LinkedIn Company Pages.

Yes, all business should have one… but they also need to understand and define their role for doing so.

I see just three key benefits of Company Pages.

  • Employees

When employees link their profile to their employer it allows me to find out more.

If I’m on an employee’s profile page, I can take a look at the company they work for to find out more.

If I’m on a company page, I can click to see all of their employees… and this is the best way to dig out my possible prospects. There’s no longer any excuse for a cold call without a contact name. Just a few seconds and I can probably tell you the marketing contact for any organisation (and if I can’t, then they’re dinosaurs and I probably wouldn’t recommend working with them anyway!)

  • Sharing content

A LinkedIn Company Page should be a hub for content. However, engagement with content at a company page level is – I believe – unlikely. People engage with people, and so amplification by employees sharing their company’s content is going to be far more effective. This is how Company Page updates should be used.

  • Advanced Search

I really appreciate the information companies provide in terms of industry sector, location and company size. It allows me to do all sorts of advanced search – to identify market opportunities and to prioritise lead generation programmes.

What I don’t understand, is the objective to attract followers to a Company page.

Why add a ‘Follow button’ to my website when I’ve already got someone on my own platform?

A platform I own. Where there are no distractions.

Why would I point them away from this towards a LinkedIn Company page?

If I have someone on my website, they’re warm. I can capture their data, I can engage with them. Fine if they want to follow Company updates – but they can do this via a direct connection with me or my employees… not via the Company page itself (see above).

About 18 months ago I spent several days (weeks, in fact) analysing the followers of Company Pages (when the information was available.. at this point, I would recommend even harder that you didn’t make an effort to attract Company Page followers).

  • There were no customers following a Company Page.
  • There were no prospects following a Company Page.

Simply employers, competitors, industry analysts etc.  Some students too. Yes, people who might influence a purchase decision, people who can share content, possibly some future employees, but that’s a whole different approach to the way most people perceive a Company Page to be valuable.

So, why make any effort on encouraging followers?

Why create content specifically for a LinkedIn Company Page?

I do have one counter-argument and that’s for sponsored content (LinkedIn Advertising), to reach a targeted audience of individual customers and prospects.

I do follow Company Pages – but for insight, rather than because I’m ever likely to be a customer.

I believe the focus of LinkedIn should be on the individual. I don’t have any other points for a LinkedIn Company Page.  Do you?