LinkedIn is a professional networking site. For some, it’s just a place to post a detailed resume. For others, it’s a forum for discussion, especially related to job searching, business practices, and industry news. For booster clubs, LinkedIn offers a number of opportunities. It’s a good space to recruit for volunteers, and has a few lively discussion groups focused on booster clubs themselves. (We’ve been following discussions on AMP, the Association of Music Parents, as well as the Sports Parents Network.)
Unlike Facebook, it’s easy to merely dabble in LinkedIn without a big time commitment. Using their personal accounts, booster club volunteers can learn by reading conversations on existing groups. They can also promote their club by listing their volunteer title on their own LinkedIn profile.
You don’t need to create a LinkedIn account for your booster club. But here are a few ways that you could take advantage of the platform if you did make one.
- A Placeholder: think of LinkedIn as the Yellow Pages and your entry as a mere listing. Include your club’s website, and an official email. State explicitly that the account is not an official communication channel. Don’t make extra work for yourself by including any information that you’ll have to update such as meeting times or lists of board members.
- Encourage your officers to list their booster club titles on their LinkedIn profiles. Listing the club could spark conversations that lead to more support from people in their network. It also looks good on their resume; employers value volunteer work.
- Follow your local Rotary Club, Lions’ Club, and other organizations. They’re often active on LinkedIn.
While we are big supporters of social media, we don’t want LinkedIn to turn into a time sink. In particular, we wouldn’t recommend it for other social networking functions like media sharing, news, and internal group discussions. Depending on which of those functionalities you value most, check out platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We’ve reviewed each of those channels specifically for booster clubs. We’ve also put together some general social media advice.
