Here is our Linkedin Company page... below are the steps to create and get followers to yours!

If you are asking this question yourself please read on... and you are not alone!

Recently, a few clients of ours inquired about how to best leverage a new Linkedin Company Page. That question inspired us to write this brief overview of the simple process of creating one, and also the positives of having a Linkedin Company page!

First though, we must distinguish the differences between a Linkedin Profile and this new Linkedin Company Page. Similar to Facebook you can have a personal profile page for connecting with people 1-1, and also a company page, to use the platform as a business. And just like Facebook, you can follow a company page, like, comment and share the posts a "company" adds. I guess we better also write, "WTF... is a Facebook Company Page", coming up next!

Here are the simple steps to creating a company page and also getting your co-workers to follow and share the posts; for greater organic reach.

Step 1: Create a Company Page

Head over to Linkedin, be sure to sign-in (duh) and then click, "Interests" in the top Linkedin menu. Then select "Companies" from the menu and you will see some options, chances are you are already following a few.

On the right side of the "Companies" screen you can create one, be sure to search for one first, try a few name variations with LLC, LLP, and Inc. in the names

If you did not see your company show up in search, then click "Create".

Step 2: Add Company

Enter the formal company name, as the public knows it (drop LLC or Inc.) unless it is critical to have.

Use your name@company.com email for this process. You may need to update your Linkedin email as well, fyi.

*Verify you are an official representative of the company, and your email is active.

Step 3: Company Info

You will be brought to the next screen to fill in all the relevant company information. I advise you copy and paste exact text from the live company website for these areas, (unless it is outdated). There are a variety of "obvious" info fields you can fill in, or ask a colleague if you do not know. Be sure to add the company website... for sure! See image below for all the various text fields.

Step 4: Designated Admins

We always recommend adding the senior level owners, marketing lead, and/or corporate suite in this area unless they are unusually "inactive" within the company. I would only add "admins" that might ever use or edit this page. **DO NOT ADD ALL EMPLOYEES HERE, you will invite them later and they can link to the page from their profiles.

FYI, you must be connected to them on Linkedin before you can add them as admins!

Step 5: Image, Logo and Specialities

For this section you will need a horizontal banner logo or image for the company, something that you "own" and not stolen from the web.

You can only use: PNG, JPEG, or GIF; maximum file size of 2mb and images must be 646 x 220 pixels or larger. If you have anyone that can size it perfectly here, ask them.

Note: You can crop your image once it's uploaded too.

You will also need a small square logo thumbnail for the company, recognizable graphics work best here, as it will be very small. At the bottom, add Company Specialties as core competencies offered as services, 4-6 are recommended here.

"Featured Groups" is optional and you can only add ones you are also an "Admin" on currently.

Step 6: Publish

Once you have added images and reviewed all the information on the page, click "Publish" and your new company page will be live on Linkedin! We are almost done...

So my company page is live... now what?

Like many other online and social channels, building the page profile is just the beginning, now you want people to follow it, like posts and share it! Below are some simple steps to getting more eyeballs on your new company page and its future posts.

Invite all your co-workers to follow the new page, if in a large company send out a mass email with the page link: http://www.linkedin.com/company/brick-house-media-co- You can also use Linkedin to send them all this message.
Make sure co-workers have added this company name as the correct company onto their "Experience" on their individual profile pages. For example, if they added Google Inc. and the company page is named just Google, they need to change it and re-link to it.
You can now manually add posts to this page, start with a simple overview of what you do, and link it to your website. You can add links and images to posts like on Facebook.
Or you can use services like Buffer and Scoop.it to share directly to your company pages. This saves an incredible amount of time considering these platforms can also share to Facebook pages, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Linkedin Groups all in one step.
Encourage all your co-workers to like and share the company posts to their personal Linkedin profiles, so all their connections will see them and this follow the company.
Send out an email or message to your clients, colleagues and online professional audiences on other social platforms to get them to "Follow" your company on Linkedin.
You can pay to sponsor posts from your new company page, but that is a whole other story we will cover in another post!

We won't steer you wrong, getting lots of people to follow your company page is not very easy, but it's also not impossible. It comes down to publishing great content that helps, inspires, educates and informs others who care about your industry or products.

If you need further help or are even more confused now, please contact us. Management of Linkedin company pages is just one of the many services we provide to our clients.