If you’re working on getting your business found on the Internet, it’s imperative that you include LinkedIn into your marketing mix. LinkedIn company pages aren’t anything new, but you’d be surprised as to how many business owners still haven’t created their pages or spent time getting acquainted using the platform for marketing. I’m constantly being asked questions about the basics—how to set up a profile, how to connect with others, what types of content should be shared—so I’ve decided to put together a blog series for LinkedIn marketing basics (which I will eventually turn into a downloadable resource, so hang tight for that too)!
Your LinkedIn company page not only allows your colleagues, friends and family to connect with you and follow company updates but also presents many opportunities for increasing brand awareness with your prospects. In addition, you can use this tool to drive traffic to your website, engage with your audience and increase lead generation. There are countless marketing possibilities on LinkedIn (paid and unpaid), and your result will only improve with the amount of effort you put in.
If you’re ready to create your page but aren’t confident that you can go it alone, follow these step-by-step instructions for getting started:
Creating Your LinkedIn Company Page
To start, you must have your own personal LinkedIn account that is tied to your company email address that includes your company’s domain name. For example, I would need to use my email address kelly@grootsmarketing.com to create a LinkedIn company page for Grass Roots Marketing. This is to validate that you’re legitimately a part of the company or organization that you’ll be marketing on LinkedIn. You cannot create a company page with an email address such as contentmarketingrules@gmail.com or inboundisthefuture@gmail.com. If you have set up your account with a personal email address (and not a business email address) you can always add your company email in the “contact” section found while editing your personal profile.
Once you’ve moved past that point, you’ll be able to fill out all description fields for your company page. This is where you’ll be able to really give your audience an overview of who your company is and what you do. You’ll want to be sure to include information about your products, services and information that will easily lead back to your website if your followers want to learn more about your business. Make sure everything is filled out accurately and triple check for typos and grammar issues.
Here are a few things that you should make a point to include in your summary:
- A quick overview of the history of your company
- A brief list of your products and services
- A link to your website
- A link to your blog
- Links to your other social media accounts
Next, brand your page with a high-quality cover photo and icons. You’ll want to make sure your logo is easily visible in your banner and icons. Be sure to give the viewer a solid idea of what your business does, because the banner is most likely the first thing they will see.
Once you’re comfortable with the content and graphics on your page, publish it. Your company page will now be public for the world to see and you can start using it to market your business!
Building Your Following
Since the purpose of having a LinkedIn company page is to spread brand awareness and stay in front of your prospects with company updates, you’ll want to make sure that you actually have followers that see your social media updates in their own news feeds! Now that your page is set up, encourage your prospects, colleagues, and competitors to follow your page. Here are a few simple ways to do that:
- Include a link to your company page in your email signature
- Promote your page in your newsletters and marketing materials
- Add a “Follow” button to your website
- Use other social media platforms to promote your page
- Add your LinkedIn company page URL to your business card
- Become active in relevant LinkedIn groups
There are so many ways to promote your page and taking a proactive approach to continuously building your following will increase your social media engagement, website traffic and leads. With any social media platform, a little bit of effort goes a long way—but it’s important to remember that the more time you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.
Now that you’ve learned how to setup your page and start building your following, you’ll want to dedicate time every week for managing and maintaining your page. Stay tuned for the next part of my Setting up Shop on LinkedIn series to learn best practices for page maintenance!
If you don’t have the time to setup or maintain your LinkedIn account, click below to learn more about our social media management packages. We can take the reins while you focus on your business!
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