As a small business owner, you may be wondering if it’s worth the time and effort to create a LinkedIn page for your company. With over 800 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform and can be a valuable tool for small businesses looking to establish their brand, connect with customers, and drive leads.
Conclusion
In summary, creating a LinkedIn page for your small business can offer many benefits:
- Increase brand awareness and establish credibility
- Connect with potential customers and generate leads
- Recruit talented employees
- Promote content and products
- Gain insights through analytics
While it does require an investment of time, a LinkedIn presence is well worth it for most small businesses. Be sure to keep your page updated, engage with your network, and utilize LinkedIn’s advertising and sales solutions to maximize results. With a complete and optimized profile, active engagement, and compelling content, LinkedIn can help take your small business to the next level.
Benefits of Having a LinkedIn Page for Small Businesses
Here are some of the key advantages LinkedIn can offer small businesses:
Increase Brand Awareness and Establish Credibility
A complete LinkedIn company page with an optimized profile and cover image allows small businesses to showcase their brand, products/services, culture, and values to a large professional audience. It also helps build credibility by highlighting areas like years in business, team bios, awards, certifications, customer testimonials, and thought leadership content.
Connect with Potential Customers and Generate Leads
LinkedIn provides access to over 810 million members, including key decision makers and influencers. Company pages make it easy for prospects to learn about your business, follow your company for updates, and contact you directly through LinkedIn Messaging. Features like Showcase Pages and lead generation forms help convert visitors into leads.
Recruit Talented Employees
LinkedIn makes it possible to post job listings and proactively search for and connect with qualified candidates for open positions. The platform’s extensive user profiles provide valuable insight into a candidate’s background, skills, and interests when hiring.
Promote Content and Products
Company pages allow businesses to publish long-form posts, articles, videos, images, PDFs, and more to inform and engage followers. Businesses can also showcase products and services through LinkedIn’s catalog feature. This “natively social” content can be efficiently distributed through posts and ads.
Gain Insights Through Analytics
LinkedIn provides page analytics to help small businesses track performance and metrics like page views, post impressions, visitor demographics, follower growth, website referrals, and lead generation. These insights can be used to refine content and marketing strategies for better results.
LinkedIn Features for Small Businesses
Here is an overview of some of the main LinkedIn tools and capabilities available to boost small business marketing:
Feature | Description |
---|---|
Company Page | Publically visible profile to showcase brand, products/services, culture, jobs, content, and more. |
Showcase Pages | Additional pages to highlight specific brands, business units, or initiatives. |
Content Creation | Publish posts, articles, images, videos, live videos, and documents. |
Paid Advertising | Sponsored Content, Text Ads, and Message Ads to target your audience. |
Analytics | Actionable data on page views, clicks, referrals, impressions, followers, and leads. |
Lead Generation | Contact forms, Lead Gen Forms, and Conversation Ads to capture leads. |
Recruitment | Post job listings and leverage Recruiter to connect with candidates. |
Messaging | Communicate directly with connections through direct messages. |
Notifications | Follow company updates and get notified when content is published. |
Tips for Creating a LinkedIn Presence
Here are some best practices for small businesses to optimize their LinkedIn presence:
Complete Your Company Page
Fill out all sections fully including overview, bios, services, website links, locations, logo, and cover image. Profile completeness gives credibility.
Highlight Your Expertise
Leverage specialties, skills, certifications badges, and thought leadership content to stand out in your industry.
Foster Engagement
Post regularly, respond to comments and messages, send personalized connection requests, and participate in relevant groups to build relationships.
Share Multimedia Content
Increase interest by posting videos, images, presentations, and documents – not just text-based updates.
Promote Your Page
Add LinkedIn links to your website, emails, and other marketing. Ask happy customers to follow, share, and recommend your page.
Analyze and Refine
Use page analytics to gain insights. Identify well-performing areas to double down on and optimize weaker areas.
Leverage Paid Advertising
Invest in Sponsored Content, Text Ads, or Message Ads to expand your reach and get in front of targeted audiences.
Integrate with Your CRM
Connect your CRM and marketing automation systems with LinkedIn for seamless lead management.
