LinkedIn: Step It Up
	Posted by Cheryl Black at Jul 11, 2011 09:44 AM CDT Categories: Nonprofit Trends, NPtech, Social Media

“Do you like doing business with people with money? I like doing business with people with money.”

From Eve Mayer Orsburn, aka @LinkedInQueen, that’s my favorite quote for why LinkedIn matters.

The fact that LinkedIn’s 100 million members have an average household income of $110,000 isn’t the only reason to have a presence on the site. (Though that doesn’t hurt does it?)

Want to know what else awesome about LinkedIn besides the fantastically large, affluent audience?

It’s easy.

Now like any social media channel, it gets more complicated the more you do but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to nail the basics.

For example, back in June, I suggested four things you could do to your LinkedIn company page right then and there. And if you haven’t done those things yet, go do them now. This blog post will still be here when you are finished.

If you’ve covered the basics, you may be thinking there’s even more you could do. And you’d be right! There is!

Here’s five things you can do to your organization’s LinkedIn page fairly quickly.

1. Specialties: In the Overview tab, add a few specialties. These aren’t specific programs, more like areas of emphasis. Some examples that come to mind are “research,” “patient services,” and “classes.”
2. YouTube Video: On the Products & Services main tab, add a YouTube video that reflects your overall mission. If you have a PSA, this is probably a great place for it. 
3. Banner: Also on the Products & Services tab, you can add up to three banners. Take a look at your other marketing materials. Does one already have a nice rectangular image you can just crop slightly (to 640x220) to put here? Yeah? GREAT! If not, no worries. Go through the awesome photos you have of your mission at work and just crop one (again to 640x220) to use in that space. Make sure whatever image you are using links back to an appropriate page on your website.
4. Program Descriptions: You might have done this during our last how-to but if not, for each Product/Service you can add a short description. Again, this is a good opportunity to repurpose content you already have. Pull content from your brochure, website, annual report, etc to describe each Product/Service in 1-4 sentences. There is no need, I repeat, no need to reinvent the wheel for content here.
5. Learn. Ok, this isn’t a specific action for your org’s page but it is a good resource. You can keep improving your LinkedIn presence by learning lots of goodness on their nonprofit page.

LinkedIn is growing rapidly and with each change becoming a more important resource for professionals and organizations. By keeping up with what’s current now, you’ll be ready for the updates of tomorrow.

And trust me, your org wants to be ready for what’s in the works…