How to Use Social Media for Nonprofits:
LinkedIn for Nonprofits Part 1
LinkedIn gives you access to over 135 million business people and professionals in every field
By Thomas R. Reich and Chris Romero
LinkedIn has rapidly become the premier professional communications network worldwide and a big part of social media for nonprofits. This innovative social media site allows you to pre-screen everyone in your network, in essence permitting you to specifically design who you want to deal with in your world. When using Social Media for Nonprofits, often you end up with followers that are inappropriate for what you are trying to achieve. On the contrary, LinkedIn tries to address within social media for nonprofits, all the pitfalls in Facebook, to create a professional environment- a platform designed in your personal and professional image.
According to Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author of the New York Times best selling book “Marketing Shortcuts”, today 80% of buying or donating decisions are made before personal contact is made with an organization! A modern, successful nonprofit organization will first be searched on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all now part of social media for nonprofits. The public will also look for your website and search for your name on Google or other search engines.
In today’s society, your organization is judged by your digital presence. Remember when planning your digital
Social media for nonprofits is the new handshake!
presence: “If you try to sell to everyone you will sell to no one”. LinkedIn can be a big part of your digital presence, and a link to other social media for nonprofit efforts and for nonprofits in general.
Remember, selling your cause to donors and volunteers is a relationship-building process, and social media for nonprofits is the new handshake. Set up properly, LinkedIn gets you the introduction to new prospects and presents your organization to them in a positive light. LinkedIn for Nonprofits all but eliminates the dreaded cold call!
LinkedIn facilitates access to a network of over 135 million business people and professionals in every field. It allows you to network, prospect, pre-qualify leads and actually generate leads without speaking to a soul! Do you think you could use such a network in your organization?
the 3 big players in social media for nonprofits
LinkedIn = Business to business and professionals
Facebook = Loyalty, engagement, and retention of existing relationships
Twitter = Additional input linked to LinkedIn and Facebook
LinkedIn contains 75% of all fortune 500 executives, has over 2million company and organization pages, and allowed over 2 billion free searches last year! LinkedIn is the heart of social media for nonprofits and is used for prospecting and lead generation. In addition to this there are over 1.3 million small businesses and nonprofits and over 500K groups to join and become involved in.
To utilize LinkedIn and most of social media for nonprofits properly you must set up and complete a proper profile, which includes:
1) You must complete your profile 100%
Take time, your profile in all social media for nonprofits compleatly
2) You should have a professional head shot
3) You must write a compelling summary, give it some thought
4) List all your specialties not just one
5) List all relevant experience
6) Post recommendations Customize your profile URL
7) Pay attention to keywords in all sections
**NOTE: Never use your logo on the LinkedIn profile in place of your personal head shot- this is not an option, this is a hard rule. You may use the
LinkedIn is the premier social media for nonprofits communication network worldwide
logo other places in LinkedIn, but not in place of head shot! This is suggested for all social media for nonprofits, but it is most important in LinkedIn
Do add to skills list list: Sales, Meeting Organizer, Social Media Expert, Foundation Advisor, Nonprofit Consultant, Trainer, Author and so on.
DO NOT LIST: Nice Person, Cat Lover, Geek, single and looking– this is totally inappropriate for LinkedIn.
Do Include: a concise, well produced video 30 – 45 sec in length. Introduce yourself, your cause, why they should care and how to contact you, repeat your name and cause at the end. Again this holds true for most of social media for nonprofits components.
More to come in Part 2 of Social media for Nonprofits: LinkedIn for Nonprofits! We will discuss the Corporate page, the free mini web site, and a little more about the video section. Then we will discuss the pipeline, how to begin getting leads with searches directly from your LinkedIn FREE account. We will also discuss joining and participating in LinkedIn groups, and wrap up this 2-part blog on LinkedIn with a discussion of what do daily and how to get the most out of LinkedIn for Nonprofits and social media for nonprofits in general
Small Business Tool Center Nonprofit Resource Center
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