Should you follow other companies on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social media platform designed specifically for professional networking and career development. With over 800 million members worldwide, LinkedIn connects professionals across industries and career levels. As a result, LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for expanding professional networks, promoting brands, recruiting talent, and generating leads.

One way that companies leverage LinkedIn is by creating company pages and connecting with other businesses. But should you follow other companies on LinkedIn? There are pros and cons to consider.

Quick Answers to Key Questions

– Following other companies on LinkedIn expands your network and opens up partnership opportunities. It also allows you to research competitors and stay updated on industry trends.

– However, following too many accounts can clutter your feed and distract from more relevant content. It’s best to be selective and strategic with the companies you follow.

– Overall, following other companies in moderation can benefit your own brand awareness, lead generation, competitive research, and industry knowledge. But be sure to balance this with producing your own high-quality content.

The Benefits of Following Companies on LinkedIn

Here are some of the main advantages of following other businesses on LinkedIn:

Expand Your Network

One of the biggest benefits is that it grows your overall LinkedIn network. Following a company allows their employees, followers and content to surface in your feed. This introduces you to new connections outside of your immediate contacts.

Over time, consistently engaging with other companies can lead to fruitful business relationships. Potential partnerships, affiliate opportunities and client relationships can develop. Expanding your network boosts visibility and trust for your brand.

Research Competitors

Following competitors on LinkedIn provides valuable intelligence about their products, services, strategies and marketing. You can learn from their content approach and identify gaps or opportunities in your market.

Monitoring competitors also keeps you updated on their new initiatives, partnerships and team members. This competitive analysis allows you to benchmark your own efforts and stay on top of industry developments.

Gain Industry Knowledge

Beyond direct competitors, following industry leaders, associations, vendors, technologies and media provides well-rounded knowledge. This supports your own thought leadership, professional development and content creation.

The more you know about your field as a whole, the better you can position your company as an expert. Following relevant organizations fosters engagement and demonstrates your commitment to the industry.

Increase Visibility

When you follow and actively engage with other companies, it drives more users to your own LinkedIn profile and company page. This is especially true if you interact with larger players who have an extensive follower base.

Liking and commenting on their posts leads to your brand being displayed on their followers’ feeds. This exposes you to new audiences and helps grow your reach. More visibility leads to more credibility.

Generate Leads

Beyond general brand awareness, following companies on LinkedIn can support direct lead generation. Engaging with potential prospects’ company pages and building relationships is a key part of social selling.

When you provide value by commenting on their content, sharing resources and liking updates, it positions your brand as helpful. These prospects then may be more likely to view you as a trusted partner versus a random salesperson.

Potential Downsides of Following Companies

While there are many benefits, here are a few potential risks and downsides to be aware of:

Feed Clutter

If you follow too many companies at once, your LinkedIn feed can quickly become cluttered. This makes it difficult to find relevant and valuable updates from your close connections.

Often the companies you follow will post frequently, which pushes out content from your own contacts. This defeats the purpose of building quality relationships on social media.

Time Suck

It takes time to actively monitor all of the companies you follow – liking posts, commenting, sharing, etc. This regular interaction is important for increasing visibility and generating leads.

But if you follow hundreds of companies, you may spend more time on LinkedIn than you intend each day. Be strategic in who you follow and set aside dedicated time for engagement.

Security Risks

There is some security and privacy risk in following many external companies. You don’t necessarily want to openly share intelligence about your contacts, initiatives, technologies, etc.

Having an overly public presence on LinkedIn increases the risk of competitors using your activity to gain advantage. Be selective in what you share publicly.

Irrelevant Content

Some companies post content frequently that simply isn’t relevant or valuable to you. This flooding of mundane updates can distract rather than inform.

Look at who you currently follow and evaluate whether their content aligns with your goals. Unfollow companies that provide little value.

Best Practices for Following Companies

Here are some tips for following other companies on LinkedIn effectively:

– Begin following a few of your top competitors to monitor their activity and learn from their approach. Avoid following too many at once.

– Identify industry associations and nonprofit organizations to follow. Their content provides value and demonstrates community commitment.

– Follow vendors, partners and suppliers your company leverages. This strengthens these relationships.

– Search for relevant hashtags and keywords to find companies posting content related to your products or mission. Their followers likely align with your target buyer personas.

– Evaluate potential lead generation targets based on their content relevance and follower demographics. Prioritize following accounts that support your sales pipeline.

– Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find companies of a certain size, location or industry to follow. You can filter results strategically this way.

– Monitor your feed at least weekly. Like and comment on relevant updates from companies you follow to increase engagement. Share helpful posts with your own followers.

– Assess monthly whether the companies you follow are providing actual value. Unfollow accounts that aren’t aligned with your goals.

– Don’t just follow companies. Have a well-rounded network with individual thought leaders, potential partners, alumni from your university, etc.

– Balance time spent following/engaging with companies vs. producing your own unique, valuable content. Don’t just rely on others’ updates.

Should You Pay to Follow Companies?

LinkedIn provides several paid products and features related to following companies:

– LinkedIn Sales Navigator – Provides advanced search filters and tracking for following target accounts

– LinkedIn Recruiter – Allows recruiters to follow companies to monitor key talent

– LinkedIn Premium Subscriptions – Enable seeing more follower/following data and growth analytics

– LinkedIn ads – Can promote your account to gain more followers from specific companies

The majority of the benefits discussed in this article can be achieved through free tools. But for companies heavily focused on sales, recruiting or growth – paid products can take company followings to the next level with more advanced functionality.

When assessing premium options, look at the ROI. Compare the cost of subscriptions or ads to the potential value gained from more targeted company follows. Leverage free trials when available.

Conclusion

Following other companies on LinkedIn has many potential benefits – increasing your visibility, generating leads, expanding your network, researching competitors and gaining industry knowledge.

However, indiscriminately following too many accounts can clutter your feed and create irrelevant noise. Be strategic and selective. Assess which companies can provide actual value if you follow their activity.

Set aside time each week to monitor updates from companies you follow. Actively engage through liking, commenting and sharing to boost visibility. Track whether your company following efforts are resulting in measurable business value like new partnerships or sales prospects.

Overall, following other companies in moderation and with a targeted approach can take your brand’s LinkedIn presence to the next level. But it requires a balance – don’t get distracted from producing your own expert content.

Key Takeaways

– Following competitors provides market research and benchmarking.
– Industry associations give value and demonstrate community involvement.
– Vendors, partners and suppliers strengthen relationships.
– Target buyer personas by following accounts posting relevant content.
– Use advanced search to find companies by location, size or industry.
– Like, comment on and share posts from companies to increase engagement.
– Evaluate monthly whether follows align with your goals. Unfollow if needed.
– Balance company following with producing unique, valuable updates.
– Assess whether premium paid features will provide sufficient ROI.