These two kinds of pages on LinkedIn certainly both have their uses, but it's important to keep the differences clear in your mind. A good way of looking at this is to think about how Facebook does things: a business page and a personal page are two different things. A LinkedIn company page is like Facebook's business page, while a profile is more like a personal page.
Why Your LinkedIn Profile Is More Effective
As with so much else in business, this is all to do with people. Human beings prefer to interact with other human beings. They simply don't respond in the same way to a company logo. On LinkedIn, a personal profile has that "real live human" touch. It's also active rather than passive, in that you can engage in one-on-one conversations and build relationships. You just can't do that with an impersonal company page.
You Still Need A Company Page
What we just outlined doesn't mean company pages are worthless. They're anything but; just don't let your expectations run away with you. Reasons to have a company page include:
✓ Credibility – Prospects will search for your company page and expect to find one. If they don't, they'll wonder how professional you are.
✓ Connecting employees – A LinkedIn company page forms a clickable link in each employee's personal profile, giving you more organic exposure.
✓ Greater opportunities – LinkedIn company pages score very well in SEO terms, so they'll often rank highly when someone enters your company name into Google.
✓ Targeted advertising – Company pages can target status updates at specific groups of people, including those who may not use other social networks.
✓ Logo, not grey box – Without a company page, your LinkedIn profile and that of your employees will just show a grey box. Once you have a complete page, visitors will see your logo instead.
Have A Company Page and A Profile
While profile pages on LinkedIn are often more effective than company pages, this doesn't mean you should neglect the latter. Working with a business growth partner like JDR can be a cost-effective way to pinpoint how you can use both forms in parallel to build your company's authority and your personal brand in partnership.
Your Best Strategy
Just go in with your eyes open and understand what it is that the two different things can and can't do. The company page will help prospective customers understand what your business does and how it goes about it. Your profile page can connect on a more personal and direct level. Any business owner needs to employ both in earnest.
JDR Group are a social media marketing agency and a LinkedIn advertising agency - these services are all part of our comprehensive marketing system. Please get in touch to find out more.
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