LinkedIn Marketing for Different Business Types
While LinkedIn can benefit nearly any B2B or B2C business, here are some examples of how different types of small businesses can leverage LinkedIn for marketing:
Professional Services Firms
Accounting firms, marketing agencies, IT services consultants, HR consultants, and other professional service firms can attract new clients by showcasing thought leadership content, areas of specialty, client testimonials, and service offerings.
Software/SaaS Companies
B2B software and SaaS companies can generate leads by sharing demos and trials, targeting roles and titles, sponsoring relevant groups, and leveraging LinkedIn’s self-serve ad platform to connect with decision makers.
Ecommerce Sites
Ecommerce retailers can drive awareness and sales by promoting new products, social-friendly content, special deals and coupons, and leveraging LinkedIn’s CRM integration to capture leads from site traffic.
Local/Regional Businesses
Local businesses like restaurants, boutiques, tradespeople, agents, local professional services, and more can establish a presence, increase local SEO, and build community by engaging with nearby LinkedIn members.
Publishers/Information Providers
Publishers, bloggers, educators, and influencers in fields like business, technology, leadership, and more can expand readership and turn followers into leads with content distribution and LinkedIn ads.
How to Measure LinkedIn Marketing Success
To determine the return on investment from LinkedIn marketing, here are some key metrics small businesses can track:
Metric | Definition |
---|---|
Page Views | The number of times your LinkedIn page was viewed. |
Follower Growth | How rapidly you are accumulating new page followers over time. |
Engagement Rate | Level of liking, commenting, clicking, sharing on updates. |
Referral Traffic | Website visits generated via LinkedIn. |
Leads/Conversions | Number of contacts, form fills, inquiries, or sales from LinkedIn. |
Content Reach | Total views, impressions, and engagement for published posts. |
Ad Performance | Clicks, reach, conversion rate, cost per result for paid ads. |
By regularly assessing these LinkedIn metrics, small businesses can see what content and strategies are most effective in achieving marketing goals.
LinkedIn Alternatives for Small Businesses
While LinkedIn is the top professional social network, here are some alternative platforms small businesses can also consider leveraging as part of their digital marketing mix:
Great for real-time engagement, promoting content, and participating in relevant conversations through tweets, retweets, and mentions.
Enables community building, lead generation, and brand awareness through company pages, advertising, and organic content sharing.
Visual platform ideal for showcasing products, behind-the-scenes content, user-generated content, and interacting with followers.
YouTube
Posting educational, entertaining, or product demo videos can drive significant engagement and website traffic.
Highly visual “social catalog” where businesses can reach targeted audiences by sharing pins in their niche.
Google My Business
Essential for local search optimization, generating reviews, answering customer questions, and driving site traffic.
The right mix of these platforms in addition to a solid LinkedIn presence can help amplify a small business’s digital marketing impact.
Common LinkedIn Marketing Mistakes
Some pitfalls small businesses should avoid when marketing on LinkedIn include:
- Having an incomplete, outdated company page
- Failing to engage followers or nurture connections
- Posting infrequently or inconsistently
- Publishing overly promotional or “salesy” content
- Not integrating with CRM and analytics systems
- Neglecting page optimization for organic reach
- Not leveraging enough multimedia content
- Running ads without targeting or measurement
Avoiding these common missteps and keeping best practices in mind will help small businesses get the most out of their LinkedIn presence and strategy.
FAQ
Is a LinkedIn page free?
Yes, creating and maintaining a LinkedIn company page is free. LinkedIn offers optional premium packages with more features, but a free page comes with core functionality like profiles, posts, messaging, notifications, and analytics.
How do I create a LinkedIn page?
From your personal LinkedIn account, go to “Work” > “Create a Company Page”. Choose to create a page from scratch or convert your existing profile. You can then customize all sections with details about your business.
What should I post on LinkedIn?
Share a mix of industry news and trends, helpful tips, behind-the-scenes content, thought leadership articles, client testimonials, product updates, infographics, videos, and more. Aim for a good balance of educational and promotional posts.
How often should I post?
1-2 times per week is typically recommended as a starting point. Monitor engagement and adjust frequency up or down as needed. Staying active without overposting is key.
Can I run ads on LinkedIn?
Yes, LinkedIn offers several paid advertising options including Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Text Ads, and more. Ad targeting, bidding, and budgets can all be controlled directly through LinkedIn’s self-serve platform.