Yes, LinkedIn has done it again. They’ve taken a feature, that at first seemed to be something of an afterthought, and which also appeared to be released mainly just see what members will do with it, and they then apply what they’ve learned via careful observation (of their site analytics, no doubt), and enhance the heck out of it…basically knocking it out of the park. I’m talking about LinkedIn Company Pages.
It’s been for some time now that you could add very basic content to your company page on LinkedIn, but they’ve recently added a whole bunch of bells and whistles to enable you to create a powerful promotional tool by having what is essentially a microsite within LinkedIn. This article from Inc.com today did a great job of highlighting ways to make the most of a LinkedIn Company Page, so I thought I’d share some of it here and encourage you to read the whole piece after you’ve read my thoughts on why you should bother.
A few highlights include:
- Description: Though you are allowed up to 1,500 characters for your Company Page description, LinkedIn only displays the first few lines as a preview–so as any good journalist will tell you, put your key info in your first sentence or two. Your full description can also provide info not otherwise found on your LinkedIn page, like your company phone number or the URL of a particular page.
- Specialties: Specialties are keywords used to describe what you do or the key products you produce. You can have up to 20 specialties, so long as the total number of characters describing them does not exceed 256.
- Blog Feed: If you have a corporate blog or news feed, you can enter its URL and have LinkedIn automatically pull in recent titles.
- News Headlines: Decide whether you want LinkedIn to display when your company appears in the news.
Why bother?
If you are starting a business, or have realized that your current Web 1.0 site needs updating, and you’re wondering how you’ll be able to afford a new website, consider holding off on that expense (perhaps until some revenue really starts rolling in) and instead just enhance your “LinkedIn Company Page.”
You can begin by allocating no more than an hour to start building an online presence for your company on LinkedIn that will rival even some of the slickest, lower budget WordPress sites out there.
I’m still putting some finishing touches on mine (and getting the company name changed), but if you’re curious to see what I’ve done so far, here’s the direct link to it so you can see what the URL looks like and check out the page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/bella-domain-media/products
BTW, while you’re there, if you’d like to help me make my company presence on LinkedIn really shine, please consider following Bella Domain Media and/or, if applicable, writing a brief reco about my book (products) or speaking (services) for me. Pretty please? 🙂 
Lastly, if you’re just getting started with building a company page on LinkedIn, here’s an earlier and great post also from Inc.com to help you tackle this important marketing-related project from the beginning. Have fun!
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