Undoubtedly, you have a LinkedIn profile for your business. But is that profile working as hard for you as it should be? Many companies make the mistake of putting up a bare-bones profile, then barely using the site again. That’s a huge mistake, because unlike Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, the other hot social media sites, LinkedIn is geared toward businesses and can be a great resource whether you’re searching for new talent or trying to interpret a new rule in your industry.
Here are seven tips for getting the most out of your business’s LinkedIn profile.
1. Customize Your Page
This tool is unique to LinkedIn: you can change the appearance of your page touting services depending on who you are targeting. Many businesses have distinct audiences for their different products. For example, say you sell weed killer and birdseed. One page can target weed killer customers and the other birdseed customers.
2. Make a Video
LinkedIn allows you to embed multiple YouTube videos. This is your chance to speak directly to would-be clients or employees. Give them a reason to want to work with or for your company. Put a face to the company by showing off some of your employees. Consider creating seasonally themed videos that you can change year-round.
3. Pursue Recommendations
You can ask people who have used your services before to recommend you on LinkedIn. You can even request that they review a specific aspect of your company, but make sure not to offer any suggestions on what to say. Let them speak in their own voice.
4. Study the Analytics
Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people never click on their analytics. One of particular interest to businesses is a tool that will compare your performance in different categories to that of your competitors.
5. Customize Your URL
LinkedIn automatically generates URLs for your page, which is usually a series of letters and numbers that make no sense. That’s no good if you want people to remember your URL. The social media site does allow you to customize the URL, so instead you can make it into “linkedin.com/ln/[your company name here].” That will optimize searches as well as being something folks can remember.
6. Have a Jobs Link
You want to make it as easy as possible for people to apply for a job right off of your page. Smart companies put a link right at the top so job searchers will see it right away. Make sure all your job listings are current. Having a proper about page that tells about your business is important too.
7. Be Visual
Go beyond the usual stale LinkedIn layouts. Give your page some visual pop and personality to draw people in. The look should draw their eye, and the substance will keep them on the page. Post your recent blog posts or infographics to LinkedIn to add to that visual aspect. Maxwell Systems does a great job of optimizing their LinkedIn. The proof is in their high conversion rates from LinkedIn referrals.