CompanyPagesPlaybook6-11-13

8/21/2019 CompanyPagesPlaybook6-11-13

1/13

linkedin.com.companies | 1

Company Pages and Followers

Relationships That Drive Results5 steps to engaging followers on LinkedIn


2/13


Table of contents

Intro 03

Establish your presenceSTEP

01 05

STEP

02 Attract followers 06

Engage followers 07STEP

03

Amplify through the network 10STEP

04

Analyze and refineSTEP

05 12



3/13


Build relationshipsthat drive resultsFor businesses, relationships matter more than ever.

Why? Because people tune out irrelevant orpromotional messages to focus on useful, engagingcontent. Companies that inform and engage arentjust selling theyre building relationships.

LinkedIn helps marketers forge relationships withthe worlds largest professional community. Ourmembers are almost 50 percent more likely to buyfrom a company they engage with on LinkedIn.1

And a whopping 80 percent of LinkedIn memberswant to connect with companies 2 because thoseconnections provide them opportunities to enhance

their professional decision making.

In this guide, well show you how to use yourCompany Pageto build relationships, attract newfollowers, and create brand advocates.

Social media leaders employ a 5-step model for establishingrelationships with customers and prospects.

After reading this guide, youll understand how to apply this5-step model to your social media strategy on LinkedIn.

5 steps to engaging followers on LinkedIn

1. Establish your presence

2. Attract followers

3. Engage followers

4. Amplify through the network

5. Analyze and refine

Use this proven model to fuel success

1. LinkedIn Audience 360 Study, August 2011

2. Ibid


4/13


Set your team upfor successContinuous, relevant communication createsstrong relationships. Here are some team-building strategies to help you create and deliverstrong content:

Centralize

Appoint a social media champion tocoordinate content creation and trackperformance. Product and brand managerscan help the champion ensure content reflectseverything your company is doing.

Divide and conquer

Split ownership between a global social mediateam and your companys HR or recruitingdepartment to meet both marketing andhiring needs.

Quick tips

Enlist colleagues who understand customers needsor have specific content creation skills (e.g., videoproduction, infographic design).

Identify expert contributors

Create a calendar with campaign themes and postingtimelines. Stick to it as much as possible but donthesitate to throw in timely content as opportunities arise.

Make an editorial calendar

Break up big themes into a series you can publish atfixed intervals to get followers regularly tuning in fornew content.

Make content go further


5/13


STEP

01

Showcase your Products & Services

Marketers who build out their Products & Servicespagetend to have twice as many company followers. Use thispage to tell members what you do best and give themcompelling reasons to follow you.

Tailor your offeringsYou can design multiple configurations of yourProducts & Services page based on one or two

of the following criter ia: members geography,company size, seniority, job function, or industry.

Go beyond productsYou can link to just about anything from yourProducts & Services page. Direct membersto your latest and greatest white papers, casestudies, or how-to content.

Tell a story through videoIf your company has a YouTube channel,

embed product demos or customertestimonial videos that tell a compellingnarrative about the value you offer.

Establish your

presenceYour company page is your home on LinkedIn.Heres how you can use it to tell your brand story.

Design your page

Click the Edit button in the upper right ofyour Company Page to update your company

description, specialties, industry, website, andmore. Use rich, descriptive language that helpsreaders understand your vision, purpose, and thevalue you offer.

Optimize for search

Company Pages are very SEO-friendly. Googleshows previews of up to 156 characters of your

page text, so be sure your description leads withpowerful, keyword-rich sentences. Memberscan also search for companies by keywordon LinkedIn, so include words and phrasesthat describe your business, expertise, andindustry focus.


6/13


STEP

02

Attract followersOnce youve established your companypresence on LinkedIn, you can begin fosteringrelationships by attracting followers to yourCompany Page. Here are some simple, effectivestrategies for attracting followers.

Engage your colleagues

Employees are 70 percent more likely to engagewith your Company Updates. Encourage them

to add a link to your Company Page to theiremail signatures.

Announce your Company Page to customersand partners

Once your page is all set, drive traffic its waywith a compelling blog post or email newsletterannouncement.

Add a Follow button to your website

Your web team can pull code for a Followbutton from developer.linkedin.comto add toyour blog or website. This lets LinkedIn membersfollow your company with a single click.

