A Complete Guide To LinkedIn Company Profiles

4 Steps To Improve Your LinkedIn Company Profile A Complete Guide 2013 brings new features that companies can use in to increase their engagement with their target audience and to gain more followers. See what you need to do to benefit from these features and how they are going to help you in your internet marketing strategy.

2013

Bianca Marieta www.biancamarieta.com

01/01/2013

Freelance Copywriter www.biancamarieta.com

facebook.com/marietasblog

www.biancamarieta.com | www.biancamarieta.com

Who should read this E-book?

1. The Complete Guide to LinkedIn company profiles is addressed to those who

already have a company profile on LinkedIn but want to find out more about

how they can improve their profiles.

2. If you are one of those busy entrepreneurs running an online business and you

are looking for ways to:

- Increase your database

- Grow the number of your followers

- Engage with your audience

- Learn from your competition

- Become the leader within your niche

...then this e-book is for you!

http://www.biancamarieta.com/blog/





4 Steps To Improve Your LinkedIn Company Profile A Complete Guide

...is brought to you by Bianca-Marieta Budau

Bianca-Marieta Budau is a freelance writer from Oradea,

Romania. She has been working in the field of internet

marketing and online writing for 3 years, offering complete

writing services to customers from all over the world.

A fresh graduate of the Faculty of Letters, she is now

completing her MA studies in Foreign Languages and

Literatures.

She is particularly interested in topics such as Internet

Marketing Strategies and Social Media Marketing, but her

field of expertise also includes:

- Writing web content

- Writing press releases

- Writing SEO content

- Writing articles and blog posts

Currently, she is the in-house copywriter & social media marketer of Super Savvy Business

Australia (an online business run by CEO Fiona Lewis that offers online services to small and medium

size businesses) and of Veribo IT Solutions (a company from Romania which offers web

programming, web design and online writing services).

As a freelancer, she quickly learned that one does not have to spend a fortune in order to have a

successful business, so she set up to help promote businesses from all around the world by making

use of various online tools.

http://www.biancamarieta.com/about-me/




http://www.supersavvybusiness.com/

http://www.supersavvybusiness.com/

http://www.veribo.ro/




TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Update your page for a fresher look

2. Get > followers in < time

3. Have a target, a strategy and a team meeting.

4. 3 ways to stay organized




CHAPTER 1

Update Your Page For A

Fresher Look

‘As of January 2013,

LinkedIn reports more than

200 million registered

users in more than 200

countries and territories.’

- Wikipedia

http://www.wikipedia.com/




1. Say who you are with a large brand image

Introduce visitors to your LinkedIn company page with a large image featuring your

company’s logo. The new LinkedIn design for company profiles allows you to add

visually attractive images which can really give a helping hand in attracting new

prospects and customers.

Here’s what you need to do, in 3 simple steps:

1. First, make sure that your illustration complies with LinkedIn size limits. Create

a 646x220 image which does not exceed 2 MB. The image can be .JPEG, .GIF

or .PNG.

2. Go to your LinkedIn company profile. Click on the ‘Edit’ button to add your

image. Click on ‘Add image’.

3. Choose the image from your computer, upload it, save it and Publish it.

It’s that simple. If you are still not sure how it’s done, visit LinkedIn’s Marketing

Solutions page.

http://marketing.linkedin.com/

http://marketing.linkedin.com/





2. Say what you do: promote your products &

services.

Make sure people know what your company is all about. After all, this is one of the

main reasons why you joined the social network. And since it is mainly focused on

brands, businesses and companies, I’m thinking you’ll want your followers to know

who you are (this, if they are not already your clients, in which case worry no more).

So for starters, choose one product/service your company offers and with that in

mind, go to Products & Services tab (Click on ‘Edit’ – ‘Add products & services’).

And now, follow these 5 simple steps:

1. Select the category your product or service fits into.

2. Write the name of your product or service. (e.g.: ‘Keyword research')

3. Compliment it with a photo or an illustration (size: 100x80 pixels; format: JPG,

GIF, PNG).

4. Say what the product/service is all about in a short description (stick within

2.000 characters).

5. You will have to include a list of key features of the product or service – like

some keywords for the product/service which will be organised in a bulleted

list.

OPTIONAL: You can also include a Disclaimer.





3. Increase your credibility through customer

reviews & feedback.

Building your credibility on LinkedIn

has never been this easy! Many

companies who have an official

profile on this network can be used

as case studies, and LinkedIn offers

WildApricot as an example.

You can also build your brand

awareness faster than you thought.

If you have several customers who

are very pleased with your services

you can feature their

recommendations on your official

company page and invite your

visitors and prospects to read them.

Word-of-mouth recommendations

are the best publicity you will ever

get and your advantage here is that

they come for free. So if your service

/ product is so good it screams

‘Recommend Me!’, all you have to

do is allow your customers to

advertise your company for you.

