LinkedIn has been commonly looked at as a networking platform and a job hunting portal. It is a bit of both, yes, but this 433 million members’ strong social media platform is an ocean of opportunities for social good brands if tapped the right way.
Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members per second. Recruitment, corporate branding, thought leadership, idea exchange, and investor relations are some of the key benefits that LinkedIn has to offer. It is a niche platform. What you do on Facebook, Twitter or even Medium for that matter, doesn’t apply to LinkedIn. This is simply because; the audiences on LinkedIn are different and have a different purpose. People join, spend time and interact on LinkedIn for 5 reasons:
- Forging professional relationships
- Looking for high paying and skill-matching job opportunities
- Putting forth genuine ideas and opinions
- Generating leads for their businesses
- Promoting brands
For a social good brand, LinkedIn is equally, if not more essential in attracting the right talent, tapping prospective donors and reaching out to prospective customers. If you have been ignoring LinkedIn for your social good brand, now is the time to reconsider.
3 Reasons to Take LinkedIn Seriously
Generating Awareness at No Cost Or Low Cost
Typically, if done through traditional media like PR agency, brand promotion is usually a time consuming and costly exercise. This is where LinkedIn proves its worth. According to a survey by Arketi media group, over 94.2 percent of journalists and editors are on LinkedIn and 62 percent rate it as their preferred professional networking tool! Thus, simple daily status updates and Ad campaigns through LinkedIn’s paid Ads service can not only put your brand in front of the PR community but also tap prospective donors, investors and institutional funders for your cause.
Being A Thought Leader In Your Domain
LinkedIn is a powerhouse of first-hand information, analysis, and insights on topics that matter to your organization. LinkedIn Pulse, the publishing platform, has leaders, thinkers, and influencers from various sectors & domains, across the globe voicing their opinions through self-written articles. LinkedIn allows you to identify and directly interact with experts from your field, to write original articles pertinent to your cause and to promote them to specific people to catch their attention. LinkedIn Groups is another effective avenue to engage in fruitful conversations with fellow professionals and investors on topics relevant to your domain.

LinkedIn Pulse Post: Teach For India

LinkedIn Group on Social Entrepreneurs
Employer Branding
For a social enterprise, it is very important to have employees that are not only good at their work but also passionate about your cause. As Victoria Lynden, CEO Kohana Coffee rightly said in her interview, “You want to position yourself as a unique and, most importantly, fulfilling employment destination in order to attract that kind of talent—especially since you can’t usually afford to pay top dollar.” LinkedIn is the right place to do that. Although LinkedIn Recruiter is a paid service, it is worth all the efforts to find the most suitable talent.

LinkedIn Paid Services

Recruitment Updates – Embrace Innovations, India
Next Steps?
LinkedIn requires a very clinical and disciplined promotion approach. Here’s what you need to do RIGHT NOW to get started.
- Create a LinkedIn Company Page for your brand and also have a personal account, preferably the CEO, to show authenticity in activity

Company Page

CEO,Swades Foundation
- Add the LinkedIn Share button to your posts and web pages
- Submit a post on Pulse at least twice a month
- Be active on related groups
- Follow related companies
As a social good brand you need to think like a business here, even if you are a nonprofit. It’s time you took LinkedIn seriously.