Building a Powerful Linkedln Presence: How Three CPAs Are Connecting, Growing and Thriving Online

By Heidi Frei, CAE

LinkedIn has become an essential platform for professionals looking to expand their networks, find new career opportunities and build their personal brand. For CPAs, it is not just about listing qualifications, it is about creating meaningful connections and establishing a strong online presence.

In this article, we highlight three CPA members who have mastered the art of leveraging LinkedIn to build communities, advance their careers and market their businesses. From thoughtful engagement and insightful content creation to networking with industry leaders, these professionals have turned their LinkedIn profiles into powerful tools for success.

Create Community Through Connections

Ross Grainger, CFO of Paradox, decided to become active on LinkedIn to connect with others in similar roles and in similar industries. “Especially in the Phoenix area, I didn’t feel like there was a strong presence of tech-focused accounting and finance professionals. Trying to find that community somewhere else online was one of the main drivers for engaging on LinkedIn,” says Grainger. He looked for people doing interesting things in his industry and reached out to set up 15- to 30-minute Zoom calls to learn more about specific industry challenges. He found that with his online presence, it allowed him to create real-time interactions with industry leaders.

Prudence Zhu, founder and CEO of Enso Financial, finds that networking on LinkedIn is all about building genuine relationships and offering value first. “I make it a routine to intentionally reach out to people I want to connect with on LinkedIn. I also follow up by engaging with their content, whether it’s commenting on their posts, sharing their articles or supporting their work in other ways,” says Zhu.

Find Your Next Career

The most important connection Grainger found on LinkedIn was Aaron Matos, founder of Paradox. Grainger says, “Aaron found me on LinkedIn, and we sparked a conversation. Through that, I ended up going to work for Paradox and that got me my first CFO role.” Grainger credits Matos finding him through his strong LinkedIn presence. Grainger’s profile clearly showed the key elements of what he had done in prior roles and what he wanted to do next. Grainger adds, “Having my LinkedIn presence match who I am as a person and how I show up in real life was important so that it really made sense when Aaron and I connected that what he saw online was me.”

Grainger highly suggests LinkedIn as a tool for finding your next career opportunity. “It can help you further your career, it can help you find your next job and it can help you find people you want to hire. The more your presence pops up as a leader in your space, the more likely others are to find you. It is one of the places that people look to see what you’re about and what you’ve done. Make sure you are highlighting your talents.”

When setting up your profile, in addition to including a recent professional photo and listing your previous jobs and responsibilities, it is important to take the time to create a compelling headline. “That tagline under your name is important,” says Grainger. “Some people just list their current role, but it should be so much more than your current role. You should use very few words in that little space to explain who you are because it shows up in all the preview views. Mine is unique: Father, Sometimes Endurance Athlete, Coffee Enthusiast, SaaS CFO.”

Zhu echoes the importance of LinkedIn for career growth. “At the start of my career, I’d add alumni, headhunters and people at companies I was interested in. I’d set up coffee chats and short phone calls, followed by handwritten thank-you cards. In 2016, the year I got laid off and later joined a great company, I added over 1,300 people to my network!”

Post for Engagement

Lisa B. Lumbard, founder and CEO at Lumbard Consulting, LLC, joined LinkedIn back when it started in 2003 and decided to become more active when she started her own not-for-profit consulting firm. Lumbard makes it a point to get photos with colleagues when she attends events in the community and posts them on LinkedIn. “It is important to post photos because it shows my involvement in the not-for-profit community, and by tagging others in the photos, I can potentially reach their followers in addition to my own.” Lumbard says you shouldn’t shy away from asking others to join you for a photo. “Usually, people are flattered when I ask them to join me for a photo. I have never had anyone say no.”

Lumbard stresses the importance of posting about what impacts you and what you know.  If you go to a conference like the Governmental Accounting Conference or the Not-for-Profit Conference, and you learn about a new pronouncement that’s directly going to impact your client base, share a quick one or two lines about it to say, here’s something new out there you need to know and if you have any questions, reach out.” By sharing this knowledge, you are helping your followers learn, and you may be able to provide follow-up assistance.

