Linked In Company Pages And Followers Playbook

Company Pages and Followers

Relationships That Drive Results
5 Steps to Engaging Followers on LinkedIn

linkedin.com/companies | 1

Table of contents

i
STEP
Intro 03
03 Engage Followers 08

STEP STEP
01 Establish a Company Presence 06
04 Amplify Through the Network 11

STEP STEP
02 Attract Followers 07
05 Analyze and Refine 14


LinkedIn’s premium audience at a glance1

Relationships count
more than ever $86k
average household income
Relationships mean more today than they ever of a LinkedIn member
have for companies.

Consumers are in control of their online
experience and can easily tune out irrelevant or
promotional messages. On the other hand, they
are increasingly interested in connecting with
companies that can provide useful information 93%
and engaging content. more likely to be college
graduates
For years, LinkedIn has helped marketers forge
mutually beneficial relationships with the world’s
largest community of business leaders and
influencers. These relationships build brand
equity and convert social actions into new
business opportunities.
3 4 OUT
OF
Members also benefit as these relationships members use LinkedIn to
with companies offer actionable insights and keep up on business news or
solutions that enhance members’ careers and research companies
professional decision-making.

LinkedIn Audience 360 Study, August 2011


Build relationships A proven model for success

that drive business Our research shows that leaders in social media are
embracing a high-level, 5-step model for establishing

results relationships with customers and prospects. They are
attracting and engaging a community of company followers
by giving them the information and actionable insights they
Our research indicates that members are nearly seek.
50% more likely to purchase from a company After reading this guide, you’ll understand how to apply this
they engage with on LinkedIn.1 Further, nearly 5-step model to your social media strategy on LinkedIn.
80% of LinkedIn members want to connect with
Proven Model for Social Media Success
the companies in their lives.2 By tailoring your
conversations with members according to their 1. Establish a Company Presence
professional interests, you’ll improve the image 2. Attract Followers
of your brand and fuel purchase intent for your 3. Engage Followers
products and services. 4. Amplify Through the Network
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use your 5. Analyze and Refine
Company Page and other tools to attract
followers and turn them into passionate brand
advocates.

LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012
LinkedIn member surveys, January and February 2012


Organize your team
for success Don’t go it alone!
Whether you’re a company of 2, 10, or 100,000
employees, it’s important to establish clear roles The key to building relationships is continuous
and responsibilities for managing and optimizing communication and relevant content. Get help managing
this process to ensure your company always has engaging
your Company Page. content to share.

Here are some different strategies to consider: Enlist colleagues who understand customers’ needs or have
specific skills in content creation (e.g., video production,
Centralize infographic design). What expertise can they offer?
Appoint a single social media “champion” to coordinate
Create a spreadsheet calendar with campaign themes
all page content and track performance globally. This and posting timelines, and work with colleagues to decide
champion should work with individual product or brand what they can best contribute and when.
managers to reflect the variety of interesting things your
Break up large themes into a series that you publish at fixed
company is doing.
intervals, to get followers into the routine of “tuning in” for
Scatter new content.
Rotate ownership of the Company Page between Highlight company or industry milestones to grab members’
each brand or business unit with a central or global attention with timely information.
marketing lead setting and managing the schedule.

Divide & Conquer
Split ownership between a global social media team and
your company’s HR or recruiting department to address
marketing and hiring needs equally. Leads from each
team should work together to manage posting schedules
and shared goals.


Step 1: Establish a STEP
01
company presence Showcase Products & Services
Before you build your follower community, it’s
important to lay the groundwork of a great We’ve found that marketers who build out their free Products &
Company Page—your company’s home on Services Page tend to have twice as many company followers.
LinkedIn. Here’s how to get started. Located as a tab within your main Company Page, Products &
Services allows you to showcase everything your company does
best and, most importantly, gives members a compelling reason
Craft a compelling story to follow you.
Provide a great narrative
Click the “Admin tools” button in the upper right of Connect members with solutions
the page to edit your company description, specialties, After you’ve added products to your page, you
industry, website, and more. Use rich, descriptive language can design multiple configurations based on
that helps readers understand your vision, purpose, and one or two of the following criteria: members’
the value you offer. What makes you unique? Make sure geography, company size, seniority, job function,
the spirit of that story lives within all the content and or industry. With this feature, you can select to
feature relevant products to a specific audience.
conversations you publish on LinkedIn.

