Is your LinkedIn Company Page working for you?

During a recent client 121 strategy session I was asked whether it was better to have no LinkedIn company page or an inactive one.  I was resolute in my answer that having an inactive one was far better than none at all.

For me there are 2 main reasons to have a company page:

1. Firstly, it’s a brand positioning tool. You can link to the company page in your experience section and the logo appears in this section and also at the top of your profile.  It’s so much better than a greyed-out logo section which says to me that you haven’t really invested in your brand and makes me wonder are you credible? All employees at your company can also link to the page.
2. Secondly, you need a LinkedIn page in order to carry out paid LinkedIn advertising. I’m all about organic reach and have never carried out a paid campaign on LinkedIn. It’s a costly practice and is more suited to large corporates who want to extend their reach.  That being said it’s a way for you to increase visibility to people that matter.

I hold my hands up.

In the past I’ve not invested much time on my LinkedIn company page and focused more on my personal profile.  I’ve been guilty of using it as a billboard and had little if any calls to action.

I recently realised that I now have twice as many followers on my LinkedIn company page than my LinkedIn group which got me thinking of this missed opportunity to reach and connect with my target audience.  It seems ridiculous but I was spending more time and effort scheduling on my Facebook page than with my LinkedIn one.

I’m not alone and these are some of the top mistakes that companies make with their LinkedIn Page:

• Using it as a billboard – your company page should be a service hub where you provide value first versus using it as a billboard
• Not having any LinkedIn strategy whatsoever – a spray and pray approach
• Refusing to step into the spotlight – whether you are B2B or B2C people buy from people and we live in a people to people society. You need to show up on camera/video and get to know your audience (I’ve been guilty of this!)
• Not having any clear goals and metrics of success
• Not adding calls to action – you have to talk ‘to’ your audience versus ‘at’ them….

So, what exactly is a LinkedIn company page and why should I be investing my valuable time on it?

Your LinkedIn page is a fantastic opportunity to deliver valuable content that helps foster engagement, nurture relationships and helps your message spread faster.   LinkedIn is a massive B2B social networking tool with far more reach than Facebook or Twitter.

Benefits of a LinkedIn Page:

1. Your LinkedIn company page is a free information hub for potential prospects – It’s also a chance for you to showcase the behind the scenes of your organisation and give prospects a taster of what it could be like to work with you
2. Your content is easier to access – when you share content on a personal profile it’s usually available for 24-72 hours (unless it goes viral).With your company page all of your content is easily accessible

If you rely on personal profiles only within your company:

• Your brand is at the mercy of an individual – what if they leave in the future and take all of their connections with them?
• Not everybody that you’re connected with wants to buy from you.
• I see some companies setting up another LinkedIn profile in error instead of a company page. Rookie mistake as you risk your profile being shut down from LinkedIn if it does not relate to a person.

Ok so you’re convinced – you know you need to set up a company page and want to make the most of it… what now?

Some advice from the LinkedIn Pages Team

• Optimise curated content by adding in your point of view – as I said before people buy from people so inject some personality.
• Always include a caption with a clear call to action of about 150 characters or fewer. Some examples are register now, join us for, reserve your spot, share your thoughts, comment below, check out the full article / video here…
• Ask thoughtful questions to engage your audience.
• Always include rich media (LinkedIn recommends uploading images that are 1200 pixels wide by 627 pixels tall).
• Attract an audience by aligning content to your members’ needs and interests.Make it about them versus you.
• Maintain an editorial calendar if possible but still react to timely events (newsjacking and your point of view).
• Make your content snackable and valuable, such as including short stats and quotes.
• Engage members through comments – ask them their questions, challenges etc.
• Have a content calendar (advance planning)
• Use a variety of content formats (the algorithm prefers a variety of content – photo, video, pdf)

The top ten most followed LinkedIn company pages worldwide are:

1. TED Conferences (12.5 million followers)
2. Google (12.1 million followers)
3. Amazon (8.6 million followers)
4. LinkedIn (8.2 million followers)
5. Microsoft (7.8 million followers)
6. IBM (6.4 million followers)
7. Unilever (6.2 million followers)
8. Nestlé (6 million followers)
9. Accenture (4.4 million followers)
10. Facebook (4.4 million followers)

According to LinkedIn, the most common themes between the pages are:

• Using video to get engagement
• Featuring what the company does from an ethical or corporate social responsibility standpoint as well as equality
• Talking about the people in the business
• What innovation solutions the companies are finding

In summary, think of your LinkedIn company page as a magazine… you want to meet people where they are and cater to all different learning styles.

So, there you have it folks – exciting times when it comes to company pages eh? And on that very note here are some features coming soon.  You may already have some of them – if you do please let me know how you are getting on.

Coming soon on LinkedIn Pages:

• Content Suggestions – this is a very powerful tool and a great way to check out the news, trending topics etc.
• Editing via the LinkedIn mobile app.
• Inviting connections to like your page – still in beta. This was recently trialed and then stopped. Apparently in the future LinkedIn will add on option to add a message and see who the message is coming from
• Company blog can be built into the company page.
• Groups within pages – at the moment you can link several groups to your page.
• LinkedIn Live for pages – currently only on ‘invite only’ but will be rolled out….