Many CPAs serve on boards and participate in community service projects. There is a wealth of content from these organizations that you can post. “If you work for or serve a charitable organization and they’re having a big fundraiser, you can post the event, and if they get awarded a big grant, you could post about that,” says Lumbard. “When I participated in the Feed My Starving Children community service program with the ASCPA and student members, I posted about my experience at the event and included pictures.”

Zhu finds that what resonates most with her audience is a mix of personal storytelling and practical advice. “Whether I’m sharing lessons from transitioning from corporate life to entrepreneurship or offering tips on tax and financial planning, it’s about giving relatable insights with actionable takeaways,” says Zhu. “I’ve also found that personal reflections, like the experiences that shaped my career path and the decisions that got me to where I am help engage my audience more deeply.”

While many people only show the rosy side of their career and personal life on social media, Zhu sees the value in sharing the challenges and opportunities. “When I talk about financial strategies, I also share the highs and lows of my personal journey, whether it’s achieving financial freedom, balancing work and life, or making tough financial decisions,” says Zhu. “This balance helps my content feel more human and relatable, making it easier for others to connect.”

Grainger finds value in a variety of post types, including expressing original thoughts and sharing interesting articles, webcasts and podcasts. He finds that he gets more views and more interaction when he is sharing others’ content than when creating his own because it is landing in other people’s feeds. “When I create my own content, I am trying to make it relevant and talk about something that’s meaningful for me, something I’m going through – whether it’s a budgeting process or trying to find a vendor or sometimes about a course I took that had value.”

If creating your own content sounds daunting, one of the easiest things to do is repost the content that your company is posting. “Repost it with your thoughts,” says Grainger. “It will get you used to posting on LinkedIn and only takes a few minutes. You don’t have to spend hours and hours on LinkedIn; you can just spend a few minutes a week. I am on LinkedIn every day because the content is so interesting. I don’t read every article, obviously. I look at the headlines, and sometimes it will help me stay informed on trends that are happening. And the more you interact, the more focused your content is going to be.”

Market Your Business

LinkedIn offers various tools for business owners to reach their clients and potential clients. One of those tools is a LinkedIn newsletter. Zhu decided to start a LinkedIn newsletter as a more efficient way to share valuable financial insights with her growing network.

“I had been running a YouTube channel with weekly uploads, but I wasn’t seeing the impact I expected for the 20 hours my editor and I put in for each video,” says Zhu. “LinkedIn allowed me to reach more people in a structured format, and it’s worked wonders.” Zhu says her content ideas come from common client questions, industry trends and personal experiences that resonate with her audience. “I also pay attention to feedback, which helps me tailor my content to their needs and interests.”

Building her LinkedIn brand has opened several doors for business opportunities for Zhu. “One of the most rewarding experiences came when a client wrote a glowing referral for me on LinkedIn,” says Zhu. “Then, a small business owner friend of theirs shared it, and that led to a new client who signed up for my ongoing financial planning services. I have also been invited to podcasts and networking events due to my presence on LinkedIn. I am confident that the more people follow my content, the more opportunities will naturally arise.”

LinkedIn can be a great source for research on people, companies and industries. “I use LinkedIn as a resource,” says Lumbard. “If I meet someone at a networking event and we get talking, I will look up their LinkedIn profile after the event and learn more about them through their postings. I also use it to research potential clients.”

Get Started

Now that you know the benefits of participating on LinkedIn and have heard insight from your peers, it is time to take action. “It’s never too late to start,” Grainger says. “Even if you don’t have an account and you are toward the end of your career, that’s okay. Get started, just do it. It’s not that hard and shouldn’t be daunting.”

Zhu adds, “Don’t worry about being perfect – just show up and be true to yourself. Engage with others, respond to comments, join conversations and be open to learning from your peers.”

You can connect with our three featured CPAs for inspiration, and we always appreciate additional followers on the Arizona Society of CPAs company page.

Heidi Frei, CAE, is senior director of marketing & membership at the Arizona Society of CPAs. You can connect with her at https://linkedin.com/in/heidifrei.