LinkedIn is a great platform for networking and building your professional brand. As a business owner, you can create a LinkedIn Company Page to represent your business online and connect with potential customers and partners. One useful feature on LinkedIn is the ability to follow other companies in your industry or local area. Following companies allows you to see their updates in your LinkedIn feed and stay up-to-date on their products, services, news and job openings. Here is a guide on how to follow companies on LinkedIn using your business’s Company Page.
Step 1: Create a LinkedIn Company Page
If you don’t already have one, the first step is to create a LinkedIn Company Page for your business. This allows you to establish an official presence on LinkedIn as a company, separate from your personal profile. To create a Company Page:
- Go to linkedin.com and login to your personal LinkedIn account.
- Click on “Work” at the top of your homepage.
- Select “Create a Company Page” – it should be the first option you see.
- Enter your company name and verify you have the right to create a page for this company.
- Choose a category and location for your company.
- Upload a cover image and logo that represent your brand.
- Fill out key details including your company description, website, industry, company size, founding year, etc.
- Click “Publish Page” to make your Company Page live on LinkedIn.
Completing these steps allows you to establish an official, verified presence for your company on LinkedIn.
Step 2: Follow other companies
Once your Company Page is set up, you can start following other businesses on LinkedIn. Here’s how:
- Go to your Company Page by clicking on your profile image in the top right corner of LinkedIn and selecting your Company Page from the dropdown menu.
- In the search bar at the top of your homepage, search for a company you want to follow. For example, search for “XYZ Company” if XYZ Company is a business you want to follow.
- Go to the Company Page for the business you searched. You can click on the page name that appears in search results.
- On their Company Page, click the “Follow” button near the top right of their cover image.
- You will now be following that company! You can repeat these steps to follow other businesses.
Here are some tips for following companies:
- Follow direct competitors to keep an eye on their content and announcements.
- Follow businesses in your local area or industry to build connections.
- Follow companies you admire or want to learn from.
- Follow brands that have related products or services to yours.
- Follow companies where you know employees to keep your networks linked.
Step 3: See company updates
Once you are following companies, you will see their posts directly in your LinkedIn feed. On your Company Page, your main feed is called “Posts.” This is where followed companies’ posts will appear, along with content from connections and groups.
You can also exclusively see posts from the companies you follow by going to your Company Page and clicking on “Following” in the top menu bar. This displays a feed of content solely from the companies you follow.
Following companies allows you to:
- See product updates and announcements from companies.
- Learn about events, webinars or other initiatives companies are organizing.
- Find out about new content like articles, ebooks, videos published by companies.
- Stay current on companies’ industries and niches.
- See companies’ job openings you can share or apply to.
Reviewing your “Following” feed periodically is a quick way to get news and updates from brands and businesses relevant to your company.
Step 4: Engage with company content
Don’t just scroll past the content from companies you follow! Be an active follower by engaging:
- Like and comment on companies’ posts to have your Company Page seen.
- Click on links they share to check out their products, content offers, events, etc.
- Share company posts you find valuable with your own followers.
- Reply to companies’ posts to introduce yourself, ask questions, or give feedback.
Being an engaged follower strengthens the relationship between your company and the companies you follow. It can lead to valuable connections, partnership opportunities, customer referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.
Step 5: Monitor analytics
You can view analytics to see how well your Company Page is performing when following other companies. Key metrics to monitor include:
- Page views – how many times your Company Page has been viewed.
- Post impressions – how many times your content has been seen.
- Follower growth – how many new followers you gain.
- Engagement rate – how much your followers interact with posts.
- Link clicks – how often followers click on links you share.
Reviewing these metrics periodically can show you the impact following companies has on growing your presence and reaching new audiences. Higher engagement can signal you are following companies that align well with your brand and industry.
Here are benchmarks for some key metrics:
Metric | Good | Better | Best |
---|---|---|---|
Page Views | 100/month | 500/month | 1,000+/month |
Engagement Rate | 1-5% | 5-10% | 10%+ |
Follower Growth | 10/month | 25/month | 50+/month |
Aim to reach the “better” or “best” benchmarks in these areas to maximize the impact of following companies. Adjust who you follow if metrics lag behind benchmarks.
Additional tips
Here are some additional best practices for following companies on LinkedIn:
- Follow no more than 100-200 companies so your feed isn’t overloaded.
- Adjust your notifications settings so you are notified when followed companies post.
- Use LinkedIn’s “Save” feature to bookmark key posts to revisit later.
- Make a list of “Competitors” and “Prospects” to organize companies you follow.
- Follow company employees to extend your network.
- Share great content from followed companies on your own Company Page.
- Consider promoting particularly valuable posts from companies as sponsored content.
Conclusion
Following companies on LinkedIn is a simple but powerful way to grow your brand, identify opportunities and keep up with the latest in your industry. By creating and engaging from your Company Page, you can build connections and tap into valuable business insights.
Start by creating your own Company Page, searching for relevant businesses, clicking “Follow”, and regularly interacting with their content. Measure analytics like page views and engagement rate to optimize who you follow. Incorporate these best practices to get the most out of following companies on LinkedIn.