Having a LinkedIn account for your business can be highly beneficial for increasing brand awareness, networking with potential customers and partners, and generating leads. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 610 million users worldwide. As such, it offers tremendous opportunities for businesses to connect with relevant audiences.
Should my business have a LinkedIn profile?
The short answer is yes. Here are some key reasons why your business should have a LinkedIn profile:
- Increase brand visibility – A complete LinkedIn profile allows people to learn about your business, its products/services, culture, and values.
- Attract talent – You can promote your company culture and job openings to attract qualified candidates.
- Targeted advertising – LinkedIn advertising allows you to target users by location, job role, skills, interests etc.
- Generate leads – LinkedIn is used by over 90% of B2B marketers to generate leads. You can connect with prospects.
- Market insights – Analyze data on your followers and their demographics to gain valuable consumer insights.
- Thought leadership – Share insights, content, and resources to establish your brand as an industry leader.
- Partnerhips – Discover and connect with potential B2B partners and collaborators.
In summary, a LinkedIn presence allows your business to tap into LinkedIn’s massive global community to boost brand awareness, attract talent, advertise, network, and more.
What’s the difference between a personal and business profile?
LinkedIn offers both personal profiles for individuals and business profiles for companies and organizations. Here are some key differences:
| Personal Profile | Business Profile |
|---|---|
| Represents an individual | Represents a company, organization or brand |
| Used to network, look for jobs etc. | Used to promote business, generate leads etc. |
| Followers are your connections | Followers don’t need to connect with you |
| Job title, skills, education history | Company info, products, culture, jobs |
| Post personal updates and opinions | Share company news, industry insights, content |
So while a personal profile is about your individual professional identity, a business profile represents your company or brand as a whole on LinkedIn.
Who should manage our business LinkedIn profile?
Determining who should manage your business’ LinkedIn presence depends on your company size and needs. Here are some common options:
- Individual employee – For small companies, assign social media management to an employee like a marketing associate.
- Marketing team – For larger companies, consider having your marketing team handle it.
- Outsourcing – Hire an agency or freelancer to manage it if you lack internal bandwidth.
- Multiple administrators – Have 2-3 people collaborate on your company profile.
When selecting who will manage it, look for someone who:
- Understands your industry, products, and audience.
- Can create engaging content that promotes your brand.
- Is familiar with LinkedIn features and best practices.
- Can commit dedicated time to grow your presence.
- Has strong written communication abilities.
No matter who manages it, ensure they have extensive training on your company messaging, values and goals for your LinkedIn presence.
How do I create a LinkedIn Business profile?
Follow these steps to create a LinkedIn profile for your business:
- Sign Up – Go to LinkedIn.com and click Sign Up. Choose to create a company profile.
- Company Details – Enter your company name, website, industry, size, type etc.
- Username – Create a unique username for your brand’s profile URL.
- Design – Upload a banner and logo that align with your brand identity.
- About – Share your company description, story, offerings and culture.
- Products – Showcase your product and service portfolio.
- Jobs – Post open positions to attract candidates.
- Followers – Add employee profiles and start building followers.
- Content – Share company updates, articles, images, videos and more.
- Analytics – Utilize LinkedIn’s analytics to glean insights.
Completing these steps will establish your basic company presence on LinkedIn. You can always add more sections like Locations, Certifications, Awards, and expand it over time.
What are some best practices for our business LinkedIn?
Follow these best practices to create an impactful LinkedIn presence:
- Complete Profile – Ensure your profile is comprehensive with key sections filled out.
- Consistent Branding – Maintain the same branding across banners, logo, content.
- Quality Content – Share valuable insights, images, videos, and articles.
- Active Engagement – Like, comment, and share content with followers regularly.
- Follower Cultivation – Respond to messages and comments, follow back followers.
- Paid Ads – Consider investing in LinkedIn ads to reach more people.
- Show Personality – Let the human side of your brand shine through.
- Stay Current – Keep your profile updated with the latest company information.
- Optimize for SEO – Use relevant keywords and alt text to help with search optimization.
- Measure Performance – Track engagement levels, followers, and ROI of efforts.
Adhering to best practices like these will help you maximize the impact of your LinkedIn presence and fully leverage it to achieve your business goals.
What are some tips for creating great business content on LinkedIn?
Posting great content is key to keeping your followers engaged on LinkedIn. Here are some tips:
- Educate – Share advice, how-to’s, and expertise from your industry.
- Entertain – Humanize your brand with photos, videos and stories.
- Inform – Provide company, product and industry news updates.
- Spotlight – Highlight employees, customers, partners, and their achievements.
- Promote – Share promotions, events, job openings and company milestones.
- Respond – Join relevant conversations and groups to connect with your audience.
- Validate – Feature customer testimonials and user-generated content.
- Diversify – Vary your post types between articles, images, infographics etc.
- Optimize – Include relevant keywords, hashtags, tags to help with searchability.
- Analyze – Review your best-performing updates and response rates to iterate.
Creating a thoughtful mix of valuable, engaging content tailored to your audience will set your brand’s LinkedIn presence apart and foster loyal followers.
Should I link my personal profile to my business profile?
It’s generally recommended to link your personal LinkedIn profile to your business profile. Here are some benefits of doing so:
- Shows you work for the company and adds credibility.
- Lets you easily manage both profiles from one place.
- Gives your connections access to your business profile.
- Allows you to share and comment as the company.
- Indicates you can officially speak on behalf of the brand.
- Grants you admin rights to manage company content.
- Displays your personal employment history.
However, there are a couple factors to consider:
- Your personal connections will be visible on the business profile.
- You’ll need to toggle between accounts when posting personal vs company content.
- Any comments you make as the company will show on your profile too.
Overall, in most cases it makes sense to link the profiles for enhanced visibility and simplified management. But be mindful of sharing personal connections and toggling between accounts when posting.
Can I merge multiple LinkedIn business pages into one?
If your business has multiple LinkedIn Company Pages, you can merge them into a single page. Here is the process to consolidate pages:
- Go to the page you wish to keep and click ‘Admin Tools’.
- Select ‘Manage multiple Company Pages’.
- Choose the page(s) you want to merge into the main page.
- Click ‘Merge pages’.
- Select the primary page to keep and click ‘Confirm Merge’.
Things to note when merging:
- You can only merge pages you manage.
- Followers from both pages will be combined.
- Content from both pages will be merged into the primary page.
- Analytics and metrics will reflect combined data.
- The secondary pages will redirect to the primary merged page.
Merging duplicate or outdated pages into one current Company Page simplifies management and provides a unified presence for your brand on LinkedIn.
How can I measure the performance of our business LinkedIn account?
LinkedIn provides useful analytics to measure and track the performance of your business profile. Key metrics to monitor include:
| Metric | What to Measure |
|---|---|
| Followers | How many followers you gain or lose over time. |
| Engagement | Likes, comments, clicks, and shares on your content. |
| Impressions | How many times your posts appear in feeds. |
| Traffic | Visits to your profile and website clicks. |
| Leads | Leads generated through your LinkedIn presence. |
| Audience | Follower demographics, interests, locations etc. |
Regularly assessing these metrics will reveal what content and tactics work best for your brand on LinkedIn. This allows you to refine your approach and demonstrate the value of your LinkedIn investment.
Conclusion
Having a LinkedIn business profile offers tremendous opportunities to boost brand awareness, generate leads, recruit talent, and build beneficial connections. Invest time in creating a complete, optimized company profile. Share a mix of valuable, engaging content daily. Learn from your performance analytics to improve ongoing results. With a strategic approach, LinkedIn can become an invaluable asset for growing your business.