Include a description, 1-2 paragraphs long Go beyond products
Company Pages are very SEO-friendly, and your You can link to just about anything on your
LinkedIn Company and Products & Services
description and company name are prominent data for
pages. Give members a reason to follow you by
search engines. Google search engine results pages show
directing them to white papers, case studies or
previews of your page text (up to 156 characters in length), how-to content. Rotate this content regularly.
so be sure your description leads with powerful sentences.

Insert high-value keywords Tell a story through video
Our search bar also lets members search for companies Video is a proven method for increasing
by keyword directly from any LinkedIn page. You can engagement on a site. If your company has a
YouTube channel, embed product or customer
help your target audience find you by including targeted
testimonial videos that tell a compelling
keywords that describe your business, expertise, and narrative about the value you offer.
industry focus in each Company Page field.


Step 2: STEP
02
Attract followers Join the discussion on LinkedIn Groups
Creating authentic relationships is central to
achieving success on LinkedIn. Once you’ve
There are over 1 million LinkedIn Groups serving as
established your company presence on LinkedIn, you communities for like-minded professionals worldwide.
can begin fostering these relationships by attracting We have groups covering virtually every industry, and
followers to your Company Page. Here are some often the members you’ll find in groups are also the
members who are most eager to engage with companies.
simple, effective strategies for attracting company
followers and getting those relationships off to a Contribute to discussions in popular groups
strong start. Target groups that are relevant to the industries or customers
you serve. The search bar on the LinkedIn homepage lets
Engage your colleagues you look for groups by keyword.
Employees are your most reliable advocates. Encourage
them to complete their profiles and include a link to your Post ideas and questions that reflect members’ interests
Company Page in their email signatures. Include a link to your Company Page at the end of your post.
Advise members to follow your Company Page if they’re
Announce your Company Page in an email newsletter to interested in gathering more insights and helpful information.
existing customers or partners
Ask recipients to reply to that email with feedback about the Share the mic
kinds of content they want to receive through your Company Contribute to popular discussions that members have
Page. This will help you focus your conversations. started. As people “like” and reply to your comments, you
have a chance to become a “Top Influencer” in the group.
Add a “Follow” button to your website You can also earn trust with members by using the group’s
Your web team can pull simple code for a “Follow” button built-in sharing tools to promote their discussions on major
from developer.linkedin.com that you can add to your blog social sites.
or website. This allows LinkedIn members to follow your
company with a single off-platform click. Be a connector
When you post to groups, aim to drive responses that
Celebrate your new page on the company blog will help members solve problems and share insights with
Once you set up your Company Page and start adding one another.
content, drive traffic to it through a compelling blog post.


STEP

Step 3: Engage followers 03
Once you have followers, it’s important to nourish those relationships. The best follower relationships
are rooted in great conversations—and your tool for developing those conversations is the
Company Status Update.

At the most basic level, it’s helpful to think of every update as a chance to convey your brand promise. But it’s also
important to think of what LinkedIn members expect to receive from status updates. As a rule of thumb, all content you
post to LinkedIn should help members become more successful professionals. When you build a reputation for wanting
to help your followers, you’ll be more likely to convert them into loyal customers.

So, what makes a good status update?

Keep your content informative
A total of 68% of LinkedIn members say they would like to receive relevant news articles or insights from companies.

Be helpful and friendly, not sales-y
Have you ever had dinner with someone who always talked about him or herself? Avoid this pitfall, and don’t post overly promotional messages.
If you do post occasional company-related news or product announcements, be sure you’re providing content that delivers a specific benefit to
your followers.

Say it succinctly
We find that updates receive higher engagement if you keep it short - a brief sentence or two will do.

Post at least once per weekday
In general, companies that post 20 times per month reach at least 60% of their unique audience.

Think about timing
Updates posted in the morning usually earn the highest engagement, with a slight bump occurring again after business hours. Experiment to
see what works best for your company.

Link to great content
Status updates containing links can have up to 45% higher follower engagement than updates without links. Just remember to write a
compelling sentence to accompany the link, inspiring members to click through.

LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 8

STEP
03

Tailor your content Audience targeting best practices

to specific audiences Include your biggest brand advocates: your employees!
Employees are 70% more likely to engage with your posts.
What resonates most with followers? Content that’s
Don’t target ultra-granular segments
customized to their professional interests. With
Limit yourself to one or two targeting criteria per update
LinkedIn’s Targeted Status Updates, you can reach to ensure that your content receives many high-value
distinct follower segments with content they’re impressions.
likely to find interesting.
Engage locally
When you write an update, you’ll notice a feature Your company has a presence all over the map. Use
that lets you share it either with “all followers” or a Targeted Status Updates to let employees in regional offices
contribute content that speaks directly to your customers or
“targeted audience.” Selecting the second option
prospects in different areas.
lets you send your update to a subset of followers
based on geography, job function, industry, Target your ideal customer profile
company size, or seniority. Aim to reach followers who match your target customer.

