https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgnFSPPWc0&list=PLqm_CU3LQjfX5Kh32O8P4eipa91iEHX3C&index=3&ab_channel=Idd-ency
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Annie represented a scenario increasingly common among nonprofits: organizations with revenue-generating business lines (venue rentals, event hosting, product sales) that still operate with volunteer-level marketing infrastructure. Telluride Science had physical assets—a conference center with meeting rooms—but no professional business presence where corporate clients and event planners actually searched: LinkedIn.
"We have not set up a LinkedIn page yet," Annie confirmed during our consultation. Despite having operated for years and maintaining a website with rental inquiry forms, Telluride Science had never claimed the B2B platform where meeting planners, corporate event coordinators, and professional conference organizers conducted venue research.
The Discovery: A Forgotten Page
As we began creating a new LinkedIn page during the consultation, we discovered Telluride Science already had one—created years earlier and completely abandoned.
"Oh, because... I didn't realize we had a LinkedIn account," Annie said when the existing page appeared in search results.
This revealed the deeper problem: not just absence of LinkedIn presence, but organizational amnesia about digital assets. Someone had set up the page years ago (possibly a former staff member or volunteer), posted a few times, then abandoned it. No one currently on staff knew the login credentials or even that it existed.
The Dual Identity Challenge
Telluride Science operated with split personality: nonprofit science education organization + for-profit-style conference venue competing against hotels and event centers for corporate rental revenue.
When I asked Annie about target audience, the answer revealed this tension: "A meeting venue. I'm assuming you're taking bookings, right?"
"Yeah, they fill out a rental form," Annie confirmed.
This wasn't a nonprofit seeking donors or volunteers—this was a business seeking paying customers. But their marketing strategy (or lack thereof) still operated in nonprofit mode: sparse social media, no professional presence, hope-based outreach.
The Technical Overwhelm
Annie's unfamiliarity with Google Meet controls ("I normally use Zoom"), initial confusion about LinkedIn page creation workflow, and questions about basic platform features ("Where is that? Where is admin?") signaled someone managing digital marketing outside core expertise.
This is the nonprofit generalist reality: you're expected to handle website updates, social media strategy, and platform technical administration despite having zero formal training in any of them. Annie was competent—she just needed guided walkthrough of systems she'd never used before.
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I provided real-time LinkedIn page setup, comprehensive platform training, and venue-specific marketing strategy during a 44-minute screen-share consultation that transformed Annie from "we don't have LinkedIn" to "fully operational page with custom branding."
Rather than sending Annie instructions to implement later, I walked her through LinkedIn company page creation in real-time via screen share—building the page together during our call.
The Setup Workflow:
"Open up LinkedIn," I instructed. "You're going to have to set it up on your end, so I'll just walk you through it. Share your screen so we can get it set up."
After Annie screen-shared, I guided her step-by-step:
This hands-on approach meant Annie didn't just get a LinkedIn page—she learned the exact process for creating one, making future platform management less intimidating.
The Existing Page Discovery:
Mid-setup, LinkedIn's system revealed an existing Telluride Science page.
"Wait, why is this showing up like this?" I said, noticing the duplicate. "That means you guys have another page or something."
"Oh... I didn't realize we had a LinkedIn account," Annie replied, genuinely surprised.
The Deactivation Strategy:
"Can we delete the other one then?" Annie asked.
"Yeah, you can delete it," I confirmed. "But first make sure you have access to this one."
I walked Annie through the deactivation process: Settings → Deactivate Page → Remove from LinkedIn. But I cautioned her to verify access to the old page before deleting the new one—preventing the scenario where she'd have zero LinkedIn presence.
"What you want to do is: you created a new page and took the 'telluride-science' URL," I explained. "You're going to delete that page so the URL becomes available, then wait like an hour or a couple minutes, then try changing the URL on the [old] page to what you guys want."
This taught Annie URL claiming strategy—understanding that LinkedIn URLs are first-come-first-served and require deactivation-then-reclaim workflow when managing duplicates.
Annie's Catchafire project description mentioned needing the "LinkedIn Company ID" for integration purposes. I demonstrated extraction process during screen share.
The ID Location:
"Your company ID for this one should be 107099397," I explained, pointing to the URL structure during screen share. "Whenever you log into the older page, you're going to go to the admin panel and get the URL—the number after 'company/' is your LinkedIn company ID."
The URL Anatomy:
linkedin.com/company/107099397
The numbers after /company/ = Company ID. This ID enables integrations, API connections, and third-party tool linking (like Catchafire's automated posting feature).
The Integration Decision:
"I'm supposed to add it to Catchafire?" Annie asked, confused about purpose.
"Usually that's what people do around this project," I explained. "You add it there, so whenever you post an opportunity on Catchafire, it's automatically posted to your page as well."
"Oh wait, so if I do that... I don't understand why I would add it to Catchafire if I've already created the page and we're done?" Annie questioned.
This revealed her practical thinking—she didn't want automated cross-posting of volunteer opportunities to a page targeting corporate event planners. I confirmed the integration was optional.
"The only benefit is really that whenever you post projects on Catchafire—like volunteer projects, like maybe you need help with marketing—they automatically post it to your company page," I explained.
"I don't want that," Annie decided immediately.
This was correct instinct. LinkedIn page targeting corporate venue clients shouldn't be cluttered with "we need volunteer graphic designers" posts—it dilutes professional positioning.
I screen-shared my own demo LinkedIn page and conducted systematic feature-by-feature training covering the entire admin dashboard Annie would need to manage.
Banner Upload and Optimization:
"When you upload a banner, you should be able to crop it," I demonstrated. "It gives you the option to crop and move it. You can make it fit inside this frame, then click 'Apply.'"
I showed how banner displays differently in admin view vs. member view, and how mobile cropping affects image composition—teaching Annie to design with safe zones in mind.
Post Creation and Scheduling:
"If you want to create a post, click 'Create,'" I walked through. "You can create a post, an event, a free job, an article, an ad, a service, a showcase page."
I demonstrated the post composer:
"That's how you schedule a post on there," I confirmed, showing Annie the scheduled posts queue.
Carousel Posts (Multiple Images):
"Where was the carousel option?" Annie asked.
"You just need to select multiple images when you're posting," I explained. "It's automatically going to add all of them as a carousel."
This taught Annie that LinkedIn's interface uses selection quantity (one image = single post, multiple images = carousel) rather than explicit "carousel" button—preventing future confusion.
Pinned Posts for Featured Content:
"You can pin important information to the top," I demonstrated. "For example, maybe you want to talk about the innovation center—you can put the information in here and have it pinned so people read this whenever they land on your page."
I showed the pin process: Click post menu → "Pin to top of page"
"You can only have one pinned post," I noted after testing. "When I pinned this one, the other one was un-pinned."
Analytics Dashboard Deep Dive:
I walked through LinkedIn's analytics systematically:
Impressions & Engagement:
Visitor Metrics:
Follower Growth:
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