When someone searches for your company on LinkedIn, do they get this message?
You hear it all the time: to have a successfully integrated marketing strategy, your small business must embrace social media. So, you’ve taken steps in the right direction: you have a Facebook business page; you set up a Twitter account; and you even upload photos of your products and/or services to Pinterest. But the most important social media site of all – especially if you are a B2B – is LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the social media site designed specifically for business and professionals. You won’t find anyone on LinkedIn talking about the amazing grilled cheese they had for lunch, nor will you have to look at pictures of your friend’s new Yorkshire Terrier. What you will find on LinkedIn is business professionals discussing companies, jobs, success stories, and giving expert advice.
Part of my job at the Ohlmann Group is to prospect for new business. Of course I use LinkedIn, along with other online resources, to find new clients. You wouldn’t believe how many companies I come across that don’t have – or don’t even own – their company page on LinkedIn. You know you encounter an orphaned listing because it doesn’t have the company’s logo, a listing of products/services, or an “about us” page. Instead there is a generic picture of a building in the upper left and scant information about the company.
Not enough info. Don't let this happen to your company page.
If you have one of these generic pages on LinkedIn, it’s easy to claim your company page so you can start benefiting from the advantage that LinkedIn offers.
Here are some things that every business should be doing on their LinkedIn company page:
Share news and information. Regularly post your press releases, new products/services offered, blog feed, new employee announcements, etc. Not only does this information show up on your page, but people who follow your business also see it on their timeline.
Find new workers. The days of posting ads in the classifieds are over. You can post job openings on LinkedIn and target the professionals who are best suited for your employment at your company. You can see candidates’ resumes online, see recommendations that others have left for these people, and get a list of their endorsements, skills, and qualifications.
Receive and give expert advice. Not only will you find expert advice in the LinkedIn discussion groups, you will be seen as an expert yourself as you post information in these groups. That makes your small business stand out as an expert in your field.
This is how to do a LinkedIn company page correctly!
Make sure that everyone in your company 1) has a LinkedIn page; 2) links their current job directly to your company page; 3) gets involved in networking and groups. They are your ambassadors on LinkedIn. With the right amount of attention to your LinkedIn business page, you will be networking, generating leads, and marketing your brand on the most efficient social media site for business.
