SHOWCASE YOUR LINKEDIN SHOWCASE PAGE

These days, it’s not a question of who’s on LinkedIn, but how you can reach them. With 1 in 4 adult internet user registered as members, and close to 1 in every 2 college graduates, LinkedIn users base of 450 million is extensive, educated and growing.

Follow marketing intern Ben who has been designated the task of setting up his company's Showcase page. Read as he uses and demonstrates the potential benefits of LinkedIn’s Showcase pages to help promote his company ‘IT Legends”. IT Legends is an online-only IT shop which sells directly from the supplier to the customer, it sells all the top brands which customers know and love.

What exactly is a showcase page?

A showcase page is a simple way for your company to ‘Showcase’ any niche or sub products or services you offer. Showcase pages are a great way to promote specific products or to target a distinct buyer persona.

Ben first thought inside the box of how he could create different Showcase pages: 

One could be for the individual brands they sell (IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, etc). Or for the different IT products they sell (IT security, cloud products, online security, etc). 

Then Ben thought outside the box: 

He could create Showcase Pages based on people’s IT knowledge (First-time buyer of IT Security vs. CSO as each would require different levels of information). Or where they are in the Sales Funnel (Awareness, Interest, Decision, Action).

Other options which Ben came up with which may not be the most suitable for IT Legends yet are: 

A Help and Support page which could also offer tips and tricks on better uses of IT software. At the moment IT Legends doesn’t feel the need for individual stores, as they sell online out of a warehouse, stores which have different locations could use Showcase pages to highlight these stores. They can each be individually run by the storefronts themselves, so to highlight the different feels of each individual store!

Is it the right fit for your company?

There are a few questions to ask yourself before setting up Showcase pages:

1. Can you warrant running another page?

i. Or are you struggling running one LinkedIn company page as it is? 

2. Do you have the time to run it in-house? 

i. Or might it need to be outsourced?

3. Do you have the demand for more product and/or service pages?

i. Showcase pages have different URL’s so if you only have one website with one domain you would need separate links to your company page and your Showcase page. BUT if you have more than one website and/or domain it can be a great way to send people to the exact pages they want.

4. Will the increased cost be beneficial?

i. Yes, Showcase Pages are free to create, but the added time to set-up and run will need to be financially beneficial. Will it be worth it to your company?

5. Are you willing to ‘start from the bottom’ again?

i. Showcase pages won’t carry your followers over, so when you create a new Showcase page you will need to build your followers from scratch.

Should intern Ben create a showcase page for IT Legends? Let's run through these questions:

1. Can you warrant running another page?

Yes. IT legends have a strong presence on LinkedIn, they are routinely uploading new technology and products, often a couple times a day.

2. Do you have the time to run it in-house? 

Yes. Ben would be in charge of running the Showcase page as well as other social channels. While the running of the Showcase Pages will increase his workload it wouldn’t be by a lot, as they already have a regular cadence of LinkedIn posts.

3. Do you have the demand for more product and/or service pages?

Yes. With all the products IT Legends already post on their LinkedIn page they might be over saturating their customers. But at the same time, they need to get this information out to their followers. A showcase page would allow them to better target each post.

4. Will the increased cost be beneficial?

Yes. With their followers / potential customers seeing more of the content that interests them and seeing less unrelated content they won’t feel as bombarded with posts. Instead, they will feel like they are being talked to not shouted at.

5. Are you willing to ‘start from the bottom’ again?

Maybe. Having to start from the bottom is the only downside Ben could face in producing Showcase pages. From the engagement he has with his current posts he knows his customers are passionate about the products, so they will benefit from more targeted content popping up in their news feeds.

Tips, tricks and showing off your showcase page:

Google loves Showcase Pages so look to take advance of this love affair:

• Look to target some of your key SEO keywords in your page-naming process. Your selected name will also be your URL, meaning no one else can have the same LinkedIn showcase page name.
• Linkedin Showcase pages rank high in search results (if properly optimised). Use the 200 characters to develop a compelling, engaging and keyword rich product or service page.

NOTE: Changing your Showcase Page name does not automatically change the URL. You will have to request that LinkedIn update the information. URL and company name changes are subject to availability.

Showcase pages have a large hero image and two-column newspaper-like layout.

• The header image supports PNG, JPEG, and GIF (get creative). For optimal quality, LinkedIn recommends an image size of 1536 x 768px, with a maximum size of 2MB. 
• The two-column layout makes the digesting of information a lot easier. So think about the layout of images and text and how it can showcase your brand (get creative).

You can create up to 10 Showcase Pages for your company page. But LinkedIn does state that “if your company wants and can support more, we'll be happy to help.”

Unlike in groups, you have the ability to sponsor content in Showcase Pages. Remember to keep these sponsored posts within your pages styling. Use the page analytics to optimise your sponsored posts.

All your Showcase Pages link back directly to your business's page, this means that all your Showcase Pages revolve around your business as the central ‘hub’.

For a company like IT legends a Showcase page would be beneficial they have the time, budget and the customer support to run a LinkedIn account as well as more than one showcase page. 

If you are thinking about starting a Showcase page make sure to run an audit with the pros and cons to strategically assess your company's need for a Showcase page.

Get in touch with the experts at Aamplify for more information utilising LinkedIn