Last week I shared some tips on improving your LinkedIn personal page, but as a business owner, you also need a LinkedIn business page, so let’s talk about that today. I’ll preface this by saying that the entire LinkedIn platform is built around the idea of professionals connecting with other professionals, so your personal page will always be your number one source of leads on LinkedIn. That said, you still need a business page, and here’s why:
First, LinkedIn has over 590 million individual members and 30 million businesses. It doesn’t cost anything to create a LinkedIn business page, so why wouldn’t you if it can help with brand visibility? Most people with LinkedIn accounts use it to network, research information on companies, and grow in their careers. If yours is a B2B business, then there is no question you need to be there. If it’s a B2C selling to people with careers, then you should still be there.
One strategy that will help your business to become top of mind is thought leadership. This strategy requires creating thought-provoking content in your field. You know your space and are likely quite comfortable speaking about trends with clients and colleagues, so all this requires is to capture your thoughts on video on text. On LinkedIn, 75% of potential buyers say that thought leadership helps determine which companies to consider, and 79% point to thought leadership as critical to select which companies they want to learn more about. Nearly half of all C-suite executives spend at least an hour per week engaging with thought leadership content.
In addition to thought leadership, your business page will allow you to showcase your products and services, post your job openings, and reach your target audience. The LinkedIn algorithm isn’t as ad-focused as Facebook and Instagram, so the free organic reach you can obtain through content and engagement makes it the best digital marketing deal in town.
But before you post thought leadership content, you’ll need a page. In case you’re new to the party, here’s how to create one. First, you’ll need to login to the personal page under which you want the business page to reside. I suggest using the account of one of the most senior people in your company who will be around for the long haul, so page ownership doesn’t get messy when someone changes jobs.
To create the page, click the “Work” icon at the LinkedIn home page’s top right. Select “Create A Company Page” then select your business’s size, fill in your company details, and click “Create Page.”
I suspect that many of you listening never got past this first step, so here’s how to optimize your LinkedIn business page. First, use the “About” section to tell your brand story. Don’t use some bland corporate message that might go in the footer of your financial statements. Your goal is for actual humans to read this and be interested. This is your elevator pitch, told from the perspective of the person or company whose problem you can solve. Remember always to show the reader how they can be the hero and how your company is the wind beneath their wings. No one wants to read about how great YOU are; they want to read about how great you can make THEM!
Within your About section, you can also include company demographics, a link to your website, your contact information, and 20 keywords related to how you’d like to be found. I strongly recommend using all of these.
Next up is your banner image. Like your personal page, don’t leave this as the boring blue background that comes with your account. If you have access to a graphic designer, this is an excellent opportunity to create something custom. Otherwise, I would suggest going with a nice shot of your team, your building, or something related to your clients.
Now that you have completed the basics for your business page, it’s time to give it some exposure, starting with your employees. Send them all the link, and ask them to update their experience section to reflect that they are an employee. If they created their pages prior to your company page being available, their profiles would show that little generic grey building icon next to your company’s name. If they edit their profile and select your company page, then the logo you added to your profile will now appear on their page, and visitors to their page will be able to click on your company name and see your company page. Now when someone visits your company page and clicks on “People,” they’ll see the great employees you have on your team. This can help you with recruiting, as well as lead generation since it adds to your credibility.
You’ll want to continue to give your page exposure by creating content. I recommend going for a two-part strategy of demonstrating thought leadership and driving traffic to your website. Even if your page doesn’t have a ton of followers, it should look complete when someone finds you. Share content related to your industry regularly. You can notify your employees when you post an update, and when they comment on it, then the post will be visible to their networks as well.
Here are some ideas for content you can post:
- Showcase a team member
- Post about something that speaks to your company culture. Perhaps they can share a quick video highlighting how they’re keeping one another and your clients safe during COVID.
- Links to news stories or published articles
- Sharing professional recognition or achievements by team members
- Share and comment on industry articles you found interesting.
- Link to your blog posts on your website. Remember to always post a blog first to your website for SEO credit, and then to LinkedIn after it has been indexed by Google.
Did you know that LinkedIn also uses hashtags? I say this with some degree of caution because you don’t want to get to the Instagram level, or you may annoy some people. But adding one to three hashtags to your next post can definitely reward you with greater exposure. You may also want to follow hashtags related to your business to be exposed to content you can comment on.
Now that your business and personal pages are working seamlessly together, here are a few do’s and don’t for LinkedIn.
First, things NOT to do on LinkedIn:
- Don’t treat it like Facebook. If you wouldn’t share it in a meeting with a client, don’t share it on LinkedIn. That means no cute gifs or memes, no pictures of you with your dog, and remain fully clothed at all times.
- Don’t use posts to sell. This is a networking platform, and the community gets really annoyed when you disrespect the network by pushing sales. Your goal here is to build relationships and credibility that lead to sales.
- Don’t suck up to influencers. There was always that one kid in the class who had a wordy comment on something the professor said, that was designed to impress rather than move the conversation forward. That kid is now on LinkedIn sucking up to influencers by writing long comments on posts that you just know are meant to get attention. It works about as well now as it did then. If you want to get an influencer’s attention, ask an insightful question that shows you have read their material. Don’t comment for the sake of being heard.
- Don’t use one of those sales bots to send direct messages. We all know it isn’t really you.
- Don’t start your message to someone with “I see you viewed my profile.” It’s creepy.
I have personally witnessed the community jump all over people who broke these unwritten rules, and it wasn’t pretty.
Here are some “do’s” when networking on LinkedIn:
- Do personalize your connection requests. It’s more likely they’ll be accepted. But come up with something that will make the person want to connect with you. I actually had a guy message me last week who said, and I quote, “I always like to add CEOs to my network so thought we should connect.” I’m sure you can guess if I accepted.
- Do send a connection request to every new professional you meet. If they attend your networking meeting, send a request. If someone introduces you by email, send a request. This is an easy way to build your network. There are even some cool CRM tools that plug right into your email and LinkedIn so you can quickly add people.
- Do respond quickly when someone DMs you. Unless, of course, it’s one of those spambots.
- Do send recommendation requests to your clients and colleagues. Be sure to return the favor.
- Do post content to stay top of mind. Aim for at least a few times per week if you can.
- Do introduce people. Remember, this is still a network.
So there you have it—a quick primer on how to make your business look good on LinkedIn.
Let me leave you with a quote from one of my favorite business gurus Robert Kiyosaki.
“The richest people in the world look for and build networks. Everyone else looks for a job.”
Happy online networking!