LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 740 million members worldwide. As a business owner, having a strong LinkedIn presence can help you establish credibility, connect with clients, find new business opportunities and hire talent.
Why Should Your Business Have a LinkedIn Profile?
Here are some of the key reasons your business needs a LinkedIn profile:
- Establish Credibility – A complete LinkedIn profile shows clients and prospects that your business is professional and established.
- Attract New Clients – You can connect with potential clients by joining relevant industry groups and posting regular updates.
- Showcase Your Business – The profile acts as an online brochure where you can highlight services, accomplishments, awards etc.
- Find New Opportunities – Connecting with other businesses can lead to partnerships, investments and other growth avenues.
- Recruit Top Talent – LinkedIn is the go-to platform to find skilled professionals for open positions.
- Increase Brand Awareness – A strong social media presence leads to greater visibility and brand recall.
Step 1 – Set Up Your Business Profile
Like your personal account, setting up a LinkedIn business profile is free. Here are the key steps to create one:
- Go to LinkedIn and click on “Work” in top menu bar
- Select “Create a Company Page”
- Choose “Small Business” and enter your business name
- Add business email id and create a password
- Agree to LinkedIn’s terms of service
You now have a basic LinkedIn business profile. Next, it’s time to build out your page.
Step 2 – Optimize Your LinkedIn Business Profile
A complete, optimized LinkedIn profile establishes credibility. Here are tips to polish your business profile:
Company Details
- Headline – Summarize your business offering in 120 characters or less
- Description – Provide an overview of your business in 2,000 characters or less
- Industry – Select your core industry from LinkedIn’s categories
- Company size – Choose the band that reflects your current employees count
- Founded year – Mention the year your business was established
- Company type – Select whether you are a private business, nonprofit, etc.
- Specialties – List the products, services or areas your business specializes in
- Website URL – Add your business website address
Location & Contact Information
- Office locations – List your head office and other branches/locations
- Address – Add addresses for all locations mentioned above
- Phone number – Include your official business contact number
- Email – Add customer service or sales email id
Visual Media
- Cover image – Upload a banner that conveys your brand identity
- Company logo – Add your business logo for better visibility
- Pictures – Showcase products, office spaces, events, employees etc.
- Videos – Embed videos to offer a behind-the-scenes look at your business
Enhanced Page Options
Upgrade to a premium LinkedIn page to unlock additional capabilities:
- Showcase Pages – Present your products/services
- Content Recommendations – Suggest relevant posts to followers
- Lead Generation Forms – Capture prospect information
- Paid Advertising – Sponsor content to reach more users
Leveraging these features allows you to add more value for your audience.
Step 3 – Engage With Your LinkedIn Followers
Growing your followers and engaging them should be a priority. Here are some proven tactics:
Grow Your Followers
- Follow other industry companies and profiles
- Join popular industry groups and actively participate in discussions
- Encourage employees to follow your company page
- Promote your page through email signatures, website, and other channels
- Run occasional follower campaigns and giveaways
Post Valuable Content
- Share articles, whitepapers, case studies, and other gated assets
- Publish tips, how to’s, and other useful advice
- Give insights into industry news, trends, and developments
- Announce company news, milestones, events, and job openings
- Repurpose top-performing content from your blog and other sites
Engage With Followers
- Like and reply to comments on your posts
- Ask followers questions to spur engagement
- Give sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes looks at products/services
- Run polls, quizzes, and contests focused on your offerings
- Share user generated content and testimonials
Step 4 – Measure and Refine Your LinkedIn Strategy
Track metrics and optimize your approach for better results. Useful analytics to monitor:
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Followers | Total company page followers |
| Post impressions | Number of times posts are seen |
| Engagement rate | Interactions with posts (likes, comments, shares) divided by impressions |
| Click rate | Number of clicks on links or call-to-action buttons in posts |
| Leads/Sales | New prospects and customers generated |
Review these metrics weekly or monthly to determine content and tactics that work well. Double down on those while cutting back on underperforming areas.
Conclusion
A strong LinkedIn presence allows you to demonstrate your business expertise, acquire new customers, and accomplish key objectives. Invest time into creating and optimizing your company profile, posting engaging updates regularly, and tracking helpful analytics.
With a strategic approach, your business can unlock the immense potential of LinkedIn for growing brand awareness and generating leads.
