LinkedIn is an essential tool for your business, whether you hope to reach clients (B2C) or expand your affiliate network (B2B). Of course, your personal profile is just as important, but the focus of this post is on your company profile.
Your first step is deciding who will maintain your Company Page. The person who created the page or a top manager/CEO would be a good choice. In order to access the back-end of LinkedIn Company Pages, this person will need to have admin access.
Start by adding photos. Your main photo should be your company logo. Branding is important, so you want your brand front and center. Make sure all of your employees list their current positions on their personal profiles and that they link to your company page so the Employees section of your company profile is accurate. Many customers use LinkedIn to figure out who works in which position in your company. Affiliates should know who the Affiliate Manager is, corporate clients should know who the top level executives are, and the general public and executive assistants should know who the reservation specialists are.
The About Us section doesn’t need to be very long. Let your work speak for itself in the updates section (more on this later). Ensure that your specialties are filled out and all relevant company information is entered. If clients are searching for a limousine company in your area, the right information here will determine if you pull up in search results or not. In this example, I searched “limousine” and updated the location to “Greater Boston Area.” I’ve only included my top 4 results, but you can see for yourself who made the cut. Careful and thorough entry of all pertinent information rocketed these companies to the top of the search results.
If you are creating a company page for the first time, pull all articles that reference your company, your top level executives, and any groups or associations you or your staff belong to. Collect all of the links and store them in chronological order with the newest on top. Update the page after hours so your updates don’t flood your connections’ Home Pages, which will annoy them. Be sure to include a mix of company news, announcements, events, photos, blog posts, news about your clients, and anything that would make your company stand out from your competition. Use this space to emphasize how wonderful your company is and to show who the staff are behind the corporate veil. There are so many amazing family-owned businesses in this industry--make that part of your appeal by showing yourself in and outside the office. Showcase your dedication and expertise to make your potential clients want to do business with you. Check out LMC’s Company Page for inspiration.
LinkedIn is fantastic, but I have a big caveat to share: it has just undergone an immense platform restructuring. They have added and removed many features and functions and have completely redone the aesthetics for both personal profiles and company profiles. I was recently giving a LinkedIn training, helping an event attendee create a brand new personal profile. After we followed the prompts, the basics of her profile were up, and we were ready to add company information. We were surprised to see that her company information was already on her page. Clicking the company name, we found a notice from LinkedIn that read, “LinkedIn has created this Company Page for you,” and underneath the notice was an option to claim the page. We claimed the page and noticed right away that her industry was incorrect and her location wasn’t even in the correct part of the country!
Take this story as a warning--if you do not have a company page on LinkedIn, I highly recommend that you search your company name and see if LinkedIn has created a page for your business. If it has, CLAIM IT and make sure all of the information is correct. All you need is a company email, which cannot be Yahoo!, Gmail, or anything similar. Take charge of your company’s online presence and make it your own.
If you have any questions, I’m always available.
aleja@lmc.group 508-523-7087