With over 875 million users, LinkedIn is a great platform for brands that want to reach professionals and position themselves as industry experts. Having a LinkedIn business page can help brands get noticed. They can also use the platform to engage with their audience. However, brands must understand how to use LinkedIn effectively in social media marketing. In this article, we will provide everything you need to know about using LinkedIn for business.

Steps in Creating a Linkedin Company Page

To successfully use LinkedIn for business, you need to have a page. Here are the steps to follow:

Opening a LinkedIn Business Page

To open a LinkedIn business page, you will need a personal account. This will act as the administrator of the company page. Once logged into the individual account, tap the business icon at the browser's top left. Go to the menu’s bottom and tap on the Create Company page. You will have the option to create three different types of pages. These are:

• Company
• Educational institute
• Showcase page

While the other two are self-explanatory, a showcase page refers to a company that needs to have a sub-page for a particular division that links back to its main page. The showcase page usually appears under the main page. Once you have chosen the kind of page you want to create, you can fill in your company details, such as the business name, industry, logo, and company website. Focus enough time on creating a logo and a tagline, as this will create the first impression for most users. 

Page Optimization

Once you have created a page, the next step is to start optimizing it. You need to use a more descriptive headline, select a page topic, and use hashtags. You will need to connect with relevant pages to enable your page to be discovered. Once your page is created, you will be prompted to add all the key page sections. Remember that filling in all your page details will increase its visibility. You can use the following LinkedIn page optimization tips:

• Use translations. The translation feature can enable you to reach a global audience in their language if you target a global audience.
• Optimize with relevant keywords. Google usually indexes LinkedIn business pages for the keywords you optimize for. That means you must add relevant keywords in the first part of the descriptions. The description should be in three to four paragraphs describing your products, services, vision, and values.
• Add the relevant hashtags. Ensure that you include about three hashtags.
• Include a branded cover image. The cover image can be a good option for showcasing your latest products or announcing your biggest news.
• Custom button. This button is what users will see on the page, and it is located near the Follow button.

Building a LinkedIn Network

Creating a LinkedIn company page isn't enough. You need to put the information out there that you have one. Here are a few ways to publicize your page:

• Link to your site. You can add the LinkedIn icon at the footer of your page.
• Ask employees to tag your page. Ensure that your employees have included their business page in their LinkedIn profiles. This will make it possible for their contacts to find your business page, and they will follow you. When someone taps on your company link while checking out an employee's profile, they will be taken to your business page. On the other hand, you can display a list of your employees to establish your company's credibility.
• Ask your followers to follow your page. You should also ask the people who follow your profile to follow your page. However, you will be limited on the number of accounts you can invite to avoid spamming users.

Determine Your Page Goal

You should have a goal for your LinkedIn company page. Consider the kind of people interacting with the post and the contribution of the LinkedIn page to your overall business goal. The goal could be generating leads or boosting brand awareness.

Implement Your Content Strategy

For a company page to succeed, you need a social media content strategy defining the goal of a LinkedIn page. This strategy should guide how to use the page for lead generation, recruitment, or conversion. The strategy should provide details about the kind of content to create to meet your audience’s needs. It should also define your competitors, what they are doing right, and how you will create better content than them.

Once you have a strategy, the next step should be to make a plan covering your posting frequency, the topics you will cover in the post, and how you plan to repurpose your LinkedIn content. This plan will also highlight how you should curate content from other sources. You can go ahead and auto-schedule content so that it is auto-published.

Consistently Post Content

The next step is to start posting content. According to LinkedIn, you should use a 3-2-1 format. This means you should create three industry-centric posts, two posts outlining your updates or achievements, and one post to showcase your brand. Depending on your company’s schedule and content catalog, you should decide on your posting frequency. A good idea would be to use a content calendar to show what content should be posted and when.

The kind of content you will post depends on your LinkedIn goals. If you want to generate leads, you can post helpful product updates. Another option would be to post case studies snippets to show how your customers love the product. A product demo would also work well.

For the best visibility on LinkedIn, post multimedia content consisting of visuals, texts, and carousel posts. LinkedIn suggests adding an image can increase your engagement by 2x. Similarly, when the relevant video accompanies a post, its engagement can be increased by five times. Adding several relevant hashtags in your niche is also a good practice. These could be related to posts, products, and industry.

Engage with Your Target Audience

Like other social media sites, you must keep showing up and responding to people’s comments. When they DM you, you need to answer their messages. Take time to interact and comment on the posts of your employees, networks, thought leaders, and other businesses in your industry.

Use Showcase Pages and Product Pages

We noted earlier that LinkedIn allows you to add a LinkedIn showcase page. You can combine these with product pages to highlight your product catalog. You can also use them to add product media, product highlights, featured customers, and more. 

The product pages are excellent for generating qualified leads and building a community around a product. They leverage media like videos and images to showcase featured customers, get reviews and ratings, and drive action with the call-to-action button, such as the contact sales form or a demo request.

Use LinkedIn Analytics

A key part of any social media marketing strategy is tracking the results. That applies to LinkedIn marketing, too. The good news is that LinkedIn comes with many analytics that allow you to track data on page visitors, content performance, lead generation, follower growth, and more. If you are running ads, you will see the data on the ad's performance.

Best Ways to Get Started with LinkedIn Marketing

Here are ways to use LinkedIn for business.

Showcasing Your Expertise

One thing that sets LinkedIn apart from other social media platforms is the ability to post long-form content and showcase your position as a thought leader. The LinkedIn algorithm gives long-form content prominence, which can help businesses gain more visibility on the platform.

Therefore, businesses can share advice, insights, and knowledge with the people in their network. They can post these articles either from their personal or business pages. However, since the goal is to grow your business using LinkedIn, we advise you to post from your company page.

Remember that publishing articles on LinkedIn works the same way as running a blog. You can format your posts, add videos and images, and even save posts as drafts. Several tips can also increase your chances of success when publishing on the platform.

• Stay consistent. You must determine how often you will post: weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
• Remain original. You can be tempted to regurgitate other articles. However, this may not provide you with the desired results. Therefore, create original content that forms an opinion and provides a strong argument.
• Keep promoting your content. Creating new posts should not hinder you from promoting your old ones. Keep sharing them to increase their visibility.

Talent Acquisition

One of the reasons why many users are on LinkedIn is to seek jobs. According to data from the platform, over 5 million people search for jobs on LinkedIn weekly.  For businesses searching for talent, LinkedIn is a great place to start. The platform allows recruiters and companies to post free or use paid ads. You might even want to use a recruiter account if this is your goal.

Lead Generation

LinkedIn has many company decision-makers. Besides, about 40% of B2B marketers confess that the platform helps them drive high-quality leads. Therefore, if your goal is to get your brand in front of customers and convert them, there is no better platform to do that than LinkedIn.

Employee Advocacy

LinkedIn has an employee advocacy feature known as the My Company tab. This tab enables employees to share organic and curated company posts. Businesses can also use it to interact with their team members and improve employee advocacy.

Final Thoughts

LinkedIn is a great platform for companies to take their brand to the next level. From recruitment to generating leads and conversion, there are many ways to use the platform. If you are wondering how to use LinkedIn, our guide will help you get started. You can follow our guide to grow your LinkedIn page fast and boost your career.