September 17, 2012

How to Set Up a Company Page on LinkedIn




Are you open to businesses? You could be an individual looking for opportunities to serve people with skills or knowledge you've got. Else you or group of people including you, may offer set of products or services for people. If you are really serious about business and reaching clients online, LinkedIn is a platform you need to aware of.

Yeah, it's a social platform where professionals meet together and connect with each other. It's not an online workplace where you can explore jobs and apply for appropriate ones. But you can build business relationships and expose yourself to businesses opportunities. If you or your company offers professional product or service, you will have a greater chance to being identified online if you or your company listed on LinkedIn. It's obvious you can create user profiles there, but for a company?


Social Media Role of Businesses


Online advertising, business directories, official websites and word of mouth are few ways to reach customers for businesses. But nowadays social media plays a big role as many of people gathered and spend more time on social networks. Businesses have to be live where their customers hang out to maximize their reach and to open up for business opportunities. You may have heard of Facebook brand pages and Google+ business pages. They are different from individual profiles and best suite for businesses to represent themselves online via Social Media to engage with interested customers and people. As like that, LinkedIn offers company pages for businesses to show off their products and services too.


LinkedIn Company Pages


LinkedIn company pages are only for businesses. You can use Facebook or Google+ pages for informative and entertainment purposes. But LinkedIn company pages are for companies to find more business opportunities and to stay connected with their customers or followers. Simply LinkedIn company pages are consist of,

Overview - It provides introduction of the company to followers or whoever view company page. Further they can share company news, promotions, announcements and such updates.

Products and Services - Companies can show off their products and services here. A great way to spread the word about what are they specialized on and what products they offer.

Employee Information - Here it allows to list employees of the company. It could be only one person or multiple employees.

Careers - This is where the company can display vacancies of their company for job seekers on LinkedIn and to recruit ideal candidate for the active jobs. But this is a paid service and have to pay for adding each job openings.

Follower Insights - This is visible only for company page administrators and it includes insights about followers of LinkedIn company page.

Page Insights - This includes insights related to LinkedIn company page. You can view statistics about visitors and page views. It's only visible for company page administrator.

Employee Insights - It showcase insights related to company employees listed on LinkedIn company page and visible only for administrator.

LinkedIn company pages let companies engage with followers and visitors while informing them what's on with the company. As LinkedIn is a network of professionals, company pages are better place for business conversations and to generate more leads as they can grab attention of people by highlighting products and services they offer. Further companies can evaluate professionals who are interested in their company to extend their business into a new level through ventures and partnerships. Company pages would be a resume of a company to be open to new business opportunities and a centralized location to engage with their customers to serve better. Mind creating a company page for your business on LinkedIn?


Before You Go:

You need to have a LinkedIn profile to create a company page. If you don't have a profile yet, create a new profile on LinkedIn.


Steps:

1. Sign in to your LinkedIn profile.

2. Navigate to LinkedIn Company Page Creation page.

3. Enter your company name and valid email address set up for your company. Make sure to check option I verify that I am the official representative... before click Continue button.

Note: You need to provide company email address and LinkedIn doesn't accept free email addresses.

4. Now you will receive a confirmation email to your specified email address above. Navigate to inbox and click on confirmation link in the email.

5. You will prompt to confirm your email address. Confirm it by clicking Confirm button.

6. Now you will be redirected to LinkedIn and log in to your profile again.

7. You can complete your company profile now.


More Information:

* If you need to add or change information of your company, navigate to your company page and click Edit from Admin tools menu. You can add or change company details, products and services and list new job openings there.



Enjoy :-)




Awesome! Thanks for coming by and taking your time to read this post :) I hope you have learnt something today. Now you can share it with your friends and I'd love to hear from you too.






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Lisa Buben said...

Great timing Mayura! I just got my web magazine and it grazed over this and your's has much more in-depth info. Will be using it for the retail sites. Thanks for sharing. 

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Lisa,

Whoopie... That's cool Lisa ;) Timing is pretty good I guess. You already know how LinkedIn works and company website is much helpful for businesses to be centralized and keep customers and interested parties up-to-date and engaged.

Hope you will find company pages very useful for your retail sites :)

Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment dear...

Cheers...

Harleena Singh said...

Great info Mayura!

I did know that just like G+ has their business pages, so do other social medias, but this surely was information shared in detail about having your company or business page on LinkedIn. However, I guess they might be having certain criteria about who qualifies for putting up a page as such, or can any one doing any kind of business set up a page.

Thanks for sharing. :)

Brenda said...

Fabulous post Mayura! Do you know my employer is NOT listed, however there are several employees on there. I'm not adding my employer but this is great for those who own their own business and want the know how.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Harleena,

I think LinkedIn is better place for business. You know, LinkedIn is a professional network and it's more exposed for business opportunities :)

Anyway it should be an official representative to create a company page. If anyone doesn't hold company email address, they can't create a page there dear :) So no entry for Yahoo or Gmail kind of free email holders. That's a very good move to prevent setting up pages like blooming flowers. Agree? ;)

Thanks for stopping by and commenting dear :)

Cheers...

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Brenda,

Really? Yeah, it could be. LinkedIn was a network that more people wasn't aware of but now it's growing fast.

Anyway you can let 'em know there is an opportunity to list and share company updates :) I think your employer might wanna create their own page too. Anyway gotta have an email represent your company. In other words it should be an official representative :)

Well, you can let 'em know > You will get a promotion > We will get a party > I need a choco cake ;) Deal?

Thanks for commenting and for compliments dear :)

Cheers...

Brenda said...

I'm sure they know about it. I think they are just weird about putting a private sector business on there. They have a facebook and twitter account too, however rarely use it. It's a shame. There's so much to be said and they aren't using the tools. smh

Mayura De Silva said...

