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Up until recently, the value of a LinkedIn Company Page was minimal. But ever since LinkedIn enabled company updates for pages, they've become monumentally more valuable for marketers. Upon investigation of various LinkedIn Company Pages, though, it turns out that very few companies are actually leveraging this awesome new feature.
To be honest, it's very difficult to find many examples of companies using LinkedIn Company Pages to their fullest potential. This a huge missed opportunity for businesses, especially given that because many businesses aren't leveraging features likes company updates, the clutter on LinkedIn is significantly less dense than on other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. This means that a business that takes advantage of company updates and other page features can leverage a great opportunity to stand out from its competitors. Below, we've identified 11 reasons why your LinkedIn Company Page is probably failling so you can get to work on building a much better and more effective LinkedIn company presence.
11 Reasons Your LinkedIn Company Page Sucks
1. It Has No Followers: As with any social media presence, building up a solid base of followers is key. Before company updates became a LinkedIn feature, followers were practically useless. Now, without followers, your company updates will be useless. Spend some time generating new followers for your LinkedIn Company Page by promoting your presence there: add follow buttons to your website and blog, write a blog post about your presence, and tell followers on your other social networks to follow you on LinkedIn, too.
2. It's Completely Bare: Good luck attracting new LinkedIn company followers with a blank, boring page. At the very least, your page should include basic information about your company. Be sure to edit your page overview, complete your profile, and fine-tune your company description.
3. You're Not Using Company Updates to Share Content: As we mentioned earlier, it's astounding how many company pages aren't leveraging company updates yet, considering it's arguably the most critical marketing component of a company page. Enable company updates for your page and start sharing useful information and content; interesting discussion topics; and any other company updates you want to share with your followers. Maintaining a regularly updated and engaging page is the best way to organically attract new followers for your page.
4. You Have No Products/Services Tab: If you're a business that offers products/services (and what business doesn't?), there's no reason you shouldn't feature them in your 'Products' tab. You can even get creative with this by featuring things other than just your products/services like webinar and ebook offers, as the HubSpot Company Page has done. There's nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, and doing so can help you generate valuable leads from your LinkedIn company presence!
5. You're Not Creating Targeted Product Tabs: Did you know that you can create targeted content within your Products tab that targets different audiences and features different products? Smart LinkedIn Company Pages are leveraging this feature to personalize messaging on their Products tab, and you should, too. Just click "Create New Audience" while in edit mode on your Products tab, and follow the wizard to specify and define your audience in terms of things like company size, job function, industry, seniority, and geography.
6. It Features No Recommendations: Displaying testimonials is a great way to show third-party validation and, as a result, credibility for your products/services. On LinkedIn, testimonials translate to 'Recommendations.' On your Products tab, page visitors have the opportunity to recommend individual products and services, and a tab rich with recommendations is definitely a good thing. Consider using LinkedIn's "Request recommendations" option to ask friends, fans, and customers of your company to leave a recommendation of your products/services if they've had a positive experience with your brand.
7. You're Not Leveraging Opportunities for Creativity: While a LinkedIn Company Page may not be as customizable as, say, a Facebook Page, there are a few things you can do to make your page more engaging for your followers. Leverage the opportunity to highlight specific promotions, incorporate videos (it's as simple as adding a link to a YouTube video), and leverage an interactive 'product and service spotlight' such as the one from PepsiCo pictured below. To do so, add 3 banner images/links in step 3 while you're editing your Products tab.
8. You Haven't Enabled the Blog RSS Feed: Feature your business' blog content automatically by adding your business blog's RSS feed to your company page. This will pull in new posts and feature them on the overview tab of your LinkedIn Company Page. To enable this feature, simply go into edit mode of your page's 'Overview' tab, scroll down, and enter the URL for your blog's RSS feed. It will display a feed that looks like the following, as seen on Chevron's LinkedIn Company Page.
9. You Haven't Enabled the News Module: Easily showcase news mentions of your company from the web on your Company Page. While still in edit mode of your page's Overview tab, check the bubble, "Share news about my company" under 'News Module' at the very bottom of the page.
10. Your Careers Tab is Worthless: One of most valuable uses of LinkedIn is for job search and recruiting. Leverage your 'Careers' tab to promote job opportunities at your company and direct them to your website to apply.
11. You're Ignoring Your Analytics: Make use of your LinkedIn Company Page's built-in analytics tools to measure and improve the effectiveness and performance of your page. LinkedIn's analytics tools, visible to page administrators as the fourth tab on your page, allow you to track page views and unique visitors on your overall page as well as each individual tab (although keep in mind it doesn't currently provide analytics on how individually targeted product tab content performs; it only offers analytics on that tab as a whole). LinkedIn also measures how many clicks your products or services have received as well as the number of members following your company. Additionally, LinkedIn provides percentages for member visits. This tool can be helpful in understanding who your LinkedIn target audience consists of, because the data is split into member visits by industry (marketing, finance, etc.), function (sales, research, etc.), and company (HubSpot, LinkedIn, etc.).
Don't limit the measurement of your page just to LinkedIn's internal metrics. Be sure to also use your own marketing analytics tool to measure traffic, leads, and customers generated from your LinkedIn presence to understand your overall effectiveness there.
How does your LinkedIn Company Page stack up? Where could you make improvements? Follow HubSpot's own LinkedIn Company Page for inspiration!
