Social media for charities 101: LinkedIn

LinkedIn has changed. It’s (arguably) the oldest social media platform in the world and if you haven’t visited it for a while, you might imagine that it is still the collection of online CVs, happy new job announcements, and occasional rants that it used to be.

Historically, LinkedIn’s problem has been that lots of people have an account, but they hardly ever use it. With few active users, having a company page for your charity may have seemed low priority.

But Microsoft snapped up LinkedIn in 2016 and has been investing in the platform’s growth ever since. These days LinkedIn boasts around 740 million users with 198 million active in Europe. The most active age bracket in the UK is 25–34 year olds.

Charities can use LinkedIn to influence or support workplaces, be a voice in relevant conversations, grow a community of professionals, reach and engage with staff and volunteers, and support staff with learning and development.

Influence or support workplaces

Most LinkedIn users go onto the platform to post about and engage with work-related issues. It is an opportunity for charities to influence workers and workplaces.

For example, mental health charities can use LinkedIn to talk about mental health at work. This is a great post from the Mental Health Foundation. It uses a poll to learn from the audience and start a conversation about looking after your mental health while working from home. Polls are a great way to boost reach and engagement on the platform.

Grow a community of professionals

LinkedIn users are more likely to be professionals with higher levels of education and income. Set up a company page to help with corporate partnerships, major donor fundraising, and influencing work as well as brand awareness.

Twitter is also a hub for professional social networking, but as many begin to view the constant ‘pile ons’ and negative behaviour as hostile, LinkedIn is seen as a viable alternative.

Best posting times will vary according to when your audience is most likely to be online, but as a rule, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the best days. Weekends are very quiet!

As with any social media platform, posting consistently is important. Engaging content such as polls and conversation starters can be very effective.

Text-based posts also perform well. After the first 235 characters of a text post users are given the option to ‘see more’. Using a ‘hook’ in your first line will really encourage scrollers to engage by expanding the post.

LinkedIn posts can also include articles, documents, or job ads – all hosted within the platform.

Going Live

Video (including live content) continues to play an important role in social media marketing. You have to apply for permission to use the LinkedIn Live function on your company page.

Your charity’s page must have more than 150 followers and you must be producing original content regularly to be eligible.

Engage with staff and volunteers