The Dos and Don’ts for Your Company’s LinkedIn Page

Like other social networks, LinkedIn can be an asset for your business if you have a thoughtful strategy. With nearly 690+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. Small businesses can use the platform to broaden their networks, build brand awareness, and generate leads. However, if you post on your company’s LinkedIn page off the cuff, without taking the time to understand the platform’s unspoken rules and best practices, all your time and effort could be for nothing. Or worse – it could damage your company’s reputation.

Let’s go over some basic dos and don’ts for your company’s LinkedIn page.

What To Do

• Identify your goals. You should never invest time or energy into any kind of marketing without first defining your goals. Otherwise, how will you measure results? Goals help set your expectations and motivate you and your team to achieve specific objectives.
• Get to know your audience. You have the opportunity to reach millions of people on LinkedIn, but that doesn’t mean one of your goals should be to reach as many people as possible. Digital marketing is much more effective when you have a target audience of people with similar needs or characteristics that your company hopes to serve. Once you have identified your goals, you’ll have a better sense of who’s in your target audience on LinkedIn. Maybe you want to reach new prospects who have similar job titles to your current customers, or perhaps you’re looking to build a new network within a specific industry. Knowing your audience is the key to creating more effective content, and it will definitely come in handy if you decide to try out LinkedIn’s advertising campaigns.
• Optimize your company page. Users both within and outside the LinkedIn platform may find your company’s listing as a result of the terms you use on your profile. Before you start posting, take some time to optimize your company profile to make it searchable:

1. Update your profile image and banner.
2. Write a compelling About Us section that includes relevant keywords.
3. Make sure all key fields are filled out with accurate, updated information.

• Create and publish original content on a regular basis. If your company’s LinkedIn page is stagnant for long periods of time, you won’t be able to keep many followers engaged, let alone grow your audience. Train one or more of your team members to publish original content about your company, products or services you offer, and information on your industry on a consistent basis. To get started, try posting once per week. Companies that post weekly see twice as much engagement with their content, LinkedIn says.
• Get your whole team involved. Potential customers and employees may search for your company on LinkedIn, so it’s important for every profile associated with your business to make a great first impression. Professional headshots and polished, updated profiles can help you and your colleagues stand out. Make sure everyone at your company has an individual LinkedIn page and encourage your team members to follow your company, engage in conversations, and share information out to their network. This will help build credibility and brand awareness for your business.

What Not To Do

• Post without a strategy. If you’re posting just to post, you’re not making the most of your LinkedIn page. Plus, sharing irrelevant content might come off as unprofessional. The type of content you publish and the approach you use to distribute it on LinkedIn should be determined by your objectives. Generally, you want the content on your profile to accomplish three things:

1. Communicate your company’s story and value.
2. Use keywords to show up in search results.
3. Provide value for people who find it.

• Put all your focus on generating leads. Being too sales-focused in your LinkedIn posts can be off-putting to readers. Plus, if you’re just getting started on LinkedIn, it won’t be easy to jump right into lead generation. It takes time to build brand awareness and an engaged audience, which is what Social Media Marketing is really all about.
• Yes, LinkedIn can help generate leads, but if that’s your main focus, you aren’t recognizing everything else the platform has to offer.
• Post text updates only. Just because LinkedIn is a professional network doesn’t mean your content can’t be fun. In fact, it often needs to be eye-catching to stand out. While text-only posts actually do really well on this platform, you should also incorporate video, links to your blog or website, infographics, and other rich media to attract and retain your target audience.
• Ignore the analytics. LinkedIn offers detailed analytics on the type of content your followers are most likely to engage with, your follower demographics, and traffic and activity on your company page. Don’t ignore this valuable information! Tracking it can help you optimize your profile and posting strategy.
• Share your world views. LinkedIn is a social platform for businesses and professionals, which means it demands a much higher level of professionalism than Facebook or Twitter. Every post you share contributes to your company’s reputation and how others see your business. Think of LinkedIn like any other professional space – if something is not appropriate to be shared with prospects or clients face-to-face in your office, it’s probably inappropriate to be shared on LinkedIn.

If you own a B2B business or cater to other professionals in a specific industry, LinkedIn could be the ideal platform for growing your business. Do you need help building a stronger LinkedIn presence for your company? Contact Triton Commerce today for your free Digital Marketing Plan!