A LinkedIn business page (called a Company Page) allows you to engage your customers and build awareness for your brand. Use it to describe your business, post product information,and more. Here’s how to set up a business page on LinkedIn.
No matter what the target audience of your business, you can’t go wrong with setting up a business page on LinkedIn. LinkedIn calls these pages company pages. They allow you to market your brand to a like-minded audience and connect with a whole host of business professionals through your own diverse range of unique, LinkedIn-specific content.
If you want to be taken seriously as a professional, setting up a personal LinkedIn account is a good place to start – but to get the best out of your business marketing efforts, you’ll need a comprehensive, well-rounded business profile for your brand.
If you’re looking to get started on creating a LinkedIn business page, here’s how the process works:
Preparation
Before you set up your LinkedIn company page, you need to prepare appropriately for the job at hand. Several things to consider are:
1. Your current profiles
What information do you share on your business’ current social media profiles? You may be able to save time by spreading some of this information across onto your LinkedIn business page – but be wary of copying word-for-word. You should ensure that your branding is clear and consistent, but your LinkedIn business page should be fresh and unique from your other social channels.
2. Your competitors’ profiles
It’s always helpful to check out how your competitors are doing on LinkedIn, so don’t hesitate to visit the appropriate LinkedIn pages and note any relevant information you pick up on. What are your competitors doing well? What are they clearly missing? Are they utilizing all of the tools and features LinkedIn has to offer? Now compare yourself to your competitors. How could your own business page on LinkedIn offer so much more?
3. Your communication goals
It’s incredibly helpful to think about your purpose for setting up a company page on LinkedIn before getting started. Even if you can only initially think, “well, I need to, don’t I?” try your best to delve deeper than that. Consider what you’d like to get out of your LinkedIn business page. Who are you specifically looking to target? How can you utilize the platform differs from other platforms, and to your biggest benefit?
4. Your marketing plan
Your marketing plan should be in line with your communication goals for your LinkedIn business page. As soon as you know what you want to get out of the platform, you’ll be able to create a tailored day-by-day plan for content. LinkedIn allows you to share a combination of images, video and other media with written content and shared copy, so make sure to factor in this diversification into your posting schedule.
Getting started
Now that you have a better idea about how you’d like to utilize your LinkedIn business page, you’re ready to get started. To set up your business page on LinkedIn, follow the simple steps below:
1. Log into your LinkedIn profile
If you’re not already online, log into your LinkedIn profile. Setting up your business page via your own profile will automatically make you admin of the page, although you can add more admins later.
2. Create a LinkedIn page
In the top right-hand corner, click the “work” tab and select “create a LinkedIn page” from the list of options.
3. Choose your business size
Next, select your business size (we chose “small business” for the purpose of this example).
4. Fill in your basic details
This will take you onto a “page identity” page. Here, you’ll be given the opportunity to fill in your basic business details, like your business’ name, your preferred URL, your website, industry, company type, and tagline. You’ll also be able to add in a logo at this stage.
5. Build your page
Once you’ve agreed to LinkedIn’s terms and conditions, you’ll be taken onto your business page. This is your opportunity to build your page in more depth, adding descriptions, cover images, your location, and hashtags.
6. Create your first post
Now to put your hard work into action – it’s time to create your first post. To do this, scroll down your business page until you find the “start a post” tab. When you click this button, a text box overlay will appear on the screen. You can share a photo, video, or document attachment, link to your website, or simply type straight into the box.
7. Review your profile
Congratulations – you now officially have a working LinkedIn company page. Before you excitedly share your page with all of your business associates, give your profile a thorough review to check everything’s A-OK. Ensure grammar and punctuation are up to scratch, and everything you could have filled out is completed. The more thorough and informative your page, the more you’ll get out of the LinkedIn platform.
LinkedIn best practices
Creating a business page on LinkedIn takes hard work and effort – so you’ll want to make sure that effort ends up being worth the while in the long run. Here are some good practices for using LinkedIn for your business for you to keep in mind:
1. Prepare for regular maintenance
Business is constantly evolving, and it’s important that you make regular updates as the changes happen to stay current online. It’s all too easy to put off making small changes to your business page until it suddenly no longer represents who you are at the present day.
2. Post frequently, but be wary of spam
Every single post you make to LinkedIn should feel 100 percent genuine. If you feel forced to commit to updating your LinkedIn page, it’ll show through your rushed, unedited posting habits. If you don’t have time to post quality content at the right frequency, consider outsourcing the task to a motivated member of your team.
3. Get strategic
When you have a clear idea of your target audience in mind, it’ll be easier for you to post strategically with the aim of appealing to that audience directly. Experiment with different forms of content and see which ones bring in the best reaction. Don’t be afraid to mix things up, either – a rigorous, consistent posting schedule might show good discipline, but it’s fairly boring to the average audience.
Linked in is just one of many social media networks. Get more social media tips to grow your business.