How can you meet your objectives?

LinkedIn has designed a page which is dedicated entirely to helping businesses thrive

on their platform. If you feel like you need more info on the topic, feel free to visit

marketing.linkedin.com

Click here to see source

http://www.biancamarieta.com/contact/

http://marketing.linkedin.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/LinkedIn_WildApricotCaseStudy2012.pdf




4. Join groups to get access to a broader audience.

Want your status updates & news

releases to be seen by as many

people working in your field as

possible?

Well, time for joy! If you want to

connect with people who are

interested in your company’s

activity, why not join a group?

Why it’s important to join

LinkedIn groups?

It’s FUN. You get to interact

with people/companies with

interests similar to yours.

You get the opportunity to

show others your

contributions to your industry

/ field of activity.

You can post your status

updates to up to three groups simultaneously – this saves you a bunch of time

and gets the message delivered to those who really matter! (see image above)

How can you feature a group on LinkedIn?

It’s simple, it’s fast, and it’s a MUST! Let’s see the 4 quick steps you’ll have to go

through:

1. Go to your Company Page and click on the Edit button.

2. Go to ‘Featured Groups’

3. Type the name of the group you want to join

4. Publish. Done!

You can learn more about this by accessing learn.linkedin.com/company-pages.

Click here to see source

http://www.learn.linkedin.com/company-pages

http://marketing.linkedin.com/sites/default/files/attachment/LinkedInFeaturedGroups_CPgs_120712.pdf




5. Not enough time to deal with everything?

I know everything I told you in the previous pages seems like the perfect scenario for

brand management & advertising. But... but... sometimes you just don’t have the

time to do it...

And as intelligently crazy and genius it sounds, you simply cannot deal with it. You

have customers you need to take care of, a team you need to manage and a whole

bunch of other things to deal with.

Well, in this case you have two options:

1. Have your co-workers named as administrators of your company’s profile.

2. Outsource. There are many people out there, off-shore or not, who are experts in

social media marketing. Hiring a freelancer to work as a social media marketer, for

example, is not only cost-effective, but also extremely practical. I myself am offering

social media marketing services to lots of clients from overseas and from the

continent and I already know the ins and outs of all the major social media platforms.

In my opinion, the greatest advantage of working with a freelancer is that they offer

great quality in exchange for decent price rates. For example, I work closely with the

client in establishing a weekly + monthly + yearly battle plan that I put in practice

according to the client’s preferences. So the client

has one task less to do, but can rest assured that

everything is developing according to their

instructions.

Click here to see image source


http://www.cafeexpressdavenport.com/wp-content/uploads/woman_023-1.jpg




CHAPTER 2

Get > followers in < time

‘For many, LinkedIn really

is still an untapped gold

mine, but companies can

take advantage of

incredibly useful marketing

tools that suit every

budget.’

- Mashable

http://mashable.com/2012/02/10/linkedin-marketing/




So maybe there are lots of tools companies can use to promote their products and to

build their brand awareness. The way I see it, the biggest mistake business owners

make is that they stop at the beginning: they create a company profile and then...

they pause. Or they cease any activity they could undertake on the social platform.

How can you make the most of your company

profile?

There are several resources you can use that LinkedIn puts at your disposal. But if

you spend a bit of time on the website, you’ll find out there are so much more

supplies you can tap into and profit from!

Just use your imagination – as cliché as it sounds, it still is pretty much true. Well,

alright: entirely true.

See image source here

http://saypeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Creativity.jpg




1. Use the Follow link.

Include it in your articles, on your website, on various web pages where visitors

usually go when they visit your site. This way you are telling them, ‘Hey! I have a

LinkedIn company page! Check it out to see what I’m doing there; join me!’.

You tell people that you are a sociable company and that they can approach you

from another perspective which is less formal.





2. Use the Follow Button for your Blog articles

There is also a Follow button that you can add to your articles, to your blog or other

pages on your website. This way people can follow your page easily and they can also

share the content they like.

With just one click all the LinkedIn connections of [John Smith] are told that [John

Smith] likes your article! Then [John Smith]’s connections could also like your article,

and their connections could like it as well, and so on.





3. Use the Follow Ads to grow your community of

followers!

If these seem too ordinary, wait until you see: the Follow Ads! It’s being used by the

giant HP and... you can use it as well!

Just like with Google AdWords and Facebook Pay-Per-Click campaigns, you can now

spot your target audience and lure them into liking& interacting with you.

‘Just two months after the Follower Ads launched, the HP Company Page added more than 300,000 followers, bringing the total to more than 838,000 followers as of October 2012 – making HP the most followed company on LinkedIn.’

- LinkedIn HP case study

http://marketing.linkedin.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/LinkedIn_HP_CaseStudy2012_Followers.pdf




CHAPTER 3

Have a target, a strategy and a

team meeting.

