Creating a company page or “team page” on LinkedIn can help to increase your brand awareness, according to Javed Khan, president of EMpression, a marketing firm in Aurora, Ont. A good team page can make you more visible when prospect make online searches for financial advisors.

(Note that LinkedIn refers to this type of page as a “company page.” But you should refer to it as your team page — to indicate that it is affiliated with your practice and not produced by your dealer firm.)

Here are five steps to creating an effective team page:

1. Check with compliance
You must get the idea authorized and find out the department’s process for approving content.

You might even ask your compliance rep to follow your team page, Khan says, so he or she will see the content immediately. If you are expected to provide content before posting, ask how long it will take to receive approval so you can plan your updating schedule.

Also, check the rules on using your firm’s logo. Some firms may require you do so, while others may prefer you stick to your practice-based logo.

2. Choose a banner image
Have a high-quality photo taken of your team to introduce online visitors to the people within your practice.

However, don’t let that photo get stale. Change the image two to four times a year to reflect changes to your staff and demonstrate more personal elements of your practice, such as photos taken of your team at community events.

“Show that you’re more than just a financial team,” Khan says. “And that you actually care about people and organizations within your community.”

3. Post your bio
Your biography should be about three to four paragraphs and include details such as your professional background, designations and experience.

If you want the reader to know more about you, provide a link to a longer bio on your website.

Says Khan: “[Advisors] tend to forget that their website is where they want to push people to read more information.”

4. Insert a call to action
What does the reader do once they’ve read your page? Should they call you? Should they go to your website? Be specific about what your visitors should do.

One way to approach this question is by asking readers for their input. What one topic do they want to read about on this page?

Include this question in your bio as well as occasional status updates so the question pops up in your followers’ newsfeeds periodically.

5. Use search-engine optimization
For those who know your name, you are easy to look up. But if the goal is to attract new faces to your page, you must employ keywords that describe your practice and may raise your placement in an online search.

Start by answering two questions: where are you located and who is your market? That, Khan says, is what people want to know when they search for advisors.

For example, an engineer might type “financial advisor for engineers in Calgary” into Google search.

If you fit within those categories, this should be made clear through your bio and relevant status updates.

This is the fourth instalment in an occasional series on using LinkedIn to promote your business.

Next, making use of your team page.