Do you share your interests and values on LinkedIn?

You may find that the business-oriented culture of LinkedIn doesn’t lend itself to sharing your interests and values. Yet, there are many ways you can use LinkedIn to show folks that you are more than what you do for a living.

Whether you are a job seeker, a business owner, or a business development professional – you can benefit by sharing your personal side.

You could add sections to your LinkedIn profile that relate to your interests, such as your participation in volunteer activities. Also, you can vary your posts to talk about business topics and information that ties to those interests.

How to Share Interests and Values in Your Profile

  • Use part of your About section to include some interests. These could be references to your involvement in nonprofit organizations, hobbies, and pastimes.
  • If you hold or have held leadership roles in nonprofit entities, list them as positions in your Experience section. Doing this draws attention to the nonprofits you contribute your time and talent to. Plus, it illustrates your generosity of spirit and showcases your leadership abilities.
  • The Volunteering section can naturally lend itself to sharing information about interests and values. For example, you could list activities such as volunteering with a food bank, rescue mission, or other charity.
  • Describe the nature of your Organizations when you list them. When I include Toastmasters in my Organizations section, I explain that it helps you improve your communication and leadership skills.
  • Don’t forget to select the items in the Causes section that most resonate with you. This section is at the very end of your profile and can be easily overlooked. The causes I selected are children, economic empowerment, education, and social services. I regularly volunteer my time teaching LinkedIn to students in GED programs. Angela Rackliff, the GED Program Coordinator, and I are featured in the photo I used for this post. My volunteer LinkedIn training for the GED students ties into all the causes I selected for this section.

 

How to Share Interests and Values in Your LinkedIn Posts

  • Publicize fundraisers for your favorite charity. Be sure to include a link to the events or a link to where people can donate to the organization.
  • Share posts and photos after an event. Doing so helps keep up the excitement generated during the event.
  • Include periodic thought pieces about topics you care about through your posts and articles. You can also create a short post with a link to a blog post or article.

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel, LinkedIn Training ExpertJoyce Feustel helps people, especially those 55 and older, to be more effective using social media, with a special focus on LinkedIn and Facebook. She works with business owners, business development professionals, job seekers, consultants, and more. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.