We’ve seen promising results from early tests of
Targeted Status Updates. Philips, for example,
saw a 106% increase in follower engagement
after posting Targeted Status Updates during
a six-week period.

LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012


STEP

Case studies: 03
learn from the best
Across LinkedIn, companies are seeing the benefits of engaging their followers: Recent research shows
that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.7

How are leading marketers engaging their followers? Here are some helpful case studies to guide you:

Enterprise cloud computing company HP wanted to engage professionals and A relative newcomer to the HR space,
salesforce.com used Targeted Status gather recommendations for its products. Reconverse wanted to raise awareness
Updates to promote its Cloudforce The company launched its own page, and create conversation around its mission
London conference to a U.K. audience. inviting members to recommend and to change the corporate recruiting model.
During a five-week period, the company comment on the items in the Products Speaking to an audience in the HR field, the
experienced a 30% increase in the rate of & Services area. The company also ran company used status updates to stage a
follower engagement. In addition, these LinkedIn ads to generate recommendations contest, igniting a dialogue. The first update
targeted updates showed a 30% increase in at scale. The results: More than 2,000 alone generated 1,403 “likes”, 120 comments,
amplification (the ratio of “likes”, comments recommendations, 20,000 new followers, and 87 new followers. Reconverse attributes
and shares to total update impressions). and 500,000 viral updates about HP 90% of its revenue to its LinkedIn community-
products in two weeks. building efforts.

HubSpot Blog. Jan. 30, 2012


STEP

Step 4: 04
Amplify through the network
What is amplification and why does it matter?
Nothing impacts peoples’ perceptions and behavior like the recommendation of a trusted friend, colleague, or family
member. When you post content to your Company Page, your followers can “like”, share, or comment on your updates,
which “amplifies” your messages to their entire first-degree networks.

Each amplification action is an endorsement of your content and brand. As members amplify your posts across
LinkedIn, you have the chance to build relationships with even more members who discover your company through the
recommendation of a close contact.

Amplification plays an important role in engagement. A LinkedIn study found that non-followers actually engaged with
status updates 30% more than followers did.1 This is likely because many non-followers—who saw the updates once their
connections “liked”, shared, or commented on them—reacted to the implicit endorsement.

Also, a study of thousands of company updates found that over one-third of all impressions were due almost entirely
to amplification.2 Each additional impression is a chance for your company to reach members and convert them into
followers.

LinkedIn analysis of over 9,800 company Status Updates that received at least 500 impressions, during January 2012
Based on a study of all company Status Updates with at least 1,000 impressions posted June 1-15, 2012


STEP

Make your content viral 04
How do you encourage followers to amplify your content?
Here are some ideas to get you started:

Ask coworkers to share your content with Post interesting videos Listen to conversations that occur off
their networks One recent study found that when a status LinkedIn
Employees can show their corporate pride update linked to a YouTube video, followers Collect findings from your various contact
and “shout out” fellow colleagues. who engaged with it took twice as many forms, call centers, and blog comments, and
amplification actions (“likes”, shares, or create status update content around the most
comments) compared to posts that did not popular topics. When you post content that
contain videos. better reflects your community’s interests,
Link to “best-of” lists that focus on
your followers will find your updates more
industry insights or relevant company news worthy of a share, “like”, or comment.
Research shows that, on average, posts can
Ask members for feedback about an
boost their amplification rate by nearly 40%
industry trend, business problem, new
if they steer followers toward “Top” lists
(e.g.: “Top 10 social media tactics in B2B product, and more
marketing”). Your followers will welcome the chance to
respond to questions. On average, status
updates received nearly 50% more comments
if they contained questions.
Invite customers to write reviews on your
Products & Services page
Their recommendations will get amplified
throughout the network.

Based on a study of all company Status Updates with at least 1,000 impressions, posted June 1-15, 2012. Viral reach measured in number of uniques. Best-of list analysis based on updates that included
the words “Top...”: 10, ten, 5, five, 3, three, 100, one hundred, 50, fifty, 30, thirty, 25, or twenty-five. Video analysis based on updates with links to youtube.com/ or youtu.be/.