‘This kind of targeting is extremely useful for anyone in the B2B biz

because it eliminates irrelevant posts, making the posts that do come

through more valuable to your end user.’

- MarketPilgrim

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/06/linkedin-adds-targeted-updates-and-stats-for-more-effective-communication.html




Feel like the conversation is getting

boring?

Well, maybe you are not talking to the right audience.

You can use the new Targeted Status Updates to make

sure that only those who would be really interested in

your news see it. This way you make sure that you get the most of your statuses and

of your work: you’re not talking all by yourself, but you are engaging with a specific

audience.

Why are Targeted Status Updates relevant?

Oh, they are relevant for so many reasons! First of all, you might think that all your

followers are interested in what you are posting. But if you are an internet marketing

company, then you offer services such as website design, web programming, social

media marketing, SEO, etc. Well, while some of your followers might be following

your SEO news updates, others might be interested in your social media side.

1. By using Targeted Status Updates you can inform the right people about the right

news: the news that interests them.

2. If they always receive only news that are of high

interest for them, they are more likely to visit your

blog or your website.

Hey John!

Check out the best

online techniques

for your business!

Love,

Us.

Hi, Angela!

See your latest website

report here.

Love,

Us





So tell Angela what she wants to hear and teach her what she wants to learn. If John

likes to read about the best online techniques for his business, offer him some of the

best resources – he’ll love your content.

And they’ll also love the fact that you are not bothering them with irrelevant

information: Angela is not interested in beauty products, but she surely likes to

receive her website report at an affordable price; John is in no way passionate about

soccer, but he’s always willing to have a look at a new ‘Complete Catalogue of Online

Resources for Your Business’.

Sounds good?

It gets better.

Visit this page to get more information about targeted status updates.

LinkedIn: ‘Prior to the launch of Targeted Status Updates, marketers had no way to tailor the content in their status updates to specific types of company followers. Audiences from different industries, job functions, geographies, and levels of seniority all received the same content.

Now with Targeted Status Updates, marketers have an easy, proven way to engage company followers with content that’s relevant and personalized to their interests.’

http://marketing.linkedin.com/targeted-updates




Since you know what John and Angela like, you may as well take a step further and

establish a relationship with them – your customers.

So Angela and John are in control and you are only there to satisfy their

requirements. You depend on them; they don’t depend on you (not anymore,

sorry). So now you see why it is SO important to make sure that you establish a long

lasting relationship with your customers.

So what the guys from LinkedIn came up with is a new, 5-step (proven) formula to

help companies and business owners attract and engage with their own community

of company followers.

You may be wondering what this 5-steps solution might be... just turn the page.

‘Consumers are in control of their online experience

and can easily tune out irrelevant or promotional

messages.

On the other hand, they are increasingly interested in

connecting with companies that can provide useful

information and engaging content.’

- LinkedIn




LinkedIn 5 Steps Proven Model for Social Media Success:

At the first glance, it’s not that much big of a deal. All you have to do is:

1. Establish a company presence

2. Attract Followers

3. Engage Followers

4. Amplify through the network

5. Analyze and refine

Seems short, simple, aaand... complicated. Well, It’s easy until the third point – even

I get it, it’s the basics of social media marketing (be present – attract – engage). But

then come the two final and most foggy steps that you’ll have to take.

Be organized

The first and foremost secret I can give you is to make sure that before you do

anything on LinkedIn, your team is as organized as ever and that every member

within your team knows exactly what they have to do. And by this I am referring to

your social media marketing expert, your web designers, your PR, your VA, your

brand managers – everyone who has the minimum interaction with your customers.

Attention! Although everyone will have their role in your LinkedIn marketing

campaign, please be kind and let the social media marketer do their thing: after all,

they are there to deal with the social aspect of your business.

Nonetheless, make sure that they always communicate with the other team

members in order to set clear goals, a well-established social media schedule and

every other relevant social aspect of your yearly advertising & promotion campaign.





Create yearly social media strategies & implement them on

time

For example: have your team meet on a Monday morning and discuss the matter

over the morning coffee. You can call in: your video production team, your design

team, your programming team, your creative writing team, your copywriter, your

social media marketing expert, your illustrator, etc.

You will need:

- A big, roomy calendar

- A spreadsheet

Now, ask each of your team members to think about some relevant campaign

themes. If you are selling beauty products or sports equipments, ask your team to

think about ways in which you could represent your company on the internet. Keep

an open mind on their ideas and work together to choose the best themes for the

year.

Now that you have you campaign themes, divide these themes into smaller junks

that you can publish. Brainstorm what works best during what time of the year /

month / week. Your big themes are now set to be published at fixed intervals – it is

always better to have daily posts, but make sure they are organized on a weekly

basis. Your weekly posts should be organized by month. And finally, your monthly

posts should be organized depending on: the holidays during that month, the season,

etc.

