What Is LinkedIn and Why Should Your Business Be On It?

An Overview Of Listing Your Business on Linkedin

By Tom Seest

What Is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented, on-line service that provides professional networking opportunities and career development and advancement using web sites and mobile apps. LinkedIn allows employers to post-career and cultural opportunities and job seekers to upload resumes and communicate with potential employers. Microsoft purchased LinkedIn in December of 2016. As of September 2021, LinkedIn has 774+ million signed-up people from all over the world.

LinkedIn permits online participants (both workers and companies) to connect and develop profiles and relationships with each other in a social network which reflects real-world business, deeply personal connections. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or not) to come to be a connection.

You can learn more about LinkedIn on their website at https://www.linkedin.com/ and on Wikipedia.

What Is a LinkedIn Company Page and How Do You Create One?

Once you have a personal LinkedIn account, you can create a company page for your business which helps potential customers and job candidates learn more about your business, products, brand, job opportunities, and services.

To create a LinkedIn company page, you’ll need a personal LinkedIn account and a verified email address. You do not have to pay to have a company page on LinkedIn; it’s free to anyone.

How Do You Hire People on LinkedIn for Your Business?

LinkedIn will give you the opportunity to create a Career Page for your business where you can showcase job openings, your business culture, etc. Finding an employee who has the right skill set that fits with your company culture can be a hard mountain to climb for any business. LinkedIn career pages allow companies to find the best talent for their needs, tell their company story and measure the impact of their hiring goals.

The Life tab of your career page gives job seekers an inside look at your company’s culture. This section allows you to showcase photo galleries, long-form posts, company leaders, company insights, and videos showcasing your products, services, and company culture. You can even create multiple versions of the Life tab to target different audiences, such as marketing candidates and engineering candidates.

What Are the Benefits Of a LinkedIn Company Page?

Most people view LinkedIn as a site for job hunters and for growing your personal professional network. LinkedIn is an equally effective tool for finding new prospects and customers, generating new business sales leads, and nurturing referral business relationships.

Your LinkedIn company page will allow you to create shareable content that benefits your business customers, introduce your new products and services, find job candidates who can make a significant contribution to your business success, improve the ranking of your business website in search engines by establishing authority in your service or product niches, and allow you to track the development of your business competition.

You can read more about the benefits of a LinkedIn company page in this article titled “6 Business Benefits of a LinkedIn Company Page” and other articles like it. You’ll also get listed in the LinkedIn Company Directory located at https://www.linkedin.com/directory/companies.

How Does a Personal LinkedIn Account Benefit You?

Whether you’re an advertising and marketing executive in a large business, an entrepreneur who runs a little, local shop, or even a first-year college student seeking their very first job after finishing their education, LinkedIn is for anyone who wants to advance their professional life by connecting and networking with other professionals.

On LinkedIn, you network with people by following them and their posts and content. This is similar to how you would make a friend request on Facebook. Alternatively, you can meet other professionals by networking in person and then getting their LinkedIn contact and profile information.

LinkedIn is similar to Facebook in terms of its layout and the types of features it offers. These features are extra specialized since they satisfy subject matter experts and professionals.

How Do You Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Presence?

You can learn more about the reason and benefits of a personal LinkedIn page and profile by reading this article titled “What Is LinkedIn and Why Should You Be on It?”

Once you have created your LinkedIn company page and established a presence, you’ll want to spend some time optimizing your usage of the platform to the benefit of your company. You will want to join groups that are important for your company, get personal and business followers, publish and share relevant content for your company, and target your customers with specific relevant posts about your company.

You can learn more about optimizing your business presence on LinkedIn through this article titled “LinkedIn for Business: Everything You Need to Know” and other articles like it.

How Do You Create Your LinkedIn Company Page?

Once you have signed into LinkedIn with your personal information and account, you’ll find an option titled “Create a Company Page” in the “Work” drop-down as pictured here. Or, you can go to the page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/setup/new/.

What Type Of LinkedIn Page Should You Choose for Your Company Page?

For most of you, when this screen is displayed, you will want to click on the big Company button as pictured here as you are wanting a LinkedIn Company Page.

Will You Need a Website for Your LinkedIn Company Page?

While a great website is not required, it is suggested that you have one for your business.

LinkedIn will require you to create an identity for your business and provide your website details.

Will You Need Company Details for Your LinkedIn Company Page?

You will be prompted to provide basic information and details about your company including the size, industry, type of company, logo, etc.

Will LinkedIn Help You Add Your Company Page?

Once you’ve created the Company Page for your business on LinkedIn, it will guide you through the process of customizing your LinkedIn Company Page.

Will LinkedIn Prompt You to Describe Your Company?

If you click on the Add button where they prompt you to add your Description for your company, you will see a screen that appears like this and allows you to enter a 2,000-word description of your business.

Articles like this one titled “How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page for 2022” and “How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Business Page” will show you how to optimize your company page description and the other features of your LinkedIn company page.

Will LinkedIn Link Your Company Page to Your Specialties?

LinkedIn will prompt you to provide up to 20 specialties that best describe your company, its products, and services.

Will Your LinkedIn Company Page Require a Physical Business Address?

Linked In will prompt you to add your company or business locations as pictured here.

Can a LinkedIn Company Page Not Have a Physical Business Address?

As pictured here, yes. When you add your LinkedIn business location, you have the option to indicate that the business doesn’t have a street address in the city where it operates.

Can Your LinkedIn Company Page Have a Visit Website Button?

LinkedIn will prompt you to add a button to your company page. This button can be used to prompt the user to visit your website as well as other calls to action for your customers and business prospects.

Does a LinkedIn Company Page Need a Cover Image?

LinkedIn will prompt you to add a 1028 x 191 pixel image as your cover image as pictured here.

What Will Your LinkedIn Company Page Cover Image Look Like?

You’ll get the opportunity to size and edit it but eventually, it will look something like this.

Can Your LinkedIn Company Page Use Tags?

LinkedIn will prompt you to enter up to three tags that best describe your company, its products, and its services.