Founded in 2002, LinkedIn helps businesses and nonprofits connect with an engaged audience of professionals. From a free company profile to targeted advertising, LinkedIn is a platform to consider for brands of all types and sizes.
Creating a Company Page
Does your organization already have a company page? If so, check with your team to identify current page admins and request to be invited to the page’s managers. Otherwise, creating a page is free and easy. Currently located under the For Business icon in desktop devices’ upper-right corner, you’ll be prompted to complete a brief setup and can add additional team members to co-manage the new page.
Optimizing Your Page
Like any business profile on social media, you should present a great first impression to visitors, provide them with the information they’re seeking, and be easily found for your organization type and industry in searches. Whether your page is new or established, ensure you’re leveraging all available fields such as uploading quality profile and cover images as well as completing all applicable Edit Page sections such as adding contact information, a company description, and the prominent call to action button.
To maximize your visibility, indicate your brand’s industry and specialties within the Edit Page setting. LinkedIn also allows you to easily invite connections of your personal profile to bolster your company page’s following.
Publishing Content
Like all social media platforms, you should publish content at regular intervals on LinkedIn. Avoid only posting in sporadic bursts which can create an appearance of inactivity and inhibit follower engagement.
Keep your followers in mind when publishing content. People don’t enjoy “salesy” content, especially if it’s all a page seems to post. Publish primarily educational and entertaining content, and when you post sales-oriented content, frame it in a way that helps solve your consumers’ problems.
Like other social channels, you can also incorporate hashtags into your LinkedIn posts to extend your posts’ reach beyond your existing followers.
Learn more about social media best practices.
Targeted Advertising
LinkedIn also offers advertising to reach targeted audiences of potential customers. Professionals can be targeted with ads based on characteristics including location, job title, and self-identified skills. LinkedIn’s ads dashboard then provides transparent performance data for evaluating the effectiveness of your ads.
Explore our guide on social media advertising.
Free Resources
Many great tools are available to grow your LinkedIn presence and lessen the effort involved with publishing great content. For images, you can utilize a stock photo website such as Pexels or Unsplash with libraries of royalty-free images. For organizing your content, Google Drive provides free software for planning and collaborating with team members. Lastly, social media management tools such as Buffer allow you to post to multiple social media platforms simultaneously and to schedule your posts in advance.
Summary
LinkedIn is among the top social media platforms to consider for your business, especially if your target audience includes professionals. Connect with prospects by optimizing a company page, developing a follower base, and regularly publishing quality content. LinkedIn advertising allows you to boost that reach to target audiences and encourage action, all with an efficient budget.
