Yes, it is possible to have both a personal and business LinkedIn account. LinkedIn allows users to create multiple accounts that can serve different purposes. Having separate personal and business accounts on LinkedIn can be beneficial for keeping your professional and personal identities separate.
Overview of Personal vs. Business Accounts on LinkedIn
LinkedIn offers two main types of accounts:
- Personal accounts – These accounts represent you as an individual. They are best suited for job seekers, students, and professionals networking for career development opportunities.
- Business/Company pages – These accounts represent a business or organization. They are used by companies for recruiting, branding, and connecting with customers.
Both types of accounts have distinct purposes and features:
Personal Account | Business/Company Page |
---|---|
Used to network and search for jobs | Used for company branding and promotion |
Reflects your own identity and credentials | Reflects company information and culture |
Post updates to your connections about your work and interests | Post company news, job openings, and industry updates |
Make connections with other professionals | Attract followers and engage customers |
Benefits of Having Both a Personal and Business Account
There are a few key advantages to maintaining separate personal and business accounts on LinkedIn:
- Keep your professional and personal identities separate – With separate accounts, you can network with colleagues and clients on your business account without flooding them with personal life updates.
- Showcase different experiences and skills – Your personal profile highlights your overall career history and expertise, while your business page focuses on that company’s specific work.
- Avoid conflicts of interest – Separate accounts help avoid potential conflicts if you work at multiple companies or have side businesses.
- Manage notifications and contacts – You can control notifications and connect requests between accounts. Business contacts stay associated with that company.
- analytics and ad tracking – You can better track engagement analytics and ad performance for your business page separately from your personal account.
Overall, having both accounts creates separation that allows you to engage audiences differently depending on the context.
How to Create a LinkedIn Business Account
It’s a straightforward process to create a LinkedIn business or company page in addition to your personal account:
- Go to LinkedIn.com and click on the ‘Work’ dropdown menu at the top.
- Select ‘Create a Company Page’. You can also go directly to www.linkedin.com/company-pages/new to start the process.
- Choose to create a new company page or manage an existing page you have admin access to.
- Enter your company details – name, size, industry, description, website, etc.
- Choose a unique LinkedIn handle/URL for the page.
- Select a logo and cover image to represent your brand and products/services.
- Agree to LinkedIn’s terms and conditions for company pages.
- Set up your administrator access and assign any other admins needed.
- Publish your company page and start posting content!
It’s free to create and maintain a LinkedIn company page. You can add additional managers later if needed.
Best Practices For Managing Business and Personal Accounts
If you decide to have both a business and personal LinkedIn account, keep these tips in mind:
- Clearly separate connections – Keep your professional connections and followers on your business account distinct from your personal contacts.
- Use your personal account sparingly for business – Occasional professional uses are fine, but focus mainly on networking for your career.
- Customize branding and messaging – Craft your profile summaries, headlines, about sections, and content to match the audience for each account.
- Avoid promoting yourself – Don’t try to connect with your business page followers or clients through your personal account.
- Check settings and notifications – Configure your account settings, notifications, and recommendations separately based on your needs and preferences.
- Monitor analytics – Pay attention to follower growth, engagement, clicks, and other analytics for your business page to optimize performance.
Following these best practices will help you get the most out of both accounts while avoiding overlap or improper connections.
Potential Issues to Avoid with Multiple Accounts
While having both personal and business LinkedIn accounts can be beneficial, there are some potential downsides to be aware of:
- Time commitment – Managing two fully optimized accounts takes extra time and effort.
- Overlapping audiences – You may end up with some of the same connections and followers on both accounts.
- Mistaken impersonation – Some people may not realize you also run the business account and may think it’s impersonating you.
- Limited tracking – You can’t easily switch between accounts to track notifications and messages.
- Security issues – Separate logins may increase chances of being locked out or hacked.
Avoiding these issues comes down to carefully managing both accounts, keeping audiences and content tailored, and monitoring closely for any conflicts.
LinkedIn’s Rules on Multiple Accounts
LinkedIn does allow users to create and operate multiple accounts. However, their terms of service prohibit a few specific activities when it comes to managing more than one account:
- You cannot use multiple accounts to artificially boost your connections.
- Accounts must represent real identities and organizations.
- You cannot use secondary accounts to evade bans or restrictions.
- Impersonation or fake accounts are not allowed.
- You cannot use bots or scripts to automate connections and messaging.
Essentially, every account must represent a real person or business. You cannot use multiple accounts for manipulative purposes or misrepresentation.
As long as you operate your personal and business accounts authentically, transparently, and avoid overlap, having both is perfectly acceptable per LinkedIn’s policies. But intentional misuse can result in suspensions or bans.
Tools to Manage Multiple LinkedIn Accounts
Managing two active LinkedIn accounts takes effort. Thankfully, there are tools available to make it easier:
- LinkedIn mobile apps – The iOS and Android apps allow fast switching between accounts. You can set up different notifications for each.
- LinkedIn Account Switcher browser extension – This extension lets you quickly change profiles within your web browser.
- Hootsuite – This social media management platform supports scheduling posts and messages across multiple LinkedIn accounts.
- Bumpers – Bumpers provides analytics and management to track multiple LinkedIn accounts.
- MeetAlfred – This tool also allows unified management of multiple LinkedIn accounts in one dashboard.
Depending on your usage, dedicated LinkedIn automation and analytics tools can provide time-saving assistance with monitoring notifications and posting between accounts.
Conclusion
Having separate personal and business accounts on LinkedIn is a commonly used practice that provides clear benefits. It allows you to segment your professional and commercial identity and engage audiences in tailored ways through each account. However, running two accounts does take extra time and diligence. Set them up with care, maintain consistent branding and messaging, and leverage tools to streamline management. With the right strategy, you can get increased value from LinkedIn by utilizing both a personal and company presence.