If there’s one thing that can be set in stone about digital marketing, it’s that nothing is set in stone. That’s why I need to modify our approach to LinkedIn company pages for smaller marketing departments. Here are five reasons why you need one, as well as some LinkedIn company page tips to help you get the ball rolling.
In the post “The Ideal LinkedIn Strategy for a Small Marketing Department,” my number one tip was that your company should “forget the company page and train your sales and marketing team to share through individual networks.”
My point was that a small marketing department will make far more efficient use of its time if it has six salespeople with large LinkedIn networks sharing content, as opposed to putting in tons of time to build a company page audience.
I’ll stand by that point, but Cathy Yerges of RevGrow sagely pointed out why you should also use a LinkedIn company page — especially if you’re a small marketing department.
5 reasons you should use LinkedIn company pages
Cathy helps businesses generate revenue through LinkedIn, and over the last two years she’s partnered with RevGrow to deliver great results for their clients.
She recently presented at Social Media Breakfast in Madison on the topic of LinkedIn company pages. I was pleasantly surprised to hear her pass along these five reasons for using LinkedIn company pages and how to do it. It definitely led me to tweak my strategy.
1. Branded search engine optimization
Search is a huge component of content marketing, and while many of us focus on keywords related to products, problems and solutions, we sometimes overlook the power of the branded keyword, i.e. your company name.
A LinkedIn company page can help in this arena.
Definitely, you should begin with optimizing your own company website. But the second tactic for optimizing your company name should be your LinkedIn company page. Why? Because it will show up in search results, likely appearing in the results right after your own website.
The more results you get on searches for your company name, the better. It helps crowd out the competition, who actually might show up when people are searching for your company. SEO folks get sneaky that way!
2. Use it to curate content for your sales team
A great point from Cathy, especially in heavily regulated industries, is that you can post approved content for your sales force and the rest of your employees on your company LinkedIn page.
“Whatever has been shared on the company page can be shared on the personal page,” Cathy said.
This liberates your team; once they know the boundaries, they’ll be far more likely to post on social media. We detailed the importance of setting boundaries in this post on why you need a social media policy for your company.
3. Use it in conjunction with Facebook to tell your company’s HR story
Many social media gurus will tell you that your company’s Facebook page is a great place to share all the community work your company does, or share photos of employees so they can share it on their own Facebook pages.
I get that, and I think it’s great. But why not do the same thing on your LinkedIn company page? Heck, why not do it more? I mean, if you’re trying to attract new personnel, why go to Facebook? We go to Facebook for cat memes, not to search for a job.
Your company LinkedIn page is a great place for HR to share why your company is the ideal place to work, and showcase job opportunities and your company culture. “Bring the exciting things to light,” Cathy said.
4. Boost your LinkedIn profile training
This is a tactic I like to use when helping employees develop their personal profile. Write a concise paragraph that summarizes your organization for the company page. Then your team can lift that paragraph and insert it in their personal profiles.
It’s a great way to keep the message consistent while emphasizing important keywords. It also allows your staff to focus the rest of the profile on themselves.
5. It helps customers know your company, like your company and trust your company
In our post on personalized branding, Don Stanley referred to Bob Burg’s secret to success: People will work with you if they know you, they like you, and they trust you.
Those words should light the fire under your sales team to use LinkedIn to help more people get to know them (an important point we highlighted in our post on why salespeople should be moving into marketing territory).
But it’s also a message for your entire organization to get people to know your company. Let people into your company’s inner world, and share your culture. Open yourself up to the world, and feel the love (or at the very least, the business connections) in return.
A few final tips to get the ball rolling
Cathy referred to a number of other issues you’ll need to address to really make your company pages effective. They include:
Define your target market. LinkedIn is THE place for businesses to find their target market. You need to have a clearly defined target market — starting with the job titles and geographical locations — before you engage.
Develop your LinkedIn strategy. Once you have the target markets and key messages in place, you should define how your company is going to approach LinkedIn. Here’s our take on how a small marketing team can make the best use of LinkedIn.
Create a company social media policy. This sounds like an “ugh,” but it’s really an “a-ha.” In developing a policy, you set the boundaries for what your employees can and can’t do on social media. This empowers them and incites their creativity. Here’s how a small marketing team can create a social media policy simply and effectively.
Train your team. Engaging on LinkedIn isn’t going to be a one-off effort. You need to work with your key personnel to not only build a profile, but also build their own strategy for engaging and starting conversations. (My recommendation — be a Go-Giver!)
Regardless of your approach, you have to maintain a sustained effort, and develop some benchmarks for success. Otherwise, all the posting on LinkedIn will seem futile. Be sure to tie it into your website metrics, so you can show the program is working.
The ultimate question: Why the heck are we doing this?
It all comes down to that at the end of the day, right? Why are we posting stuff, and connecting with people, and sharing the community events our company participated in? Why?
Cathy summed it up beautifully:
That’s it in a nutshell, folks. You’re building ACTIVITY. The only way you get yourself known is to be active.
Another advantage of being active on LinkedIn and other social media is that while you’re sharing about yourself, you’re learning new things. Special thanks to Cathy for opening my eyes to the benefits of the company page! Cathy invites you to connect with her on LinkedIn. Let her know you read this post by mentioning it in your invitation to connect.
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