Developing a Business Presence on LinkedIn

by Deirdre Weedon

According to Pew Research Center, 67% of online adults in the United States use social media and the pipeline is full with 83% the 18-29 year olds using social media. If you have a small business and are not using social media, you’re most likely trying to determine how you can harness this tremendous power base to bring in and retain customers. This task is particularly challenging because studies show that the attention span of an adult online is 8 seconds.

In this post, we’ll look at how businesses can use LinkedIn which is a good platform for individuals as well as businesses to network. LinkedIn has about 200 million users and about 2.8 million businesses on it. Some industries are more active than others on it, but overall there is a very diverse group of industries using it with the largest ones being Information Technology (4M), Financial Services (2.03M) and Higher Education (1.95M).

As a business owner, it’s important to have a presence on LinkedIn. Even most one person businesses can create a company page on LinkedIn. There are several requirements including having a LinkedIn individual profile, being employed by the company you are starting the page for, having a company email address that is unique (e.g. not gmail or yahoo), and having your profile strength listed as Intermediate or All Star. Your profile strength meter is located on the right side of your profile and has to do with your profile and connections.

You can add your logo and a company banner with photos. As you complete all the sections of the page (type, size, specialties, industry, etc..) check for uniformity throughout the page and make sure it is in sync with your company website. Add details about the value your company offers. Write a purposeful description of your organization and how it can benefit clients. Spend some time viewing other company pages, particularly those in your industry before you post your own. You want to differentiate yourself and your company from the millions of professional users on the network.

Once you create your company page, be active on it. Share articles about your industry in your status. Join some professional groups focused on an area that you are knowledgeable about so you feel comfortable participating in the discussions. Your authenticity will show through if you are familiar with and interested in the discussion. Giving thoughtful feedback in these forums will help you connect with others in your field and help you position yourself as an expert.

Encourage current employees to associate with your company page. This will result in their profiles showing up when people view your company page. Use the products tab to highlight your products and services making sure that you keep this tab up-to-date. The more vibrant your company page is the better for your image. You want your company page to be seen as useful to others.

Using LinkedIn ads can be very useful to some companies because targeting specific industries and job functions is possible. It’s important that if you are using LinkedIn ads that you provide something of value to people. It could be an instructive infographic about your industry or a white paper you or one of your employees wrote. Whatever you are providing, make it easy for users to request it and have them click to a well-crafted landing page where they can provide their contact information to download whatever item you are offering. Studies show that the attention span of an adult online is 8 seconds.

Check back each week for more social media tips and information. If you would like detailed information about how to starting a LinkedIn company page contact me at dw@openclickcommunications.com.