Should You Have a LinkedIn (Company) Page for Your Business?

A LinkedIn Page (they used to be called Company Pages) is a special page that you can create to spotlight and highlight your business or nonprofit organization.? This differs from a personal profile page, which you must have first before creating a Linkedin Company page.

Just about every entrepreneur and/or small business owner I consult with asks me if they should have a company page.? Or, if they have one, they want to know how to best utilize it.

Let’s dive into some of these questions this week!

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?

As I’ve already mentioned, you need a personal profile page to create a LinkedIn Company page (watch the video below to see how to create a page).

Creating a LinkedIn (Company) Page for Your Business - Watch Video

Some people mistakenly create a personal page as a company.? This is actually a violation of the LinkedIn User Agreement (UA) Section 8.2 which states you’re only allowed to create a personal profile under your identity.?

A company page doesn’t have connections, only followers.? When you create your page you’ll be able to invite connections to follow your page.??

The banner image is a different dimension (most likely to differentiate them from personal profiles). The company page banner dimensions are 1128 x 191 pixels (personal profile banners images are 1584 x 396 pixels).

A few recent additions to Company Pages in the last year have been an inbox so your followers can message your company directly, a featured section of Company Page content, and a premium subscription option.

Of these new additions, the featured section to me is the most valuable.? The inboxes for the Company Pages I help with only receive spam and/or sales pitches, never once have I seen a sincere message looking for information.

A premium subscription for company pages is being rolled out with a price point of $99 per month. To see the features and benefits of a premium subscription for your company page, click HERE.

ADVANTAGES

I think one of the biggest advantages is the ability to have your logo show up next to your company on your personal profile.? If you don’t have a company page (or aren’t connected to your company page, you’ll see an image like this:

in front of your company name in both your top section and your experience section. This is important from a personal branding perspective- you want people to see your company is for real.? That being said, growing a company page is never easy.

Another advantage is advertising on LinkedIn.? You must have a company page in order to run ads on LinkedIn.? This is a science and an art form all unto itself.? If you need advice on LinkedIn ads, reach out and I can refer you to some people who excel at it!

DISADVANTAGES

As I mentioned above, growing your company page takes effort.? You are allowed 250 invitations per month for your connections.? Did you know that you can invite your first degree connections to follow your page?? Watch the video below to see how to invite your connections to follow your page.

Another disadvantage is that company page content never gets the reach that personal profile content receives.? The latest information I’ve seen is that while personal profile content is released to about 10% of your followers, your company content is only released to 2% of your company page followers.? Add this to the fact that typically you’ll have far fewer company page followers, you can see that your content sharing on your company page can seem like a waste of time.

Also, in general, personal profile content will be seen, resonate and be engaged with much more than company page content.??

STRATEGIES

Here are a few pointers for your company page:

Posting: post content on your personal page and re-post it to your company page. This will show activity on your company page and as your page grows, the reach of your content can grow, too.? Also, you can reverse that and post first to your company page and then reshare the post to your personal page.? See which of these tactics work best for your goals.

Growing your page: as part of your follow up with new connections, consider sending a follow up message thanking them for connecting and asking them to follow your page (and include the link to your page).??

Also, follow the video above to see how to go about inviting your current connections to follow your page.

My personal opinion is that if you only have limited time to spend on linkedin, spend it working on your personal profile.? Have a company page, but your focus first and foremost should be on your personal page.

If you need help building your company page or help with how to better leverage your pages, schedule a time with me and let’s talk about it!

Book Time with me HERE