How to share your volunteering efforts with your LinkedIn network
LinkedIn is the most popular and widespread social networking site for professionals. There are approximately 740 Million users in 200+ countries. Many of us use the platform daily – if not multiple times a day.
While LinkedIn is primarily used for professional networking and content, it is a great way to share volunteer experience. And, of course, to bring new people into the organizations you work with so they too can activate good!
Here’s a step-by-step approach that will help you share volunteer efforts on Linkedin. This post will cover:
- Updating your profile settings for maximum impact
- Proactively notifying your network
Step 1. Update your profile (on a desktop browser).
If you want your network to see your updates – and you do in this case – your profile settings must be properly set. This is actually pretty easy, but having a guide never hurts.
- Visit www.LinkedIn.com.
- While logged into LinkedIn, click on your profile.
- Then select Settings and Privacy.
- Look for Visibility on the left-hand side.
- And then click on “Share profile updates with your network.”
Make sure “Yes” is selected.
Note that a LinkedIn best practice is to keep this feature “off” so that you can make minor edits to your profile without alerting your whole network. Keep this post handy so you can change the setting back once you complete Step 2.
OK, now that the settings are in the right mode, it’s time to make the update.
- Return to your profile and scroll all the way down.
- You will see a section called “Volunteer Experience” and notice a “plus sign” as well.
- Click on the “plus sign” so you can see the info that is required.
- Now that you know this section exists, you may want to write out the details so you can “cut & paste” into the field. For instance, you can visit the Activate Good website to find approved copy to describe what they do and your role.
- When you are ready, return to this page and complete all info. Make sure you select all the fields so that your update is as thorough as possible.
- In the Organization section, begin to type “Activate Good” until you see the name come up. Click that to ensure the official volunteer organization is selected. Be sure to look at the other fields so you have all the info handy.
- Follow the steps and hit save. Look at your profile page and make sure you can see the new volunteer experience. Note, you may need to refresh the page.
Well done. Now let’s go sing from the mountain top.
Step 2. Proactively notify your network
Many people believe that making edits to a LinkedIn profile and posting to maximum effect is best done early morning Monday – Thursday. Your experience may differ.
The best way to proactively promote is to write a post. But first, make sure you have some Activate Good connections in your network. (If you need a reminder how to invite people, watch this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiAshsecA8Y). I suggest you invite Amber, Lee, myself, and anyone else you know is involved.
To write the post, simply visit LinkedIn while logged in. See the “Start a post” section at the top. Click inside and start typing. As with your Volunteer Experience section copy, you may want to write out your announcement beforehand, then cut & paste it into the field.
If you have any pictures or short videos from your volunteer efforts, have them handy. Once the post is completed, you can use the simple “add” buttons just below the text field.
Once you finish your copy, you can “tag” your fellow Activate Good connections using the “@” sign and typing their name. If you can, add a handful of contacts. This will alert these people to see your post and hopefully respond. Also, the LinkedIn system seems to promote content with member names so it’s a good best practice.
Finally, you can add some hashtags to share the post with others who have a similar interest. Use the “#” and then type out things like “#activategood”, “#socialjustice” or “#dogood”.
When you are done, you can hit “post” and you are done. Now, here’s a few extra credit items:
- Send a message, text or even call the people you tagged and asked them to be on the lookout for the post. Then, have them comment and “like the post”. This kind of engagement helps the post spread far and wide on LinkedIn.
- You can also use the “three dots” to select “Feature this post” which will put the post on the top of your own page.
- Be sure to follow Activate Good by navigating to the page directly or by searching in the top search field within LinkedIn. Then click follow button.
That’s it. Easy, right? Try sharing volunteer efforts on Linkedin and let us know how it goes!
