Different social media platforms can serve different purposes for your business. Facebook, for example, is a great place to build a community with your customers as it is versatile enough to host all different types of content. X (formerly known as Twitter) is perfect for short, snappy pieces of content such as announcements and updates. Instagram suits visual content and YouTube and TikTok are ideal for long or short-form video content.
LinkedIn stands apart from the rest as it is a professionally oriented network to begin with. LinkedIn itself says it is the world’s largest professional network with more than 950 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company.1
LinkedIn is great for individuals looking to build and expand their professional networks, but LinkedIn for businesses is also a great tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes. It gives an organisation access to a huge professional audience whether they’re looking to hire, generate leads, enhance their brand and reputation or grow and market their business.
Introduction to LinkedIn for Businesses
As well as profiles for individuals, LinkedIn allows businesses to create a Company Page that can be used in various ways. A Company Page is designed for small, medium and large businesses alike, with different options for other organisations such as schools and universities.
As well as your main Company Page you can also create Showcase Pages, which are sub-pages associated with your existing pages. Essentially they serve as extensions to your main page and are designed to spotlight individual brands, business units and initiatives. You can create Showcase Pages to highlight aspects of your business with their own messages and audience segments. This generally makes them suitable for medium and large businesses, but some small businesses can also benefit from this feature.
Your Company Page (and any Showcase Pages) allow you to present what you do to a professional audience. These might include existing and potential clients and customers, job-seekers, thought leaders and movers and shakers in your industry.
Key Features of LinkedIn for Businesses
LinkedIn Company Pages have a number of special features that can help you to connect with your audience and expand your network of connections. The previously mentioned Showcase Page is a must for businesses with different facets or which serve multiple target audiences.
You can also use a number of features including:
- Posts – Just as with a personal profile, you can post engaging content relevant to your business and industry. You can also post videos and other visual content.
- Polls – A subset of posts, setting up a poll can be a good way to engage with your audience, as well as gaining useful insights.
- Products – You can showcase products via your Company Page, which will be more relevant to some businesses than others.
- Job listings – As the world’s premier professional network, LinkedIn is the perfect place to find and attract the talent you need for your business.
- Events – Create and advertise events such as meetups, online workshops, seminars, and more. A relatively new LinkedIn feature, LinkedIn Audio Events, allows you to host and engage in live, audio-only conversations with your audience.
One feature that has recently been discontinued is the carousel post – although carousel ads can stll be useful. This allowed you to embed images and videos that could be moved automatically or swiped by the viewer. Features are frequently added or removed from the platform, which can be difficult to keep track of without the aid of social media specialists.
What are the Benefits of Using LinkedIn?
Why is LinkedIn important? With a professional community of more than 950 million individuals and more than 63 million businesses, it gives you an unprecedented reach and a different audience and tone to other social media platforms.
Using LinkedIn for your business allows you to:
- Reach a targeted audience – LinkedIn is ideally placed for reaching a professional audience.
- Increase brand awareness – Reach the right people with relevant posts and thought leadership.
- Engage with customers, stakeholders and employees – Build a community through your content and conversations.
- Showcase your products and services – Let people know what you can offer them.
- Find new talent – LinkedIn is the ideal place to find the talent you need for business growth.
- Improve your SEO – Company Pages on LinkedIn can help you rank higher on Google and other search engines.
- Gain leads and conversions – LinkedIn is great for putting your company out there and building relationships, which can frequently lead to new sales and conversions.
Best Practices for Optimising Your Business Profile
There are a number of things you can do to improve engagement and make the most of your business profile.
The first piece of advice is to make sure you complete the profile, with LinkedIn itself reporting that pages with complete information experience 30% more weekly views. This will generally involve providing an overview, organisational information, an eye-catching logo and a call-to-action button.
There are also options to translate your content if you service an international audience. Your LinkedIn page will be indexed by Google and other search engines, so it’s always worth working in some keywords for SEO purposes, especially in your organisational information. For an extra boost, you can add up to three hashtags that are relevant for your organisation.
LinkedIn profile optimisation also goes beyond the initial set-up phase and the content you post is also extremely important. Regular posting is key and companies that post at least weekly experience an average doubling in engagement with their content.3
While any business can manage their own social media content, it can be time consuming. Social media marketing can also be easy to learn but difficult to master and outsourcing can be a good option for many businesses looking to maximise the potential of platforms like LinkedIn if they do not have the necessary resources, person-hours or expertise available in-house.
At Maxweb, we have a wide range of experience in helping businesses of all kinds to make the most of their social media platforms, including LinkedIn for business. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you to use LinkedIn to market your business to the right professional audience.
Sources:
1. https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedin/
2. https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#Statistics
3. https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/linkedin-pages/best-practices
Posted on Friday, September 29th, 2023 in Latest News.
