficient content about your career highlights, past experience, unique skills and your mission.

Readers want to connect with you in a way that isn’t just about accounting. Craft a powerful summary in a few sentences that summarizes who you are, what you stand for and how you can help whoever’s reading about you.

Provide Details of Your Experience

The experience section of LinkedIn is where you can blow your own trumpet about your accounting skills. Include every relevant thing you’ve done and the skills you possess in this part. It’s similar to the experience part of your resume – you’ll include details about where you worked, your position and the duties you carried out. 

This is also the area to state any personal accomplishments or achievements, awards you’ve received or ways you helped companies to be better.

Ask for Recommendations

This may feel awkward at first, but once you’ve broken the ice, you’ll find it easy to ask and ask! Talk to your network of past employers, teachers or any other professionals you’ve had long-term contact with, who can vouch for your expertise and write you a recommendation. You might be surprised at how many people will do it.

Why a Good LinkedIn Summary is Important

At this point, you might wonder why a good accountant summary on LinkedIn is important. Aren’t the experience section and recommendations enough?

While those sections are good, remember that most readers skim-read through text. Your accountant summary could be the deciding factor if readers stay interested long enough to learn more about you. Look at other examples on LinkedIn and you’ll see that accountants create powerful summaries aimed at either securing new clients or landing their next big job.

If you still aren’t convinced of why a LinkedIn summary is so important, here are the most important reasons.

It’s a Chance to Introduce Yourself 

Think of a good summary for a LinkedIn accountant as the first impression anyone has of you. It gives you a chance to highlight what you want people to know about you right off the bat. It might just stick in their mind and make them come back even if they don’t read more right now.

You Can Demonstrate Your Personality (not that of a boring accountant)

Your summary is a chance to be yourself. Yes, it must be professional, but there’s room for wit and humor too. Your summary helps recruiters to fit you with the right company if you’re looking for a job, or it gives clients a taste of what they’ll be dealing with when they work with you and whether they can relate to you or not.

You Might Rank Higher

In most good LinkedIn accounting summary samples, the profiles rank much higher in search engines than those whose attention to their summary was lacking.

LinkedIn uses a unique algorithm, just like Google; using the right keywords in your summary can be just what’s needed to rank your profile higher than others in the same industry. When readers search for the keywords you used, your profile will pop up, which may bring you more chances to land a new accounting job or get more clients.

Final Thoughts

Don’t ignore LinkedIn as an accountant. It could be one of the most important tools in your career, whether you own your own business or work for a firm. LinkedIn helps you highlight your expertise, shows others what to expect from you, and helps you network.

Getting the word out, sharing as much content as possible, and remaining active on LinkedIn can introduce you to an entire network that you wouldn’t otherwise have found. It can unleash  a plethora of opportunities, helping you to achieve your goals in your professional life.