Here at Beep2B, we tend to focus more on LinkedIn personal profiles than company pages. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly everyone who uses LinkedIn will have a personal profile whilst a much smaller number of users also create and then regularly maintain their company page on the platform.
The second reason is that, even for those who have a company page, the main focus of their activity on LinkedIn will still be on their personal profile – as this is where they are most likely to share content, interact with others.and keep their connections updated about themselves.
However, it is important to realise that both types of page have their own benefits on the platform and a good LinkedIn strategy will usually make use of both – at least if this is appropriate (for example a company page may not be as desirable if your professional activity is not focused around a ‘business’ in the more traditional sense).
Today, we’re going to have a quick look at the benefits of each option in order to help give you an idea of how you might utilise them to drive traffic, connections and leads on LinkedIn.
How You Can Benefit From A LinkedIn Company Page
To begin with, let’s look at what the benefits of a company page on LinkedIn can be.
The first, and most important, relates to your image and your brand. By creating a company page on the site you are showing that you take this seriously and are proud enough of your professional brand that you want to show it off across the platform.
Whilst your personal page is a place to let your connections know a bit about who you are as a person, a company page is the place to show off the more professional side of yourself. This includes showcasing your company logo, which can then be used across the platform – including on your personal profile. An attractive and professional logo will help to enhance your professional image in general on the site and also helps to act as free advertisement for your company as well!
Your company page is also an excellent place to provide users with off-site links to your website and other digital platforms. You can allow clients to make enquiries, follow links or purchase products straight from your LinkedIn company page by using the built-in call to action buttons, making it an excellent way to generate business through the site.
Employees or co-workers can be linked to your company page and you can use it to advertise for any job vacancies that might arise as well. Alongside this, LinkedIn gives you the option to post company updates. This means that a LinkedIn company page, if properly managed, can act as a general hub for your business on the site – keeping other users informed about ongoing developments, connecting employees and letting other talented individuals across the platform know about your existence!
Finally, LinkedIn allows you to post content to your company page as well your personal profile. This can either be original work or third-party, curated content that LinkedIn suggests to you. In either case, posting relevant and interesting content that relates to your area of expertise or wider professional interests, will further help demonstrate your value to prospective clients and will help to generate even more interest in you and your company.
Why Your Personal Profiles Remains Crucial
With all the above being said, we should make sure that we get one thing clear: your personal page should be at the heart of your LinkedIn strategy. There will be exceptions to this, of course, but in the vast majority of cases your profile page will be the key driver of your success on LinkedIn. This is because it allows you to best perform the two key functions of the site: to connect and engage with others!
A properly set-up and maintained company page will certainly enhance your image and increase your opportunities on the platform, but a truly effective personal profile will drive new connections and leads at a far greater rate.
This is because, unlike a company page, your personal profile allows you to reach out to prospective connections and initiate contact with them directly. With a company page, on the other hand you can only do your best to create excellent content and then wait for new prospects to find you which is a much more passive approach.
You can engage in conversations, connect with new professionals and interact with other people’s content from your personal profile making it the primary driver of engagement on for users across LinkedIn in general.
Even with a highly optimised and quality company page, a user’s main source of new contacts and professional activity on LinkedIn is likely to be their personal profile.
One final thing to mention, however, is that for SEO purposes, your company page could actually be a greater driver of new traffic than your personal page. A company page, in general, will greatly assist your company’s SEO and, if people are likely to search for it – as opposed to for you personally – then it will provide another high-quality link that Google and other search engines can display to them.
Conclusion
Hopefully this article has given you a better idea of the relative benefits of a LinkedIn personal profile and company page and can be used to decide how each one might fit into your own LinkedIn engagement strategy.
Remember to always be balanced and consistent. This means that, if you have a personal profile and a company page you should spend some time on each one rather than completely neglecting one in favour of the other. The benefits of each are up for debate but it is certain that a half completed or poorly put together company page or personal profile will do you more harm than good on the platform! Likewise, being consistent with what you post will ensure that your connections and prospects always encounter interesting and relevant content and important updates when they visit either your personal profile or your company page. If you decide to make use of both as part of your overall strategy make sure to spend time working on both of them and ensure that they work together to mutually enhance your professional image on LinkedIn!
