Understanding how to set up LinkedIn to increase online sales is a huge opportunity, with such a large number of top professionals networked together in one location, which is available to you 24/7 through your nearest device.
The purpose of the LinkedIn Company Page is to “raise brand awareness, promote career opportunities, and educate potential customers on your products and services.” The more you educate and promote, the more sales you will make. There are various lists of top LinkedIn company pages, including Hubspot, and BeBusinessed.com. LinkedIn details their best practices in several resources, including a Playbook and Weekly Webcast. Here are 13 common elements of successful Company Pages.
The Showcase Pages facilitate the development of long term relationships and increase sales with a specific segment of your target market. This should be part of your long term marketing strategy. For one-time events or short term marketing campaigns, LinkedIn has other advertising products. LinkedIn Members can choose to follow one or more of your Showcase Pages, in addition to following your Company Page. Space for 10 Showcase Pages is provided.
“For business lines or initiatives with unique messaging and audience segments, consider creating a dedicated LinkedIn Showcase Page.” -- LinkedIn
Find out more about Key features of a Showcase Page.
For great examples of quintessential Showcase Pages, see Adobe Creative Cloud and Marketing Cloud.
Comparing Features: LinkedIn Company Pages vs. Showcase Pages
| Feature | Company Page | Showcase Page |
| Analytics (calculated separately) | x | x |
| Notifications (calculated separately) | x | x |
| Sponsor updates from the page | x | x |
| Feature groups on the page (up to 3 groups per company page) | x | x |
| Managing content through social media management (write and schedule posts, manage comments, and monitor analytics from one place) | x | x |
| Appear in search results for searches and Ads business accounts | x | x |
| Followers select pages to follow individually – follower counts not shared | x | x |
| Associating employee profile with a company | x | |
| Associating job posting with a company | x | |
| Career Pages to showcase employment brand & culture | x |
Additional LinkedIn Tools
Get More LinkedIn Followers to See Posts, Engage with Content, and Become Leads
Followers are your brand advocates and key drivers of word of mouth, recommendations, and referrals. To increase the number of LinkedIn followers, use the same strategy you use to manage the rest of your content. Create relevant, quality content that you share across your platforms to encourage target market engagement. Post your content frequently to build relationships with increased trust and solidified credibility. Use your Calls to Action to direct traffic to your lead collection forms. Making LinkedIn a regular, planned part of your long term content marketing strategy, will increase your online sales.
References
Conference image: http://www.expos-online.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/conferences.jpg
LinkedIn on Tablet image: https://www.mltassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/linkin-network-1024x683.jpg
https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin
http://bebusinessed.com/linkedin/best-linkedin-company-pages/
https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/company-pages/get-started#Create
https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/marketing-solutions/products/pdfs/LISponsoredContentDatasheet5-2-16.pdf (talks about getting buyers early at awareness stage)
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/44863
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/44865
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/44674
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/44855
https://press.linkedin.com/site-resources/news-releases/2016/linkedin-for-good-2016-year-end-report
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/44855
