Does your NFP use LinkedIn as part of its social media strategy?

There are many reasons why it should.

1.  Volunteer Marketplace

This is a comparatively new section of LinkedIn but it promises to become very useful as people become aware of it.  Volunteer Marketplace is the place people can go to post volunteer opportunities or to seek voluntary positions.

While most of the vacancies and opportunities are currently US based, that will change over time.

The service is not free, but LinkedIn reports that this works as a form of quality control, making sure that the vacancies are, in fact, real.  The proceeds are invested back into the NFP sector.

2.  Branded pages

Any NFP can set up a company page on LinkedIn.  Their layout is a little like Facebook’s in that there is space for comments under each of your posts.  More importantly, you can add pages to promote your products and services, too.  That means you can tell the story of your NFP, and the people it helps.  Take a look at the Oxfam page for ideas.

You can also use the page to promote the opportunities for sponsorship which are coming up  Not only will your pages appeal to your potential members and sponsors, you can use them to boost your search engine results by including your keywords in the text.

3.  Measure your results

Like Facebook, LinkedIn pages have inbuilt analytics.  You can track your progress each day and discover which sorts of posts work best for you.  You can also see who is visiting your page and when, as well as how many visits each of your pages received. It will tell you which posts earned clicks and how many were from unique visitors.

Currently LinkedIn has not been adopted by NFP’s in the way Twitter or Facebook is.  This could be your opportunity to stake your place in a potentially profitable area.

If you would like some help to set up your pages, take a look at this Slideshare presentation.  Check out LinkedIn’s own useful resources, too.