LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 750 million users worldwide. As a professional networking platform, LinkedIn allows users to create either a profile or a page to establish their professional online presence.
But what exactly is the difference between a LinkedIn profile and a LinkedIn page? And which one is better for your professional networking and career development needs? This comprehensive guide examines the key distinctions between LinkedIn profiles and pages and provides recommendations on which option may be better suited for you.
LinkedIn Profile Basics
A LinkedIn profile is the basic personal account that individuals create when signing up for the platform. Profiles allow users to showcase their professional background, skills, accomplishments, education, and more.
Key features of LinkedIn profiles include:
- Profile photo
- Professional headline
- Summary section
- Work experience
- Education
- Skills
- Accomplishments
- Recommendations
- Connections
Profiles are optimized to highlight an individual’s personal brand, qualifications, career trajectory, and network. Most interaction on LinkedIn takes place between individual profile accounts.
LinkedIn Page Basics
LinkedIn pages, on the other hand, are optimized for businesses, brands, organizations, causes, and influential individuals to establish an online presence. Pages allow organizations to share company updates, promote content and job openings, and interact with followers.
Key features of LinkedIn pages include:
- Cover photo
- Profile photo
- Background photo
- Company information
- Life section for updates
- Job listings
- Analytics
- Lead generation
- Followers
Pages are specifically designed for brand building, thought leadership, recruitment, lead generation, and connecting with customers or fans. Individuals do not send connection requests to pages – they follow pages to receive updates.
Key Differences Between Profiles and Pages
While both profiles and pages establish an online presence, there are some important differences in features and capabilities:
Factor | Profile | Page |
---|---|---|
Purpose | Establish a personal brand and professional network | Promote a business, organization, or public figure |
Creation | Created when joining LinkedIn | Additional pages can be created from a profile account |
Account type | Personal account for individuals | Business account type |
Custom URL | Public customizable profile URL | Unique customizable page URL |
Messaging | Direct messaging available | Unable to message followers |
Navigation | Profile-centric homepage | Visitor-focused customizable homepage |
Content length | Less content heavy | More longform content |
Analytics | Limited built-in analytics | Advanced page analytics |
Advertising | Self-service ads not available | Can advertise the page |
As shown in the table, while profiles and pages share some similarities, pages have additional capabilities suited for organizations and influencers.
When Should You Create a LinkedIn Page?
Here are some of the key reasons an individual or organization may want to create a LinkedIn page in addition to or in place of a profile:
- Promote an organization or brand – Pages are ideal for companies, nonprofits, agencies, groups, institutions, and other entities needing an online presence.
- Establish thought leadership – Influencers, executives, authors, coaches can use pages for content marketing and sharing professional expertise.
- Showcase and promote products or services – Pages allow organizations to feature their offerings.
- Generate leads – Tools like lead forms and call-to-action buttons can turn followers into customers.
- Recruit talent – Job listings and career pages help attract applicants.
- Fundraise or promote a cause – Nonprofits, activists, politicians, or causes can build support.
- Supplement an individual profile – For example, an entrepreneur may have both a professional profile and a business page.
Essentially, pages offer additional capabilities for brands, organizations, and public figures needing to extend beyond an individual profile. The expanded content and audience engagement features help promote businesses, initiatives, content, and employment opportunities.
Benefits of LinkedIn Pages
Let’s explore some of the main advantages that LinkedIn pages offer compared to profiles:
Increased Visibility
Pages are more discoverable in LinkedIn search compared to profiles. When people search for company names, keywords, or topics, relevant pages will appear prominently in the results.
Flexible Content
Pages support lengthy longform content for blog posts, articles, case studies, reports, and more. This allows organizations to showcase thought leadership content.
Audience Building
Building a follower base for a page enables broader reach for content, job posts, and updates. Loyal followers turn into brand advocates.
Lead Generation
Lead generation tools like Follow buttons, Contact Pages, Lead Gen Forms, and Message Ads help convert page visitors into sales leads.
Credibility
An official company or personal page lends legitimacy and authority, giving visitors confidence in the brand.
Analytics
Page admins can access visitor demographics, traffic sources, post metrics, and other analytics to inform content strategy.
Promoted Content
Pages can pay to boost the visibility of posts and pages through LinkedIn’s advertising platform.
Company Showcase
Products, services, culture, values, team members, events, and other elements of a brand can be highlighted through pages.
In summary, the increased customization, content capabilities, distribution, lead generation, analytics, and credibility of pages empower organizations to accomplish professional objectives on LinkedIn in ways individual profiles do not.
Best Practices For LinkedIn Pages
When creating and managing a LinkedIn page, the following best practices should be kept in mind:
Complete All Page Sections
Fill out as many sections as possible, including page overview, careers, products, culture, hashtag, featured, recommendations, and analytics. This provides a robust presence.
Optimize With SEO Best Practices
Use relevant keywords in page titles, descriptions, content, and URLs. This helps pages rank higher in search.
Post Valuable And Audience-Relevant Content
Share content like thought leadership articles, how-to’s, reports, videos, and more that engages your target audience.
Engage With Followers
Reply to comments and messages from your followers, and participate in LinkedIn groups related to your industry.
Promote The Page
Share your LinkedIn page URL on your website, emails, other social accounts, stationary, and anywhere you can promote it.
Run Targeted Ad Campaigns
Utilize LinkedIn’s marketing tools like Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMail to reach more of your target audience.
Analyze And Optimize
Use page analytics to identify high-performing content and opportunities for improvement.
Adhering to these best practices will help organizations and influencers get the most value out of their LinkedIn pages.
Should You Have Both a LinkedIn Profile and Page?
For many professionals, having both a personalized LinkedIn profile and a LinkedIn page makes sense to maximize the benefits of the platform. Here are some common scenarios where maintaining both a profile and page is recommended:
- Entrepreneurs – A profile to network and connect combined with a business page to promote offerings.
- Executives and Thought Leaders – A profile for networking and career profile as well as a page to share ideas.
- Consultants/Agencies – A profile to connect with prospects and an agency page to attract clients.
- Authors and Public Figures – A public figure page alongside a personal profile account.
Maintaining both accounts enables personalized networking through your profile while also leveraging company/brand pages for content marketing, promotion, recruiting, and demonstrating thought leadership.
However, for some users a single LinkedIn page may suffice, such as companies that want a consolidated presence or individuals that primarily want to operate under a personal brand rather than their legal name.
Key Takeaways and Recommendations
To summarize the key differences between LinkedIn profiles and pages:
- Profiles focus on an individual’s career background and professional network.
- Pages enable companies, organizations, influencers, and public figures to build an online presence.
- Pages offer expanded content, audience engagement, analytics, advertising, and credibility capabilities compared to profiles.
- Many professionals benefit from having both a personalized profile plus a page for their business or brand.
- Companies, thought leaders, executives, consultants, and public figures often achieve the best results on LinkedIn by utilizing both profiles and pages.
In general, LinkedIn pages offer functionality and visibility for organizations, leaders, brands, and causes that standard profiles do not. However, profiles remain beneficial for personalized networking and career management. Leveraging both profiles and pages provides the greatest ability to maximize LinkedIn for professional objectives.
As LinkedIn continues enhancing its platform capabilities, both profiles and pages are valuable. But for most businesses, influencers, executives, and organizations seeking to raise awareness and engage professional audiences, creating and optimizing a LinkedIn page should be a top priority.
Did you find this guide helpful? Let me know if you have any other questions as you establish your professional presence on LinkedIn!