2023 marked LinkedIn’s 20th anniversary, and, boy-oh-boy, this oft-overlooked social media platform has grown in the past few years. If you’re a Millennial (*waves*), Gen X, or a Boomer, chances are you have heard of this business-oriented networking site, but you probably don’t use it too often.
But wait.
Things are happening.
It’s time to give LinkedIn another look. I’ve compiled five reasons why your nonprofit (or business) should absolutely be active on LinkedIn in 2024.
Almost 60% of LinkedIn Users are 25-34 years old
Bet you wouldn't have guessed that! It shouldn't be that surprising, though, since that's the age group—Gen Z—that is starting and growing their careers. It’s a professional network, after all. The next highest percentage of users is 18-24 at almost 20%.
In a recent article, Gene Takagi from the Nonprofit Law Blog, wrote:
Nonprofit leadership is old. Literally. In age and in thinking. And the world is changing faster than these leaders can respond or get ahead of in part because they lack diverse perspectives and aren’t prioritizing the engagement of younger generations.
Furthermore, the team at Gravyty noted on their blog:
While money is tight for all generations, Gen Z struggles uniquely with the added pressures of less career experience and more student debt. […] But that’s not stopping them from being nearly 2.5 times more likely to increase their donations year over year. Recent survey respondents in a survey by Classy gave their top reasons to give as increases in donor passion, need for donations and relevance of the cause.
[…] Next-gen donors are more likely to give to an organization they’ve heard about from peers or influencers in the spaces they engage with. They are hungry for guidance and knowledge from older generations who have walked the path before them.
See where I’m going with this? Connecting with Gen Z on LinkedIn provides an amazing opportunity for mentorship and guidance, while connecting them with your organization, engaging their passion for mission, and training your own potential next generation leadership.
40% of LinkedIn visitors organically engage with a page every week
When's the last time you got real, organic engagement on your Facebook page? On LinkedIn, 40% of visitors engage with a page organically each week—reading, clicking, commenting, reacting, and sharing posts. Impressive!
PLUS, pages that post weekly have 5.6x more followers than those posting monthly. So if you’re looking to grow your nonprofit’s social media following, aim for weekly posts at the very least.
This super high rate of engagement isn't a new or fleeting trend either. Hubspot's research back in 2012 (and updated/confirmed in 2020) that LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost three times higher (277%) than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%).
You, hopefully, running to LinkedIn
Over 1 million nonprofits are on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a highly effective place to establish your nonprofit as an impactful organization. You can also position your executive staff as thought leaders in your industry, and enlist high-quality members, board, volunteers and staff through the various recruiting and job-listing features.
LinkedIn even has a dedicated subsection of their site that's exclusively aimed at helping nonprofit organizations use their site effectively, including discounted services and all sorts of free resources.
If you haven't already, check out Nonprofit.LinkedIn.com.
LinkedIn Members have 2x the buying power of the average online audience
LinkedIn users have higher-than-average buying power compared to other online audiences. What does this mean for nonprofits? If you're looking to expand your donor base (which most nonprofits are), on LinkedIn, you're reaching an audience that has statistically greater financial capacity to support your organization or ministry if you are able to engage them and connect them with your mission.
In a survey of nonprofit professionals, 63% said they've successfully used LinkedIn to connect with a potential donor. When you build your audience on LinkedIn, you're not only increasing awareness for your cause and your brand, you're also focusing your audience on people who financially stable enough to make regular donations, join your Board, volunteer their expertise, and share your mission with others beyond your circle.
More than 75% of LinkedIn users are from outside the US.
Looking to expand globally? You're in luck. While the US is LinkedIn’s biggest market with over 194 million users, the network has gained traction around the world. India is in second place with 96 million users, thenBrazil with 60 million, Mainland China with 57 million, and Indonesia with 21 million.
LinkedIn’s international user base grew at 2X the pace of its US user base in Q1 of 2023 with no signs of slowing down. Users live in more than 200 hundred countries and regions around the world. This includes over 227 million in Europe, 49 in the Middle East and Africa, 244 million in the Asia Pacific, and 136 million in Latin America.
Are you convinced?
It’s time to ask yourself (or your marketing/advancement/development/fundraising teams) what efforts are you putting into growing your donor base on social media? Are they effective? If not, it may be time to a new or additional tactic.
Don’t get me wrong. LinkedIn is not a place to just duplicate all your posts from Facebook or Instagram. You can do some of that, but your audience on LinkedIn has different goals and expectations from the network, so your strategy has to be targeted differently.
Let’s get your organization growing!
Sources:
- https://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-statistics-business/
- https://nonprofit.linkedin.com/build-your-nonprofit-presence-network
- https://nonprofitlawblog.com/nonprofits-engaging-millennials-and-gen-z/
- https://gravyty.com/gen-z-giving-how-nonprofits-can-reach-next-gen-donors/
- https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspx
Now available at Amazon! Check out my ebook How to Choose the Right Graphic Designer for Your Nonprofit for practical tips to help you and your team to craft the creative team that your organization needs to thrive!
