LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. Having a LinkedIn business page allows you to establish your business’ presence on LinkedIn and connect with potential customers. A LinkedIn business page functions similarly to a Facebook business page – it allows you to share content, engage with your target audience, and build your brand.
Creating a LinkedIn business page is simple and free. All you need is a LinkedIn personal account to get started. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a fully optimized LinkedIn business page to help you establish and grow your business on LinkedIn.
Benefits of Having a LinkedIn Business Page
Here are some of the key benefits of having a LinkedIn business page:
- Increased brand awareness – A complete and optimized LinkedIn page allows you to tell your brand’s story and establish your business’ presence within the LinkedIn community.
- Lead generation – You can attract and engage with prospects by sharing relevant content, responding to messages and comments, and running sponsored content campaigns. LinkedIn reports that 40% of page visitors end up contacting businesses.
- Thought leadership – By regularly publishing long-form posts and articles, you can establish your brand as an industry leader and authority.
- Recruitment – LinkedIn business pages have dedicated job tabs where you can promote job openings and attract qualified candidates.
- Customer service – The messaging feature allows customers to reach your business easily via LinkedIn. You can also provide product support directly through the page.
- SEO benefits – An optimized page helps your website rank better on search engines when people search for your business name or products/services.
In summary, a LinkedIn business page generates leads, highlights your brand’s thought leadership, improves search visibility, facilitates recruitment and allows you to provide business support.
Step 1 – Create a LinkedIn Personal Account
To create a LinkedIn business page, you first need to have your own LinkedIn personal account. Here is how to sign up for a free LinkedIn account if you don’t have one already:
- Go to LinkedIn.com and click on “Join now” in the top right.
- Enter your first name, last name and email address.
- Create a password.
- Select your country/region from the dropdown menu.
- Enter your postal code.
- Agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy by checking the box.
- Click “Join now”.
- Check your email inbox for a confirmation email from LinkedIn and click on the “Confirm” button.
Once you confirm your email, your LinkedIn account will be activated.
Step 2 – Create Your LinkedIn Business Page
Once you have a LinkedIn personal account, follow these steps to create your business page:
- From your LinkedIn homepage, click on “Work” and select “Create a company page”.
- Search for your company name. LinkedIn will check if a page already exists for your company.
- If your company doesn’t already have a page, click on “Create a new company page”.
- Select your business category from the dropdown options.
- Enter your company name and website URL.
- Agree to LinkedIn’s terms of use.
- Click “Create page”.
It only takes a few minutes to set up your basic LinkedIn business page. Next, we’ll go over how to complete your page.
Step 3 – Fill Out Your LinkedIn Business Page Details
After creating your page, you need to add key details to customize and optimize it. Here are the main sections to complete:
Cover photo
Your cover photo appears at the very top of your page. It’s the first thing people will see, so choose a high-quality, eye-catching image that represents your brand. Some tips:
- Use an image that is 1536 x 768 pixels.
- Pick an image that looks professional – no grainy photos.
- Showcase your logo, products, office or team in the photo.
- Add text to make the image more engaging.
- Align your logo and text to the left to avoid cutoff on mobile.
Profile photo
Your profile photo appears next to all content shared by your page. Use your company logo as the profile photo for instant brand recognition. If you don’t have a logo, pick a professional headshot or an image of your product/service.
Company details
Provide key information about your company like a description of your business, location, company size, founding year and contact info.
Website URL
Include your company website to drive traffic to your site. You can list up to 3 URLs.
Showcase pages
Showcase pages highlight specific aspects of your business like products, services, culture and community work. They appear as tabs next to your main page.
Followers
Grow your followers list by inviting connections, promoting the page, running ads and publishing engaging content. More followers mean greater reach for your posts.
Once these details are filled out, your page starts looking complete. But maximizing it for success takes a bit more work.
Step 4 – Optimize Your LinkedIn Business Page
Follow these best practices to create an optimized page that attracts your target audience:
Complete your page
LinkedIn marks pages with a green “Complete” tick when all key sections are filled out. A “Complete” page is more likely to show up in searches.
Use relevant keywords
Incorporate important keywords like your company name, products, services and location throughout your page content. This helps you rank higher in LinkedIn search results.
Add a call-to-action button
Add a relevant call-to-action button like “Contact us”, “Get Quote” or “Learn More” to encourage visitors to engage.
Create an eye-catching banner
Your banner image appears next to your posts. Use banners to reinforce your branding and messaging.
Showcase thought leadership content
Publish long-form posts, articles and videos that provide value to your audience and position your company as a trusted leader.
Engage your followers
Post regularly, respond to comments and messages, and interact with other pages and posts. Being active keeps your brand top of mind.
Analyze page analytics
Use LinkedIn’s analytics to get visitor demographics and discover which content gets the most engagement. Let data guide your strategy.
Promote your page
Share your page URL on your website, email signatures, business cards and social media profiles. Pitch it in newsletters, press releases and mentions.
Optimizing your LinkedIn business page takes effort, but the payoff of increased brand visibility, leads and traffic is well worth it.
Step 5 – Manage Your LinkedIn Business Page
Maintaining your page once it’s up and running takes consistency. Here are some tips for managing your page:
- Post regularly – Share a mix of written posts, images, videos and links. Posting daily or weekly keeps your content stream active.
- Use Studio for drafting – LinkedIn’s post editor Studio allows you to draft, schedule and collaborate on posts.
- Manage notifications – Turn on notifications in your settings to monitor comments, mentions and messages that need replies.
- Assign admin roles – Give trusted teammates page admin access to help manage your LinkedIn presence.
- Moderate comments – Keep your posts on-topic by deleting spammy or irrelevant comments.
- Promote high-performing content – Repurpose or sponsored content that generated high engagement. Send website visitors to your popular posts.
- Track analytics – Use page and post insights to inform your strategy. Double down on tactics that work.
- Refine based on results – Make changes to improve metrics. Adapt your content approach, profile fields and imagery based on what resonates.
Dedicating 15-30 minutes daily to tend to your page can help maximize the business benefits of your LinkedIn presence.
Conclusion
Creating a fully optimized LinkedIn business page provides immense opportunities to grow your brand and business. By following the steps in this guide, you can set up a polished company page that positions your business as a leading industry authority, allowing you to generate leads, hire talent and drive website traffic. Investing time into cultivating your LinkedIn presence fosters fruitful connections with B2B and B2C customers.