Having a presence on LinkedIn can be a great way for businesses to establish their brand, attract new customers, and engage with their existing network. However, there may be occasions when a business wishes to temporarily hide or pause their LinkedIn company page for various reasons.
Why Would a Business Want to Hide Their LinkedIn Page?
There are a few potential reasons why a business may want to hide their LinkedIn company page for a period of time:
- The business is going through a rebranding and wants to pause public activity until the new brand assets are ready.
- The company is in a period of transition, e.g. it has been acquired or is restructuring.
- The business is temporarily closed for renovations, seasonal closure, or other operational reasons.
- The company wants to review and refresh their LinkedIn content and strategy before re-engaging.
- There are issues with inaccurate business information or reviews on the page that need to be resolved.
- The business is receiving unwanted attention or engagement from certain audiences.
Hiding a LinkedIn company page for a short time can allow businesses to pause public activity during transitional periods and re-engage when they are ready with a fresh start.
Is It Possible to Completely Hide a LinkedIn Company Page?
Unfortunately, there is no built-in way on LinkedIn to completely hide or disable a company page. Some options to ‘pause’ public activity include:
- Temporarily unpublish the page – This removes it from LinkedIn search results and stops external visitors from accessing it. However, it will still be visible to employees and existing followers.
- Remove follower attraction features – Turn off the ability for people to follow the page to limit organic engagement.
- Adjust notifications settings – Change notification preferences so followers stop receiving updates.
- Update branding assets – Upload a simple holding image and remove detailed business info and descriptions.
While not perfect solutions, these tactics can help reduce visibility and limit public access to the page until the business is ready to fully re-engage.
Best Practices for Temporarily Pausing a LinkedIn Company Page
If a business does need to temporarily pause their LinkedIn presence, some best practices include:
- Inform employees and stakeholders about plans to unpublish or limit company page activity.
- Adjust social media guidelines and training as needed for staff who manage LinkedIn.
- Put an auto-responder on messages so anyone reaching out receives a notification about limited activity.
- Plan the duration of the pause and reactivation date upfront.
- Analyze follower demographics and activity before pausing to inform re-engagement.
- Use pause period to review and refresh page content ready for relaunch.
With some strategic planning, temporarily pausing a company page can be executed smoothly while keeping employees and stakeholders informed.
Risks and Considerations of Hiding a LinkedIn Page
While sometimes necessary, there are some risks and drawbacks to be aware of when temporarily hiding a LinkedIn company page:
- Loss of followers – Existing connections may disengage during prolonged absence.
- Declines in brand awareness and visibility – Out of sight means missing opportunities to get in front of target audiences.
- Perception issues – Some may view a dormant page as a red flag if reasons are not communicated.
- Competitors may gain advantage – Taking a break from LinkedIn allows rivals to fill the void.
- Reactivation takes time – Rebuilding a following and activity takes concerted effort.
Carefully weighing these factors will help determine if pausing a page is the right tactical move at a given point in time.
Alternatives to Hiding a LinkedIn Company Page
Instead of fully hiding their LinkedIn presence, businesses may want to consider these alternative options:
- Reduce posting frequency – Scale back regular updates instead of going completely silent.
- Archive old content – Hide outdated posts from profile view to refresh feed.
- Limit comments – Adjust settings to need admin approval to moderate noise.
- Get employee access – Broaden access to keep page active but restrict public settings.
- Launch a new page – Create separate ‘placeholder’ page for transitional phase.
- Focus on company Showcase pages – Spotlight products/services with dedicated pages.
Finding the right balance can allow businesses to remain active on LinkedIn during major transitions or challenges.
Maintaining a Professional Presence
The key takeaway is that while temporarily limiting public visibility of a LinkedIn company page is possible, keeping some activity flowing is ideal for sustaining professional relationships and reputation – even during turbulent times. With proper planning and expectation setting, a business can discreetly manage disruptions then re-establish their brand on LinkedIn when the timing is right.
In summary, while LinkedIn does not allow full hiding of company pages, various tactics like unpublishing, limiting followers and removing branding assets enable businesses to effectively pause public visibility if needed. This can help transitional periods be navigated smoothly. However, the impacts on brand awareness and re-engagement efforts must be considered. With open communication and proactive management, brief hiatuses from LinkedIn activity can ultimately make way for an improved presence aligned with a company’s revitalized goals and strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I permanently delete a LinkedIn company page?
No, there is no option to permanently delete a LinkedIn company page once it has been created. The page can only be temporarily hidden from public view. LinkedIn does this to maintain the professional connections and conversations tied to that company identity.
Do all of our employees lose access if we unpublish our page?
No, unpublishing only limits external public access to the page. Employees who were provided access by page admins will still be able to view and post from an unpublished page.
What happens to our followers if we pause activity on our page?
Followers will remain connected to the page. However, with notifications and updates stopped, many may unfollow if the inactive period is prolonged. Re-engaging these followers takes concerted effort.
Can I delete specific posts from our company page?
Yes, page admins can selectively delete individual posts from the past. However, this will not prevent the posts from having been visible to connections in their feeds at the time of posting.
If I update the branding will it affect our company Showcase pages?
The LinkedIn Showcase pages for products and services are treated separately from the main company page. As such, branding and content on Showcase pages will not automatically update if the main page branding is changed.
Is it possible to merge two LinkedIn company pages together?
Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not allow two existing, verified company pages to be merged. The best option would be to choose one page to continue with, unpublish the other, and redirect all followers to the active page.
Conclusion
Pausing use of LinkedIn as a business can be a prudent strategic move during major transitions or if activity needs a reset. While not always ideal, the platform does provide enough tools to limit visibility and engagement when necessary. With proper planning for the temporary break and reactivation, the impacts to a brand’s presence can be minimized. Most importantly, companies should always seek to maintain open and transparent communication with their employees, followers, and stakeholders around any significant changes in their LinkedIn marketing strategy.