Social Media - LinkedIn for Non-Profits

Social Media for Non-Profits

LinkedIn is pretty BIG

LinkedIn compared to the World

World population = 7billion

LinkedIn profiles - 259million

0

50000000

100000000

150000000

200000000

250000000

300000000

LinkedIn profiles =259 million

Population in Canada= 35 million

LinkedIn is BIGGER than Canada

Who’s In in Canada

Canadian population = 35million

Canadian LinkedInprofiles = 7 million +

Toronto LinkedIn profiles= 1.5 million +

Vancouver LinkedInprofiles = 500 thousand +

Go where the traffic is. LinkedIn has some

serious traffic.

But how does it work?

1. Create a profile - Individuals can have a free or paid account

2. Upload or add your resume and a professional looking picture

3. Connect to people you know - especially co-workers

4. Follow company pages - especially your own

5. Post interesting stuff - interesting to other professionals in your

sector

6. Like and share your organization’s updates

7. Join LinkedIn Groups - there at LOTS dedicated to non-profits

Here’s one example of a very active LinkedIn group that focuses on non-profit housing.

Got something to say?

Publish an article on LinkedIn Pulse

But how does it work for organizations?

Organizations can have one Company Page and

Many Showcase Pages

LinkedIn retired their Products & Services Tabs on Company Pages April

14, 2014 - Replaced by Showcase pages

Non-profit leaders and internal experts can share their ideas,

advocate and inform using Pulse

LinkedIn owns Slideshare = Opportunity!

The goal of any social media use is to drive people to the

organization’s website - LinkedIn makes this pretty easy

Typical Objectives - Staff Profiles and Presence

• Leverage staff profiles to promote Company and Showcase Pages

• Staff perceived as thought leaders in target areas

o Gain “Top Contributor” status in Group = improved reputation

• Gain business intelligence by engaging within Groups

o If members in a targeted LinkedIn group are posting questions that relate

to your sector then use that to inform content creation, reply directly, link

to existing organization generated content

• Engage with potential advocates, influencers, others

o Connecting directly and develop a personal reputation as thought leader

and problem solver

Advice to Non-Profits - Close the Gaps

• Optimize your employee’s profiles

o Clearly link to Company Page and align profile content with company

values, vision, brand promise, key words and messaging.

• Encourage employees to join sector related Groups and engage

regularly - They should “own” their group(s)

• Encourage internal experts to post on LinkedIn Pulse

• Encourage employees to like, comment on and share your

organizations updates and posts

• Use Pulse, Showcase pages and Slideshare (You can upload your

infographics to Slideshare)

Most often used strategy

• Update your Company Page - make sure it’s on-brand

• Create a stellar and targeted Showcase Page or Pages

• Post once per day to Company Page and Showcase Pages

• Listen and engage in Groups - use that knowledge to determine the best

content to post and share and become thought leaders in the sector

• Help employees optimized their profiles

• Encourage employees and volunteers to follow and support the

Company Page

• Use Pulse and Slideshare in alignment with your vision and mission

Discussion

• Groups present an untapped opportunity to increase your reputation

• Key employees could join 1 -2 targeted Groups and assume

responsibility for the company presence in those groups

• Employees ought not lurk in groups - join and engage appropriately or

leave the group

• Basic guidelines for posting and engaging need to be established

• Showcase Pages also present an opportunity to engage with more

targeted individuals but will need nurturing and time commitment

• Sponsoring updates and paying for employee Pro accounts could be

beneficial - increase reach

Dependencies and Resources

LinkedIn Strategy

Graphics/Branding

Employee and leadership

buy-in

Dedicated time for Groups

Content creation

Employee training

…addendum

That’s not all folks - In addition to the BIG 3 - Facebook, Twitter and

LinkedIn, (ok and Google Plus for SEO), don’t ignore other possibilities

• Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram

• Slideshare - owned by LinkedIn but needs standalone plan

• Storify - awesome for conference support

• Paper.li’s and Scoop.it

o Paper.li’s are great bang for buck (free) and very low maintenance

curation tool