Join the discussion in LinkedIn Groups

Target Groups relevant to the industries or customersyou serve. Use LinkedIns search bar to find groupsby keyword.

Find the right Groups

Contribute to popular discussions members have started.As people like and reply to your comments, you havea chance to become a Top Influencer in the group.When appropriate, link to your Company Page to helpinterested members gather more insights and info.

Step up to the mic

When you post in Groups, aim to help members solveproblems and share insights with one another.

Be a connector

The members of LinkedIns 1-million-plus Groups often

engage with companies, so it makes sense to join thediscussion! Participating in these discussions is a great wayto attract new followers from targeted audiences.
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/developer.linkedin.comhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/developer.linkedin.com


7/13


STEP

03Engage followersThe best relationships are rooted in great conversations and your tool for starting thoseconversations is the Company Update.

Every update should convey your brand promise and values. But dont forget that LinkedInmembers want informative, insightful, inspirational content not self-serving promotion.By delivering useful and engaging content, youll foster engagement and help yourmessage spread faster.

So, what makes a good status update?


Be helpful and friendly, not sales-yOne-sided conversations are no fun. So dont postoverly promotional messages. If you do postoccasional company-related news or productannouncements, make sure they deliver a specific

benefit to your followers.

Post at least once per weekdayConsistent posting encourages engagementand fosters familiarity.

Think about timingUpdates posted in the morning usually earn thehighest engagement, with a slight bump occurringagain after business hours. Experiment to see whatworks best for your company.

3. LinkedIn U.S. survey-based follower report, January 2012

Link to great contentCompany Updates containing links can have up to45 percent higher follower engagement than updateswithout links.3Just remember to write a compellingsentence to accompany the link, inspiring membersto click through.


8/13


STEP

03

Audience size mattersLimit yourself to one or two targeting criteria per update

to ensure that your content receives many high-valueimpressions. Targeting too narrowly limits your reach.

Engage locallyUse Targeted Updates to let colleagues in regional officescontribute content that speaks directly to your customers orprospects in different areas.

Tailor your content tospecific audiencesWhat resonates most with followers? Content thats

customized to their professional interests. WithLinkedIns Targeted Updates, you can easily matchyour message to your audience.

When you create an update, you can decidewhether to share it with all followers or a

targeted audience. Choose the second option tosend your update to a subset of followers basedon geography, job function, industry, company size,

or seniority.

Audience targeting best practices


9/13


STEP

03

Enterprise cloud computing companysalesforce.comused Targeted Updatesto promote its Cloudforce Londonconference to a UK audience. Duringa five-week period, the company

experienced a 30 percent increasein follower engagement. Plus, theseTargeted Updates showed a 30 percentincrease in amplification (the ratio oflikes, comments, and shares to totalupdate impressions).

Learn from the bestAcross LinkedIn, companies are seeing the benefits of engaging their followers: recent research showsthat LinkedIn is 277 percent more effective at lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.4

Heres how some leading marketers are engaging their followers.

HPwanted to engage professionalsand gather recommendations for itsproducts. The company launchedits own page, inviting members torecommend and comment on items

in their Products & Services page.The company also ran LinkedIn Adsto generate recommendations atscale. The results: more than 2,000recommendations, 20,000 newfollowers, and 500,000 viral updatesabout HP products in two weeks.

A relative newcomer to the HR space,Reconversewanted to raise awarenessand create conversation about itsmission to change the corporaterecruiting model. Speaking to an

audience in the HR field, the companyused status updates to stage a contest.The first update alone generated 1,403likes, 120 comments, and 87 newfollowers. Reconverse attributes 90percent of its revenue to its LinkedIncommunity-building efforts.


4. Rebecca Corlis, LinkedIn 277% More Effective for Lead Generation Than Facebook & Twitter [New Data], HubSpot Blog, January 30, 2012,http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspx
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspxhttp://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspx


10/13


STEP

04

Amplify throughthe networkNothing impacts peoples perceptions andbehavior like the recommendation of a trustedfriend, colleague, or family member. When you

post content to your Company Page, your followerscan like, share, or comment on your updates,amplifying your messages to reach their first-degree connections too.

Each amplification acts as an endorsement of yourcontent and brand. In fact, a study of thousandsof Company Updates found that amplificationwas a primary driver of over one-third of all

impressions.5

Each additional impression is achance for your company to nurture relationshipswith LinkedIn members.