Use the calendar to note down these ideas and to write down the schedule. Make

sure that you also include a milestone for each of the tasks so everybody knows

what they need to do and by when they need to do it.

This meeting may take you 3-4 hours, even more. You can always divide it into, let’s

say, 3 smaller, shorter meetings. Whatever your decision, just think that by the end

of it, you will have your yearly online advertising plan ready to kick some ...

audience!




5 Step Social Media Marketing Strategy from LinkedIn

LinkedIn comes with some very neat ideas for your company. As they say, everybody

can be great on their platform, whether we are talking about a 2, 5, or 500 persons

company. Some of the ideas they share with their audience include:

- The importance of having a compelling and attractive company story through:

written content, videos, infographics, images, illustrations.

- Offering your audience more than your products. Free items are always

welcomed, so you need to offer your followers a reason to follow you – one

that goes beyond their status of buyers and your status of seller. You could be

offering them case studies, white papers, cheatsheets, ebooks, catalogues,

etc.

- You can choose to feature your products to the relevant audience according

to: the geographical setting of your followers, their job function, their

industry, etc.

Unfortunately, this eBook does not allow me the space and time to go into more

details about what you need to do. Luckily, LinkedIn has it all ready-made for you:

they put at your disposal a great, 16 pages eBook that you can download from here.

http://marketing.linkedin.com/sites/default/files/attachment/LinkedInCompanyPages_5Steps.pdf




One last piece of advice before you go...

Now that you have your strategy all in place and your battle plan is ready to be put

into action, I have one last advice to give you: test, test, test. Maybe your Monday

Quotes work better on Wednesday; maybe your weekly visual inspiration sounds

better under the name of ‘Photo of the Week’. Maybe your customers prefer eBooks

to spreadsheets; how would you know?

Test, test, test...




Chapter 4

3 Ways to stay organized

‘By the end of 2008, LinkedIn had accrued over 32

million users after five years online. Since the

recession, the company has gained nearly 100

million additional users in roughly three years.7,8

Furthermore, today’s environment shows that two

professionals join LinkedIn every second and an

estimated 63% of companies have hired employees

using social media.’

- CokeSolutions.com

http://www.cokesolutions.com/BusinessSolutions/Studies/Untangling%20the%20Social%20Web_Part%205%20Hi%20Res.pdf




I’ve been telling you how you can have that lovely team meeting with your staff and

talk about your company’s marketing strategy. Well, it is a good thing you read

through that section because it is going to help you so much during the year.

Being organized, knowing what each person of the team has to do, setting up

milestones, goals, due dates – all these are extremely important. You probably know

that from working with your customers: on-time response or delivery, high quality

customer support and all the other small tasks that need to be taken care of with the

precision of a Swiss watch – all these are the things that matter for your customers

and therefore matter for the success of your own company.

It goes the same with your online presence.

Here are three things you can do to make sure that your LinkedIn marketing

campaign is as organized as ever and that things are running smoothly:

1. Plan Your Updates

You will have to come up with a plan of your updates at least one week in advance.

Of you have already planned everything for the entire year, then make sure that your

team is remembered about what they have to do the week that is to come. Take out

your calendar and remind them about their responsibilities.

2. Post something of high value each day

Make sure that you are sharing something valuable every day. Daily posts are the

ones which are driving the best engagement and we now know how important it is

not to let your followers forget about you.

3. Monitor your company’s profile engagement. Test

The last step, as optional as it might seem, regards monitoring of activity. The

engagement metrics will tell you what works best on your profile and what doesn’t

work. This way you can test different sharing layouts, you can learn from your

mistakes and you can become better each day at keeping in touch with your

customers & attracting new prospects.




Great! Now you can de-stress yourself and focus on other, more important aspects

of your business. You now know that everything is being taken care of and that you

have no reason to worry for your social media marketing campaign.

...and what do you know?

We have arrived at the end of this eBook!

I cannot do anything else but thank you for downloading it and I hope that you have

found as much value in it as you expected (maybe a bit extra).

I look forward to meeting you on social platforms! Let’s connect and grow our

businesses together. You can find me on the following social media websites (click on

the icon to go to my profile):

Oh, and don’t forget to pay me a visit from time to time. I’m always waiting for you

on my official (humble) website, biancamarieta.com. You’ll find this eBook there as

well and you can also download tens of other free PDFs with some valuable

information about social media marketing.

http://www.biancamarieta.com/

http://www.facebook.com/marietasblog/

ro.linkedin.com/pub/bianca-marieta-budau/55/508/a95

https://plus.google.com/103848656179720964368/posts/p/pub

https://twitter.com/BiancaMarieta

A Complete Guide To LinkedIn Company Profiles

Business

Transcript of A Complete Guide To LinkedIn Company Profiles