As the world’s largest social network for professionals, LinkedIn can be a great place for professionals to build relationships with other professionals. But as helpful as LinkedIn can be for networking for the individual, LinkedIn can also be a great place for companies to launch and advance a professional identity.
With a LinkedIn company profile, you have the opportunity to increase awareness of your company’s identity among the professional set. LinkedIn users can follow your company to receive company updates such as new hires and new products and services. Also, because LinkedIn company profiles have a high PageRank, they show up prominently in search results, helping your organization gain more exposure.
If you haven’t done so already, creating a LinkedIn company profile is easy. The following is a guide to setting up a professional, effective LinkedIn company profile:
1.Add your company. To create your LinkedIn company profile, go to the Companies menu on LinkedIn. From there, choose Add a Company. You will be asked to fill out your company name and your company e-mail address. [Note: If your e-mail address is associated with another company, LinkedIn won’t let you add a company profile.]
2.Build your company profile. Follow the LinkedIn profile wizard to flesh out your profile. To give visitors the best sense of your company, add as much information as profile. Here’s the type of information you can add to your profile:
·Company Type: Is your organization a public company? Privately held? Self Owned?
·Company Size: How many employees does your company have?
·Company Website URL: Your company’s website
·Main Company Industry: Choose from a list of industries
·Company Operating Status: Operating? Operating subsidiary? Acquired?
·Year Founded: When was your company founded?
·Company Locations: Add all business locations.
·Logo: Upload your company logo. [Note: Files must be 50×50 pixels.]
·Company Description: Describe you company in a paragraph or two. Be sure to add keyword phrases.
·Company Specialties: List your company’s products and services.
·Twitter ID: Have a Twitter account? Add your Twitter ID to your LinkedIn profile to display your tweets right in your feed.
·Company Blog RSS Feed: To automatically post your company blog entries on your LinkedIn company profile, add the web address of your blog feed (i.e. https://www.companyname.com/blog/feed)
·Company News: Opt to share news published about your company on your LinkedIn profile.
3.Add products and services. Let visitors know what you have to offer by filling out a profile for each of your company’s products and services. For each product or service, you can provide the following:
·Name
·Category
·Image: Choose an image that best represents your product. For best results, make sure the image is sized to 100×80 pixels.
·Description: Describe the product or service in a few sentences, making sure to use keywords.
·List of key features: What are the key benefits/uses of your product/service?
·Disclaimer: Does this product/service come with a disclaimer?
·URL: Have a webpage or blog about this product? Add it here.
·Contacts: Who can visitors contact about this product? You can designate company employees as contacts that are listed on LinkedIn.
·Promotions: Have a special offer for this product? Include a title, description and URL where users can find out more.
·YouTube Video: Have a YouTube video that demonstrates this product or service? Add a video header and video URL to display it on the page.
4.Designate company page admins. Who from your organization do you want to be able to edit your company profile? You have the option of allowing any LinkedIn user with a valid company domain e-mail address to edit your page, but if you want to limit control of your page, opt to add designated users only.
Creating and cultivating your LinkedIn company profile will help your company connect with more people online. If you’d like assistance in creating your LinkedIn company profile, CyberMark can help. Please contact us today to consult with us about building your company’s profile on LinkedIn.
