Last month, Hubspot kicked off a virtual edition of its annual INBOUND conference, one of the world’s largest gatherings of marketers. The two-day event invited thousands of individuals from across the globe to discuss all things marketing and sales. One particularly useful session was a 30-minute ask-me-anything on optimizing LinkedIn for business with Millennial LinkedIn Master Michaela Alexis.
While many people think of LinkedIn as a giant collection of resumes, it’s earned its place as the leading social network for businesses, offering more than just jobs and workers.
Are Linkedin Company Pages Worth the Effort?
LinkedIn is home to more than 30 million company pages, but many companies are not making the most of them. It’s a missed opportunity. As Alexis put it, “An underutilized company page is like having a booth at the world’s largest networking event and not taking advantage of the leads it could generate.” Maintaining an engaging and effective company page on Linkedin can feel like a full-time job, but these tips and tricks can help take your company from attention seeker to audience keeper.
How to Build Organic Reach
Top advice from Alexis? Keep your audience in mind. A LinkedIn company page is essentially a service hub for prospects. Ask yourself, what information is my prospect missing in order to make the decision to work with me/buy from me? Don’t forget the content you already have elsewhere. For example, the FAQ pages from your website are prime content for addressing a prospect’s concerns and can be repurposed on your LinkedIn company page.
LinkedIn is a passive platform, often receiving fewer reactions and interactions than other popular social forums such as Instagram or Twitter. “Hidden” features like polls can help you “break through” and engage audiences a bit more. “You are likely to see 2-3 times more poll responses than likes or comments on LinkedIn,” noted Alexis. And where do you find this Poll feature? Go to your company page, start a Post and you’ll discover the Poll feature!
Polls are also a great way to gather content ideas. Ask your audience what future posts they’d like to see. This helps them feel heard and saves you time and money. You’ll be creating the specific content your audience requested.
How Can I Make the Most of LinkedIn?
Training your entire team to use LinkedIn, not just the marketing department, can really make a difference. Alexis suggests making LinkedIn training part of your onboarding process. One of our agency’s clients “discovered” 50 new employees on LinkedIn (extending the firm’s LinkedIn reach and profile) when they asked employees to use the firm’s name instead of the acronym most employees were using.
Alexis also recommends having multiple admins for your page. One advantage is that admins can invite 100 personal connections per month to like the company page. According to LinkedIn, the average member has 930 connections. Imagine the reach your company could have if your team of admins starts inviting their connections to follow your company page.
Last month, LinkedIn unveiled a new “Events” tab for company pages that allows companies to showcase upcoming virtual events with their community. Admins can invite up to 500 connections at a time. “It could even be more,” Alexis admitted, “500 is just when my fingers started to hurt and I stopped clicking the ‘invite’ button.” And where do you find that function? Create an event in the admin tools on the business page.
How Often Should my Company Post Content on LinkedIn?
If you are sharing valuable content there is no real limit on the number of posts, but remember, it’s a more passive platform. Alexis shared her personal strategy. Post one or two times per day and at least once every other day. The LinkedIn expert also commented on a noticeable shift toward more personal content as everyone adjusts to working remotely in the midst of the pandemic. In other words, you don’t have to limit your LinkedIn Company Page content to just business. She recommends using a 3:2 ratio of corporate to personal/relatable content.
Is your LinkedIn company page a missed opportunity? Don’t let it be!
Looking for ways to upgrade your personal page? Check out this article on how to add value to your LinkedIn profile.
(Editor Note: LinkedIn updated its policy for company page invites. Each company page receives 100 “credits” the first day of each month to invite 1st connections. If an invited connection likes the company page, that credit is returned to the admin before the month concludes.)
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