Encourage amplification outside LinkedIn

While your followers spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, yourrelationships should continue off the site too. These plugins(available at developer.linkedin.com) will help you furtheramplify members enthusiasm into endorsements for yourbrand off-site.

Recommend plugin:Embed this plugin on web pagesthat showcase the products on your LinkedIn Products& Services page. With one click, site visitors canrecommend a particular product to all their first-degreeLinkedIn connections.

Share plugin:Empower site visitors with LinkedIn accountsto share your content with their networks. Using the Shareplugin turns every visitor into a potential champion foryour brand.

Recommend

Share

5. LinkedIn study of all Company Updates with at least 1,000 impressions postedJune 1-15, 2012
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/developer.linkedin.comhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/developer.linkedin.com


11/13


STEP

04Help your content go viralHow do you encourage followers to amplify your content?

Here are some ways to get started:


6. LinkedIn study of all Company Updates with at least 1,000 impressions, posted June 1-15, 2012. Viral reach measured in number of uniques. Best-of listanalysis based on updates that included the words Top and the numbers 3, 5, 10, 25, 30, 50, and 100 (whether spelled out or as numerals).

7. Video analysis based on updates with links to youtube.com or youtu.be.

Link to relevant best-of listsPosts that point followers toward Top lists (e.g.,

Top 10 social media tactics in B2B marketing) canget almost 40 percent more amplification.6

Listen to conversations outside LinkedInCollect findings from your contact forms, call centers, andblog comments to create content on the most populartopics. When you post content that better reflects yourcommunitys interests, your followers will find yourupdates more worthy of a share, like, or comment.

Invite customers to write reviewsTheir recommendations of your products and services

will get amplified throughout the network.

Ask members for feedbackYour followers will welcome the chance to respond toquestions about industry trends, business problems,new products, and more. On average, status updatesthat contain questions receive almost 50 percentmore comments.

Post interesting videosA recent study found that followers who engagedwith posts containing links to YouTube videos tooktwice as many amplification actions ( likes, shares,and comments) as they did with posts that did notcontain videos.7

Dive into the commentsSince conversations are two-way affairs, it pays toappoint a team of social media ambassadors to respondto your followers input. Be sure to answer questionsin a timely manner and thank followers who shareinsightful, useful comments.


12/13


STEP

05

Analyze and refineIn any marketing campaign, success depends onyour ability to measure performance and use thatdata to optimize content. LinkedIns analyticstools empower you to do just that, ensuringyou have the insights you need to strengthenfollower relationships.

Experimenting with different kinds of contentis the best way to improve engagement and

amplification.

Measuring engagement

Engagement rate is the ratio of clicks, likes,comments, and shares to total impressions. Thisis a key metric for understanding how oftenmembers take action on your updates.

Measuring amplification

Amplification rate is the ratio of likes,comments, and shares to total updateimpressions. This helps you understand howoften members are sharing your content andwhat they find most interesting.

Track your progress

Your Company Page includes helpful analytics that showchanges in the size and composition of your follower

community, as well as activity on your page. Heres how toget the most out of this data.

Your Analytics page also displays monthly engagementmetrics for all your posts collectively. As you optimizeyour updates based on individual performance, youshould see an uptick in your overall engagement monthover month.

Set engagement targets

Find out if your updates are driving leads by trackingconversions from your LinkedIn landing pages. Yourconversion rate is the number of leads generated fromthese pages divided by the number of visits. Use alink-shortening service to create trackable links foryour updates.

Measure lead gen and conversion

Set targets for acquiring followers who match yourideal customer profile and post updates designed toattract them.

Establish growth goals


13/13

Cultivate thrivingrelationships with yourfollowersAs in any good relationship, your followers require care andattention. Follow the five-step model in this guide to deliverhigh-quality content that addresses members professionalneeds and youll not only grow your follower community,but also forge bonds and foster honest conversations withpotential customers.

Of course, theres always more to learn, so be sure to stay ontop of the latest news and advice by visiting our Company

Page at linkedin.com/company/linkedinand our blog atblog.linkedin.com. Thanks for reading, and happy posting!
http://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedinhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/blog.linkedin.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedinhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/blog.linkedin.com

Documents

CompanyPagesPlaybook6-11-13