A Quick Guide To LinkedIn Company Pages

Tips on setting up an effective LinkedIn Company Page

LinkedIn company pages allow us to have a business entity on LinkedIn. In this post I will show you:

The benefits of LinkedIn company pages
How to set up a LinkedIn company page
How to attract followers to your page
What to update you company page with

[Tweet “LinkedIn company pages allow you to stay in the minds of your customers.”]

LinkedIn is a professional network. It gives us the opportunity to network person to person with customers, influencers and those we can learn from.

When we set up LinkedIn profiles they are all about us. We share a photo, we tell people about our experience, what we are good at. Your profile showcases your personal achievements and establishes you as someone worth doing business with.

Some companies mistakenly set up profiles in their business names. This isn’t in the spirit of Networking. It would be like going to a networking event with a bag over your head with your business card stapled to it. On LinkedIn we do business with people not brands.

The good news is that LinkedIn, like Facebook does offer a business entity. LinkedIn Company pages give your business a profile. People can follow your LinkedIn company page allowing you to keep them up to date with news and information.

Unlike LinkedIn profiles LinkedIn company pages can’t take part in discussions. They can’t connect directly with people but they do have other features functions and benefits.

What are the Benefits of LinkedIn Company Pages?

Make you look credible – When people look at your LinkedIn profile and click through to see your business it makes you and the business look legitimate.

SEO friendly – Google and other search engines crawl LinkedIn company pages. They will appear in online searches for your brand name. If you optimise your page for SEO it will appear in other keyword searches too. Again this lends credibility to your business.

A Quick Guide To LinkedIn Company Pages — LinkedIn pages appear in Google searches

Shows the people behind your brand – When users land on a LinkedIn company page they can view employees. They can see how they are connected to your employees, personalising your company.

Showcase content – Like Facebook you need to update your page on a regular basis. This content appears in the news feeds of the people who Like your LinkedIn company page. It’s a great opportunity to share blog posts, news and more about your business. Because followers are seeing your content regularly you will stay in their minds.

Target updates to specific people – You can target each update on your LinkedIn company page to a specific audience. Targeting options include: Company size, Industry, Function, Seniority, Location and Language. This is a good way to ensure you are only providing valuable content to different segments of your audience.

Target your updates to make them relevant to your audience.

Statistics – LinkedIn company pages have statistics. These stats include views and engagement on posts and demographic information about your followers. This information ensures that you are reaching the right audience and helps you create more engaging content.

How to set up a LinkedIn company page:

Before you set up a company page you will need an email address associated with the company website domain. For example amanda@spiderworking.com works but spiderworking@gmail.com won’t.

If you have the correct email address you are ready to set up a page.

To make your page eye-catching and attractive you will also need three images:

Header image: 646 x 220 Pixels
Logo: 100 x 60 pixels
Thumbnail: 50 x 50 pixels

Watch this video to see how to set up a company page:

How To Get Followers

Now you have created your LinkedIn company page you will need to encourage people to follow it. Followers will receive updates that you post in their news feeds.

Here’s some ideas on how to get more followers on your LinkedIn page:

Tell your customers – Are your customers on LinkedIn? If so share updates from your page from your LinkedIn profile. Consider messaging your clients directly to tell them about the page. Remember to give them a reason to follow the page, tell them what you are going to share and why it will be useful to them.

Add a button to your website – You can grab a button for your LinkedIn page from here and install it on your website.

Tweet about it – I’ve found that one of the best ways to build audiences on social networks is to tweet links to them. It’s one of the reasons my has grown so swiftly. Don’t forget to tell people what you will be sharing on the page and why they should follow.

Share engaging content – Like Facebook people will start to notice your page if people comment, like or share your content. When people take action on a post on LinkedIn some of their connections will see that post in their news feeds. The more people that get involved in conversation about your page the further the word will spread.

Ask employees to connect to the page – If you have staff talk to them about updating their LinkedIn profile. When they add their current role they will have the option of choosing your company page as their employer. If you have only recently set up the company page you will need to ask them to edit their employer to link to your new page.

They can do this by clicking ‘edit’ next to their current role and ‘change company’ next to the company name. (see below)

What Content Should You Post?

According to an email LinkedIn sent me updates with links get 45% more engagement than updates without them.

Think about the types of links you can share:

Links to company blog or news site: This is the most obvious type of link. If you create content share it on your page.

Links to press coverage: If you get a mention online share it with your LinkedIn company page followers. See the example below from Glasnevin Museum.

Links to relevant articles: Find great articles about your business or industry that will interest your target market. See the example below from Wild Rover Day Tours.

Share links that will be of interest to your target market.

Links to rich content: YouTube video can be played directly in the news feed. The same goes for slideshare presentations. By including these in your updates you will engage users who don’t want to click out of the site.

See the example below from the Carton House Hotel.

When you share video it can be played from the news feed.

Tips: No matter which social network you use people love tips. Here’s one that is part of a series from USIT (a student travel company).

Humour: LinkedIn may not seem like the network for humourous posts but a clever targeted post can work well. This one from Prosperity is business related and adds a smile to my news feed.

Newsjacking: When the Apple watch was launched earlier in the week my LinkedIn feed was stuffed with comment and opinion. This post from Innocent stood out. Their approach may not work for every business but it’s totally on brand for the cheeky drinks company.

On brand humourous newsjacking from Innocent Drinks

Job Posting: Don’t forget that LinkedIn is a place where people are looking for jobs. Be sure to share any job postings on your LinkedIn page so that people who follow you will be encouraged to apply. If you have a lot of opportunities available it is worth setting up a ‘careers’ showcase page. (more about showcase pages here.)