Many people already have LinkedIn profiles for professional purposes – even if they don’t know what to do with them. Is it only to connect with former employers and co-workers? To keep your eyes open for new opportunities? Certainly you could spend time searching your own network to fill open staff positions. Or you could spend precious funds and utilize LinkedIn’s recruiting tools. But how about recruiting volunteers or board members? Or searching for networking opportunities for qualified individual donors or corporate partnerships? It’s all possible on LinkedIn.

There are steps you, as an individual, can take that can extend the reach and visibility of your Club. These are all free, but priceless, tools.

• Create: A profile is a great tool to enhance your personal brand, professional reach and show passion for your cause. A complete profile helps people find you and therefore helps you build your network. Make sure to include your volunteer experience! According to LinkedIn, “discovering shared passion points among professionals is a great way to network and also raise awareness for important causes.”
• Connect: Find your colleagues and leverage existing relationships by asking your connections for introductions. Connect with others in your field(s) and share experiences.
• Link to your Club! Make sure to establish your connection with your Club. This will allow you to receive communications from your Club as they make status updates. It will also help tell the story of your Club by showing the extent of staff experience.
• Link to BGCA! Make sure you follow BGCA’s company page to receive status updates about the Movement.
• Share: Communicate to your network on a frequent and ongoing basis to build thought leadership in your network.

There are additional steps that organizations can take to utilize LinkedIn’s vast resources to their fullest.

• Encourage: Your staff and volunteers are your most valuable assets on LinkedIn. Encourage them to create profiles and complete them 100%, including volunteer activities. This is a way of sharing their support for your Clubs with the world.
• Create: Company pages are how you establish your official presence on LinkedIn and are free. These pages will help differentiate you from the national organization and will become the home for open positions that you post using LinkedIn.
• Recruit: LinkedIn has a ton of paid recruitment tools that you can purchase at highly reduced cost.
• Recruit volunteers and board members by searching your geographic area for volunteer interests and experiences.
• Network with your staff and volunteer connections to establish potential corporate partnerships.