May be they are not believe in Social Media and reaching users online much :) A defensive approach for business.

I'm now working with a client and he had no idea of going online with his business. Anyway after few demonstrations and due to competition, he delighted to take the action.

I think you don't wanna say "SMH", but they need to "STHs" ;)

Cheers...

Lisa Buben said...

Question Mayura - What if you already had a page for your business? I had and now I would have to set up a new one? What happens to the old one?  Just like Google Plus and Places Pages (A little messy for businesses...) Thanks!

Mayura De Silva said...

Can you access your old LinkedIn company page Lisa? :) If so you can delete that one before you go with new one.

Cheers...

Lisa Buben said...

I think so, that's what I was thinking :) Thanks Mayura.

Mayura De Silva said...

You're welcome Lisa :) You can delete it easily and go for new one. But if you have more followers, you better go with it.

Cheers...

Adrienne said...

Oh goody, another business page to create.  

Thanks Mayura for sharing this with us...  I'm not a big user of LinkedIn I'm afraid.  I've given it a solid go but people are just not as social there and it's really hard for me to connect with people.  Sure, they send their initial invitations but once I try to communicate with them I rarely hear back from them.  Just not my cup of tea I'm afraid.

Great instructions though on how to create them.  You have a way of showing us for sure.~Adrienne

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Adrienne,

Oh yeah :D lol... Anyway you know LinkedIn is a professional network and it's different than usual social networks. Connect with only known people, no personal discussions much and the background is kind of discouraging there. But groups are very active as I can say.

However on LinkedIn company page, you can showcase products and services of your company and be open to business partnerships or ventures too. I think it's a big advantage over other social brand or business pages. Well, gotta learn to make use of it.

Thanks for coming over and sharing your thoughts on LinkedIn dear :)

Cheers...

Praveen Rajarao said...

Hello Mayura - A good overview of how to create a business page. I love linkedin and how professional the site is. I am sure most of us bloggers who have their services to offer will find this very resourceful and useful to set their page up.


Thanks for sharing.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Praveen,


I really like to use LinkedIn as a business social platform and it does :) A place for professionals as you mentioned. That's what it made for, right? :)


Absolutely Praveen :) If there is anyone including bloggers who would like to offer product or service, unlike other social business pages, LinkedIn company page is a great way to showcase.


Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your views on it mate :)


Cheers...

Lynn Brown said...

Mayura: LinkedIn is, in my opinion, a VITAL player in an entrepreneur's success. I'm glad that you did mention the job opportunities later in your post because that is a great way to see what's available in addition to researching companies prior to interviewing or prior to even applying...to ensure that particular company would be a good fit for you & your talents/skills. I also truly enjoy the LinkedIn groups because they provide such a fantastic opportunity to network with other professionals...pick their brains...share ideas & support one another. Thanks for sharing the important info about LinkedIn Company Pages!

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Lynn,


I think LinkedIn pages are exactly made for business purposes. They should be as a professional network. Absolutely I like the way it is. The ability to showcase careers, products and services and listing employees are very helpful for companies. We can't see those on other business pages. Researching companies is a great point Lynn :) That's for sure.


LinkedIn mostly encourage to connect with people we know and compared to other networks the interaction between individuals is low as I see. But groups are very much active there :)


I believe you are the one and best to talk about usage of LinkedIn dear :)


Thanks for for appending your views and benefits of company pages and LinkedIn :)


Cheers...

Sylviane Nuccio said...

Hi Mayura, We can always count on your to give us step by step (and very good ones) on setting those social media pages. I actually just reworked my Linked in this morning, but I know that there's still lots I can improve.


Thanks for this tips, dear :)

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Sylviane,


That's great dear :) LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with professionals and unlike other social networks, it has own business layer over social layer. So keeping it up-to-date is crucial.


I think company page is a great way for businesses to offer their product or services :) It could be individual or group of people, yet can be make use of.


Thanks for sharing your experience on LinkedIn and value your compliments too dear :)


Cheers...

Donna Merrill said...

Hi Mayura, What a great way to use Linkedin! I have been a fan of this platform for years. I've even called it my "secret weapon" years ago. I have groups that I'm in and do a lot of business though them. It is Vital for the entrepreneur to be on this platform because the audience is looking for ways to make money.

What I didn't know is what you just taught me. I am so grateful to you Mayura. Each time I come to your blog, there is a new learning curve for me.

Thank you!
Donna

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Donna,


I just started Donna :) I mean, I'm inspired by Lynn about LinkedIn platform and now seeking how to perform well on that platform too. There's lot to learn about. As you said, it's always open for businesses to build business relationships and to trade knowledge and skills in return of good money.


I think you would find company pages really helpful as you are helping businesses to build online presence Donna :) Anyway actually I thought you knew about it :) Glad you learnt it today.


Thanks for stopping by and sharing your insights about LinkedIn platform Donna :) Always appreciate being sincere in commenting dear.


Cheers...

BarbaraVelazquez said...

This web page has got some useful things on it! Thanks for showing me.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Barbara,


You're welcome and Welcome to Mayura4Ever :) Glad you find this site helpful to you.


Thanks for coming over and commenting :)


Cheers...

Praveen Rajarao said...

Forgot to mention that i landed up with my current job via LInkedIn :-) It is a great tool for recruiters too nowadays where they can get good references with testimonials.

Mayura De Silva said...

Really? :) That's wonderful. I knew about getting jobs on LinkedIn but never met one. Well, now did :)

I agree with you on that Praveen :) LinkedIn is much better platform for professionals to exchange information and especially for SMBs.



Cheers...