Why Including Memberships in Your LinkedIn Profile Matters

Are you a paying member of an organization? Read on.

Professional memberships and affiliations are one of the most overlooked Sections on LinkedIn profiles and it makes me crazy. Over and over, I see people who are committed to industry-related associations, nonprofits and membership-based advisory groups, but have not added them to their profile. Neglecting to add this information to your profile creates more missed opportunity, in my opinion, than almost anything else (a true statement as long as you have a photo, good Headline, and compelling Summary).

Why? Here are 6 reasons you should add your organizations to your LinkedIn profile:

1. You’ve invested in these organizations, financially or with your time, and they represent something you believe in, are proud of or have committed to.
2. It will help others who are also interested in those organizations find you. People like to connect, hire and do business with people where there is a common affiliation.
3. It creates natural conversation.
4. You promote the organization and increase its value. This is particularly crucial for smaller nonprofits and professional associations.
5. Very often the organization includes great keywords that help you gain visibility within LinkedIn.
6. You won’t be annoyed when people reach out to you from said organization and ask you to join, learn more, come to an event etc.

If you belong to a membership-based organization, a member-based peer advisory board (Vistage, World Presidents Organization [WPO], Young Presidents Organization [YPO], The Alternative Board [TAB], CEOIQ, or LxCouncil), a fraternity or sorority, PLEASE add them to your LinkedIn profile.

You should be proud to be a member of these organizations; they say something about who you are professionally, what you believe in and your commitments. I’m confident the upside is worth a few minutes of your time.

This post was originally published on Intero Advisory’s website in February 2017. Please note that LinkedIn is constantly changing. While it’s current now it may not be in the coming weeks or months.