STEP
04
Dive into the
comments Encourage amplification off-site

As you post engaging content, certain followers While your followers spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, your
will leave comments below your updates. relationships should continue off the site as well. With this
in mind, we’ve provided you with tools to let you start
Don’t let these comments go unrecognized
conversations with members in multiple settings—not just
or unanswered—as a page admin, you can dive on LinkedIn.com. Here are a couple of plugins (available at
right in and start interacting. This will help build developer.linkedin.com) that will help you further amplify
loyalty among members, keep the discussion members’ enthusiasm into endorsements for your brand.
going, and amplify conversations throughout
the network.

Here are a few ideas for capitalizing on Recommend plugin: Embed this simple plugin on your
website, on all pages that showcase the products you’ve also
comments: added to your LinkedIn Products & Services page. With one
click, your site visitors can recommend a particular product
Praise to all their first-degree LinkedIn connections.
Use the comments section to thank followers who contribute
thoughtful remarks about your products or industry.

Showcase Share plugin: When you add a share plugin to your site, you
Connect with your most passionate, prolific commenters and empower all readers with LinkedIn accounts to share your
invite them to write a guest post on your blog. Link to the post content with their networks. This turns every visitor into a
in a status update. potential champion for your brand.

Organize
Appoint a team of coworkers as ambassadors to your follower
community, empowering them to respond to comments.


STEP
05

Take note: what content drives conversation?

The best way to improve follower engagement and
amplification is to experiment with different kinds of content.
Once you understand what works, you can easily refine your
approach. Page admins can see statistics (engagement rate,

Step 5: impressions, “likes”, shares, and comments) below each
status update starting 24 hours after they post.

Analyze and refine Measuring Engagement
An important Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a post’s
In any marketing campaign, success depends Engagement Rate—the ratio of clicks, “likes”, comments
and shares to total update impressions. This is an important
on your ability to measure performance and global metric for understanding how often members take
optimize resources. LinkedIn’s analytics tools action on your updates. If you include a link in an update, be
empower you to do just that, ensuring you sure to generate it with a link-shortening service like bitly or
have the insights you need to strengthen Ow.ly. This way, you can keep track of total click-throughs.
follower relationships.
Measuring Amplification
As you post updates, note which subjects and formats seem
to drive the highest amplification rate—the ratio of “likes”,
comments, and shares to total update impressions. This
helps you understand how often members are sharing your
content. For example, you might notice that you drive high
amplification whenever you post about your company’s
philanthropic initiatives. This might tell you that many of
your followers are interested in learning more about your
company’s values and culture.


STEP

Track your progress 05
Your Company Page includes helpful Follower Statistics and Page Statistics tools that let you view
changes in the size and composition of your follower community, as well as activity on your page.
Here are a few best practices for getting the most out of these features. It may be helpful to create a
simple spreadsheet to track these KPIs over time.

Establish goals for growing your Measure lead generation and Set engagement targets
follower community follower conversion The Follower Statistics page also displays
Use the Follower Statistics page to Are your updates driving leads? Find out by monthly engagement metrics for all your
understand how your follower community is first tracking sign-ups from your LinkedIn posts collectively. As you optimize your
growing over time and what kinds of followers landing pages (e.g., webinar and event updates based on individual performance,
you’re reaching. Set targets for acquiring registrations). Your conversion rate is the you should see an uptick in the overall month-
followers who match your ideal customer number of leads generated from these pages to-month engagement rate.
profile. divided by the number of visits. Remember,
you can track click-throughs if you use a
service like bitly or Ow.ly to create links for
Get to know your recent followers your updates. You can also estimate how well
Your Follower Statistics page displays three you’re converting followers to leads: Divide
of your most recent followers. Click through your number of new monthly or quarterly
to their profiles to learn more about them. leads by the number of new followers you’ve
Record info like job function, location, acquired during that time.
company, etc. This will help you understand
how your audience is changing at the margins.


Let your follower
relationships thrive
Like any good relationship, your followers require
care and attention. By following the
five-step model in this guide to deliver
consistently high-quality content that addresses
members’ professional needs, you will not
only grow your follower community, but also
forge bonds and foster honest conversations with
potential customers.

As always, please keep in touch and stay on
top of the latest news and advice by visiting our
Company Page [linkedin.com/company/linkedin],
or check out our blog [blog.linkedin.com]. Thank
you for reading, and happy posting!


Linked In Company Pages And Followers Playbook

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