 Using LinkedIn to Highlight Your Company
LinkedIn is a rapidly growing social media tool that focuses on professionals and businesses. Many individuals are represented within LinkedIn, as are "special interest" groups [corporate or university alumni groups, job interest groups, etc.]. Many people use LinkedIn as an online resume, representing their work history and achievements. A database of businesses is also available within the tool, allowing individuals to search on and learn more about these companies. Most large corporations have already added their information to the site, and many HR departments use the site to post open positions or to do passive searches for suitable candidates to fill openings-searching on keywords found in individual's profiles.
Basic business information in LinkedIn is added and maintained by current staff-that is, if your email address domain in your LinkedIn profile matches the company you are trying to add or change, you will be allowed to do so.
Getting Started
It makes the most sense to designate an individual or group of people to set up and maintain your company's LinkedIn profile. That individual will need to set up an individual profile before he or she can add the business.
Setting Up Your Personal Profile
Whether you are new to LinkedIn or have been linked in for years, you will want to set up (or review) your profile with a critical eye. LinkedIn is essentially your online business persona-it should represent your professional capabilities and history clearly. Consider that LinkedIn profiles rank high in many search engines, so if someone Google's your name your profile is going to appear. Profile suggestions:
Enter a brief, concise headline to describe yourself. An example: "Senior Marketing Analyst". When your name comes up in search results, your headline is shown, too.
- Choose your industry from the drop-down list. Read through it carefully for the best fit.
- Add a photo of yourself. Use a headshot no more than 80x80 pixels and make certain it is professional.
- Your summary should provide one or two short paragraphs on your background and skills. It should be grammatically correct and have NO typos!
- The specialties section allows you to enter key words representing your areas of expertise. Don't leave this empty.
- Add your professional experience, including companies worked for, dates of employment and titles. If the company name is not listed on the drop-down, type in the name. [Since you will be adding your current employer to the database, use the name as it will appear on the "permanent" profile.] You may also add job descriptions for each role. This is essentially an online resume. Include your education and any professional certifications. Dates are not required.
- When your profile is initially saved within LinkedIn, you are assigned a unique URL. You should edit your public profile and customize the URL to contain your name. Note that you may not get your first choice so have a few others in mind. Again-remain professional with the names! Make sure your profile is public so it can be searched. Helpful hint: put your customized URL on your business cards, resume and email signature so people can access your profile quickly.
- Optionally, you may add up to three websites to your profile (great if you have your own business), list interests, add honors and awards, list personal information, or change contact settings.
- Use the mobile LinkedIn feature if you have a Smart Phone. It's m.linkedin.com.
Note that you can modify certain account settings to limit access to information on your profile. You may (and should) edit your profile frequently to keep it current.
Adding Your Company
Once your profile exists, you may add your Company listing. To do so, select the Companies link at the top of the screen and then choose "Add a Company". Type in the company name and your email address at the firm. If the company email domain already exists (i.e., mycompany.com) you will be prompted to edit the current company profile. If the company does not yet exist (the email domain isn't there yet), a confirmation email will be sent to you using the corporate domain. This email will provide a link for you to login to your LinkedIn account. Once confirmed, you will be taken to the "Create a Company" page to add your company. Note that company information in LinkedIn is voluntarily posted and maintained by the companies themselves, so you will periodically want to update the information. Information you might provide (much is optional):
- Company description gives a synopsis of the business. This can be pulled from your corporate website, but keep it fairly short.
- Specialties-e.g., "marketing strategy, branding and positioning", etc.
- The URL for the corporate website.
- Industry (selected from a drop-down menu)
- Type of business (corporation, proprietorship)
- Status of business (operating, closed)
- Number of employees
- Year started
- Locations
- Financial information
- RSS/URL for a company blog
- Related companies
- Company logo (file size must be less than 100kb)
Getting Employees LinkedIn
The next step is getting your staff members added. Each will need to set up a profile. When they each enter their current positions, the company name should now appear on the drop-down menu. Selecting the company will tie them to the company profile; however employees will not be linked to each other until connection requests are sent/accepted. Much of the information provided on the biographies page of the corporate website (if this exists) may be used in LinkedIn.
When employee profiles are completed and the customized URLs are available, you may wish to add these to the biography pages within the corporate website.
Sample Company Search
So what do others see once you company and employees are LinkedIn? Here are some of the things that may appear on a completed company profile:
- Current employees in my network are listed with their titles; more can be seen by clicking on "See more...". These may be contacts for garnering additional business.
- On the right side, related companies/divisions are listed, followed by common career paths (this will only show up if the employee pool using LinkedIn is large enough). High connection paths are also listed. In some cases this might represent a partial client list for the business.
- Former employees and new hires are listed below current staff. Recent promotions may be shown at the bottom. You might use these names and titles to send congratulatory notes with a request for a meeting.
- Key statistics appear on the right (when available). These might include divisional locations, a website address, industry, revenues and company size.
- Below statistics, common job titles may be listed. This can be valuable as many companies use slightly different job titles-this way when you contact them you can speak their "language".
- News links and stock information may also be shown (not displayed here).
The Value of Groups
There are thousands of groups in LinkedIn ranging from a few members to thousands. Groups are broken out by type to make it easier to find. These include alumni, corporate, conference, networking, non-profit, professional and other.
To search for a group, click on the Groups link on the left navigation bar. A list of current groups you belong to (if any) will appear. On the right side of the page are options to find a group or create a group. To find groups to join, choose Find a Group. Enter keywords and choose the category (or leave blank to search all).
Depending upon your business, you may wish to create a group that clients or prospects can join. You may also find groups that many of your clients are current members-join these groups to follow discussion strands. Optionally, you may create an "alumni" group for former staff members to keep in touch.
One benefit of group membership: you can use the advanced search feature to look for group members within a specific company. This gives you a way to get a contact name for business leads. Note that with an unpaid LinkedIn membership you can only page through the first hundred names, so utilize keywords where possible to limit search results.
Other Suggestions
- Add connections by searching for people you know. Once located, use the Invite to Connect feature. Only one of you needs to send the invitation to create the link. Note that in some cases to protect the individual's privacy you must enter their email address. A default message appears, but you may wish to customize the note.
- Use the introductions feature for a "warm" intro.
- Post open jobs. LinkedIn offers job postings to members for $195 per 30-day posting. [This feature is more valuable in some geographic areas than others.]
- Add LinkedIn Applications like SlideShare or use the Polls feature.
- Ask or answer questions-by providing valuable answers to questions others ask you can position yourself as a subject matter expert.
LinkedIn is a valuable tool for professionals to keep connected and share ideas. Use it well!
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