LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 660 million users worldwide. Having a LinkedIn company page allows businesses to establish their brand, showcase products/services, highlight company culture, and attract top talent on the platform. But before creating a company page on LinkedIn, there are a few requirements that need to be met.
You Must Have an Approved Company Email Address
To create a LinkedIn company page, you need a business email address that has been verified and approved by LinkedIn. This is to ensure that only official representatives from legitimate companies can create and manage company pages on the platform.
The email address must clearly represent your company’s domain name. For example, [email protected] or [email protected]. Generic email addresses like gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc will not be approved by LinkedIn.
If your company uses Google Workspace (formerly GSuite), then your company email on that domain will work. Other accepted business email domains include Outlook, Office 365, and custom company domains managed through professional email providers.
The verification process involves LinkedIn sending a confirmation email to the address you used to register. Simply click the link in that email to authenticate that you own the company domain.
Once your business email is verified, you can use it to create a LinkedIn company page. This approval process ensures legitimacy and prevents impersonation of brands on the platform.
You Must Have a LinkedIn Personal Account
To set up a LinkedIn company page, you need to have a personal LinkedIn account first. This is because company pages on LinkedIn must be administered by real individuals.
Think of it like you need a LinkedIn personal profile before you can create a company presence on the platform. Your personal account will be given administrator access to your company page once it’s created.
So before embarking on creating a LinkedIn company page, ensure you have a personal LinkedIn profile set up. Use your official company email as the registered email for your LinkedIn personal account.
This allows seamless linking of your individual profile with your company brand page for proper administration.
Your Company Must Be Operating as a Legal Commercial Entity
For a company to be eligible for a LinkedIn page, it needs to be registered and operating as a legal commercial entity. This means properly registered and structured under your country’s business incorporation laws.
Essentially, LinkedIn wants to verify the legitimacy of companies before allowing them to create brand pages. This prevents fraudulent entities or fictitious brands from establishing a presence and engaging in false marketing or scamming.
During the company page creation process, LinkedIn will require that you submit details like:
- Company name
- Company website URL
- Industry/sub-industry
- Company size/number of employees
- Company registration/tax ID number
Providing valid information that shows your company is duly formed and operating as a legal commercial business is necessary for approval.
LinkedIn will also do backend verification checks on companies wanting to create brand pages before granting access.
You Must Use a Business Account When Managing the Company Page
While your personal LinkedIn profile is needed to start the company page creation process, you have to switch to using a LinkedIn business account when managing the page.
A business account on LinkedIn provides features tailored for company marketing and engagement versus individual usage.
Having a business account allows you to:
- Post as your company brand
- Monitor company page analytics and metrics
- Manage multiple administrators
- Utilize company targeting, tracking and promotion tools
So part of completing the requirements for a LinkedIn company page is creating or upgrading to a business account. The company page will be associated with and managed under the business profile versus personal.
You can use the same email as your personal account when setting up a business account on LinkedIn. But this allows proper segmentation between individual versus company activity.
You Must Select an Official Company Page Category
On LinkedIn, company pages come in different categories based on the type of business. When creating a company page, you have to select and designate an appropriate official category.
The available types of LinkedIn company pages include:
- Company
- Educational Organization
- Government Agency
- Non-Profit
The main Company page works for most commercial businesses and organizations. But if you are in education, government or non-profit sector, then selecting the right category is important.
For example, an elementary school should choose the Educational Organization page type versus regular Company. This properly segments them within LinkedIn’s ecosystem.
Properly categorizing your organization allows your LinkedIn company page to be discoverable by those interested in that sector. So pick the designation that best fits.
You Must Have a Company Logo and Cover Image
To complete setting up your LinkedIn company page, you need to upload a company logo and cover image. This properly brands your page with your visual identity.
Your logo should be a high-quality SVG or PNG image file, minimum size of 300 x 300 pixels. This appears prominently on your company page’s banner.
The cover image should be a banner sized visual that represents your brand. The dimensions should be 1584 x 396 pixels. This serves as the header backdrop of your page.
Having a logo and cover image that align with your company website’s visual branding is key. This makes your LinkedIn presence easily identifiable with your brand and reinforces it.
Keep the cover image professional and relevant to your industry. It’s the first visual impression people will get when visiting your page.
You Must Have at Least One Follower to Publish Content
Once your LinkedIn Company Page is approved and set up, you can start populating it with content. However, to begin publishing posts, you need a minimum of 1 follower.
This is to prevent bombarding users with posts from brand pages they have no interest in. Requiring at least one follower ensures there is some organic engagement before allowing broadcasting.
It’s not difficult to get your first follower. Company administrators can follow the page from their personal accounts. You can also ask colleagues in the company or connections on LinkedIn to follow your new page.
Just keep in mind you need that initial follower before your company page can start actively posting content and updates on LinkedIn.
You Must Complete Your Company Page Setup
To be eligible to fully use your LinkedIn company page, you have to complete the setup process. This involves filling out key details about your business.
Make sure you provide information on sections like:
- Company description
- Website URL
- Industry
- Company size
- Headquarters location
Providing details on your business model, products/services, leadership team, contact info, and any job openings are also advised.
The more comprehensive your company page set up, the better experience for visitors who want to engage and learn about your brand.
LinkedIn will prompt you to complete page setup and notify when sections are still missing information. Follow the recommendations to finalize an optimized presence.
Company Pages Have Restrictions on Content and Features
It’s important to note that LinkedIn company pages have restrictions on what content they can post versus personal accounts. These include:
- Cannot directly share personal opinions and views
- Cannot engage with other users via direct messaging
- Cannot follow/connect with other profiles
- Restrictions on advertisement formats
Company pages are meant for brand marketing. So LinkedIn limits features that are better suited for individual users. Focus your company page content and engagement on professional brand building.
Pages Must Comply with LinkedIn’s User Agreement and Policies
As with all activity on their platform, LinkedIn company pages have to abide by their user agreement and content policies. Failure to do so can result in restrictions or removal of the page.
Key rules include:
- No posting illegal, defamatory or pornographic content
- No spamming, bots, or automation software
- No abusive activity or harassment of other users
- No posting false information or misrepresentation
- No racist, hate speech or bullying
Focus your page on professional, brand relevant content that engages your target audience and promotes your company in a positive manner.
Stay within LinkedIn’s guidelines to avoid issues that could jeopardize your company presence on the platform.
Pages Cannot Have More Than 50 Administrators
While you can assign multiple LinkedIn members as administrators on your company page, there is a limit.
LinkedIn allows company pages to have a maximum of 50 administrators at any given time. This prevents pages getting out of control.
Assign administrator access only to those who truly require it for actively managing your brand presence and content.
Administrators can perform key functions like:
- Posting as the company
- Replying to comments and messages
- Monitoring analytics and metrics
- Changing page settings
So pick strategically who needs these privileges based on their roles. You can always remove administrators later if needed to free up slots.
Insummary
Creating a LinkedIn Company Page can greatly benefit your brand by increasing visibility, engagement, and authority. But there are requirements you need to fulfill first in order to set up your business presence on the platform:
- Verified company email address
- Personal LinkedIn profile
- Legal commercial entity status
- Business account on LinkedIn
- Select official page category
- Company logo and cover image
- Initial follower to publish
- Complete page setup
- Abide by LinkedIn policies and agreement
- Limit administrators to 50
Satisfying these requirements legitimizes your company and brand within the LinkedIn ecosystem. This allows you to create an effective presence that provides value to your audiences while achieving your business goals. With proper setup, a LinkedIn Company Page can be a valuable marketing asset.