You don't need to spend a fortune for a professional-looking Headshot.  If you've got a Smartphone and a friend, you can create a great looking shot for all of your Social Media. 

🎬 ACTION: Watch this Video

Remember the exercise you did on finding your Why and creating your Elevator Speech?  Here are some tips for translating that to your bio:

• Answer the question “What do you do for a living?” without using your job title.
• Think about what you say in your Elevator Speech.
• Show your passion, include your Why.
• Avoid using Financial Jargon - most people won't understand what you're saying and it defeats your purpose.  
• Don't be too wordy!   A short paragraph or two will  keep readers engaged.

As you expand your market beyond just the people you know, the best way to generate new prospects is find and meet people who share a love of the same things you do. We will teach you how to reach out to new prospects, but in the meantime, you can start expanding your world of possible clients. Here's some things you can do right away: 

• List institutes of higher learning you've attended. If there's an Alumni Association, become a member.
• Include any sports you played in college and/or the sports or activities you LOVE.
• List all organizations you belong to - that have large local or national membership.

Most people just put their job title in this section. E.g., Financial Advisor. This is the most important part of your whole profile.

• Go beyond your title
• How do you help people and Who do you help?
• Will you specialize in a specific target market (Women, Veterans and Military Spouses, Doctors, Dentists, your college alumni, etc)

Example:

"Helping my fellow Terps live a great Financial Life"

The Background Image is the space behind your headshot. Its a way to personalize your profile to help people know more about you at first glance. In the sample above, Brennan has chosen a photo of his office. This should be a large, horizontal image (1584 x 400 pixels) 

You can use anything that says "You," like:

your local skyline at sunrise
your favorite vacation photo
your dog catching a frisbee

If you choose an image on the internet, make sure it is in the Creative Commons or you may be infringing on a copyright.

The Marketing Team has compiled some royalty-free background images that you are welcome to use - click below to download from the gallery.

The About section of your profile is your summary; where you provide a general idea of who you work with, how you help them, and who you are, personally and professionally. Remember: you only have 2 to 3 sentences to encourage the reader to "see more" of your summary.

To help create an enticing summary, jot down your answers to the following questions:

- What is your WHY?
- What excites you about your job?
- What VALUE do you bring to your clients? 
- Who is your Ideal Client?

Your summary should:

- Speak to your ideal client and/or niche-market
- Be written in the first person
- Clearly answer who you help and how you help them
- Be brief: a few (two to three) paragraphs

The Experience section should have your current FFG role listed.  Until you have earned your FR contracts, your approved Career Launch Title is:

Financial Professional

• Select FFG as your current company (to select from LinkedIn's drop down menu, type in First Financial Group to link to FFG)
• Your Office Location
• Your Start Date