With over 65 million professionals using their network, LinkedIn doesn't often get the buzz that Twitter and Facebook commands. However, a new tool introduced today gives LinkedIn members the ability to
follow
companies.
Similar to a Facebook Fan Page, being a company follower on LinkedIn will get you specific status updates such as recent hires and promotions, new job opportunities and company profile updates. With the initial launch the interaction opportunities are fairly basic, but as the feature matures more opportunities will be released to improve communication between companies and individuals.
It is extremely simple to
follow a company
. For instance, you can follow HubSpot by going to our
LinkedIn profile
and click on the "Follow Company" link in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
As part of a new piece of research, we're seeing how quickly we can grow our followers on LinkedIn's new company profile tool (and will share that information with our readers in the next week).
When we started evaluating the new LinkedIn tool it was mid-afternoon, and in the course of just three hours, we gained 128 followers (we have 140 employees). This beats out Salesforce.com with 86 followers and 4000+ employees. Another well-known company, Twitter, has 381 followers and 500+ employees.
How did we do it?
1. We sent an email to all of our employees asking them to follow HubSpot. We also asked our social-savvy team to ask their networks to follow HubSpot on LinkedIn.
2. We sent out a Tweet from our HubSpot account.
3. We posted a Facebook update on our Wall.
4. We posted a Discussion Topic in the Inbound Marketers group on LinkedIn.
Granted, it is late in the day, and not everyone is paying attention to their email or social networks. But, with a little effort, a company can gain an advantage in the Social Marketing wars by leveraging an easy-to-use tool from LinkedIn. Company followers are listed, along with a blurb and LinkedIn profile.
Besides going to a company's profile page to follow, you can click on the company name in a person's LinkedIn profile and an option to follow that company will appear.
Many people will think that this new tool is no big deal. But, just think about the opportunity to have customers, prospects, potential employees and other connections following a company, your company.
We hope that LinkedIn will continue to add features so B2B marketers can optimize this business social network even further.
What do you think of the new feature? Are you going to follow companies on LinkedIn?
Photo Credit: Marloes*
How to Monitor Your Company Brand Using Social Media
Video: How to Use Social Media to Manage Your Company Brand Online
|
Learn how to use social media to manage your company brand.
Download the free video and learn how to manage your company brand effectively using social media. |
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Unmana 9:23 AM on April 30, 2010
Yes! I love this feature! As a marketer who's trying to drive her company's visibility in social media, I think this is a great thing.
Song Division 9:43 AM on April 30, 2010
This is fantastic! I just followed 'hubspot' and it told me how/if I was connected to each hubspot employees!
Matthew Nelson 10:31 AM on April 30, 2010
I don't know, this all has a "too little too late" feeling to it if you ask me. Why do I want to follow a company on LinkedIn!? I already follow brands on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, etc and those are active social connections that are supported with conversation. This following on LinkedIn looks to me like an empty endorsement for any organization.
Ronnie 10:50 AM on April 30, 2010
Not as easy to get fans as Facebook . Most of my clients use Facebook , few use Linkedin . Lets hope my employees can drive some follows from their friends as well .
Kristen Haley 11:08 AM on April 30, 2010
I just followed the Red Sox <3
http://www.linkedin.com/companies/boston-red-sox
Ralph Leon 1:39 PM on April 30, 2010
I think this a great tool. It is more business focused than other social platforms, which I personally like. I think LinkedIn has been behind in this feature so it will take a little longer for people to catch on.
Tanmay 2:41 PM on April 30, 2010
I think this feature is essential from a B2B perspective and no so much from a B2C angle. It will interesting to see how people and companies use this.
Why would one follow a company on “largely professional networking” platform such as LinkedIn?
1) To seek information about new products/service launch (competitive intelligence)
2) To know who joined where at what designation (colleagues, friends, HR)
3) To know about new job openings (recruiters and job seekers, LinkedIn is already good at this)
4) To explore business opportunities (sales and marketing)
5) To also follow companies on LinkedIn (they may be already following companies using blogs, RSS, tweets etc.)
6) To catch the incubating “next big ideas” early
What should companies do with this feature?
1) Creating buzz around products? (Facebook, Twitter and many more)
2) Informing customers about new promotional schemes? (email marketing, Facebook, Twitter)
3) Directing tribes to remarkable content? (tiny URLs on Twitter, YouTube video channels, blogs)
4) Making competitors paranoid?
As with others, this feature will evolve with time. It will be interesting to see whether LinkedIn restricts this feature within professional networking or lets it spill over into social networking.
Kelli 4:11 PM on May 02, 2010
I Love following companies on LinkedIn! I just forwarded a new job listing to my sister that I wouldn't have even thought about without following the company.
The links to Hubspots page above are broken. Here are the right link http://www.linkedin.com/companies/hubspot
seo basics 11:30 PM on May 02, 2010
LinkedIn and social networking seem to be made for each other. Thanks for a great article!
Toni Anicic 2:59 AM on May 03, 2010
Now, if only we could have external LinkedIn company follow button for use on our own websites, much like facebook's new like button in your right sidebar...
Barb 10:46 PM on May 09, 2010
I agree with Matthew but I feel this will be very interesting to watch. While you already have the ability to follow companies on Twitter, Facebook etc. it will be interestiing to see if people care about this feature or like Matthew said, is it just 'too little too late?'