LinkedIn is more than just a great tool for recruiting and job hunting. While B2C companies have a 39 percent success rate using the Website, B2B companies using LinkedIn for customer acquisition see a success rate of 61 percent. But until recently, LinkedIn's company pages seemed flat, and garnered little use, as Facebook's more robust branding tools pulled people in.
Now, LinkedIn's newly redesigned company pages show promise, and B2B enterprises should consider moving more effort to LinkedIn to capture market share.
Marketers know that graphics and usability are every bit as important as content, and because of this, found LinkedIn's old company pages discouraging because they offered limited graphics, a text-heavy content feed, and a single Products & Services tab. Now, LinkedIn allows brand pages to feature graphics more prominently in everything from posts that show up in followers' feeds, to a specialized Products & Services page. LinkedIn also provides a dedicated module at the top right rail to showcase additional products and services.
This new design is a great opportunity for companies to extend their brand. Here are some smart ways to use it:
Seize the banner image
In a move that definitely looks cribbed from Facebook, LinkedIn's company pages now have a spot for a short, wide image that looks like a Facebook cover image. Companies can upload a custom banner, similar to what individuals and brands use on Facebook's Timeline layout. These images are 646 pixels wide by 212 pixels high, and can be used to highlight a particular product, or generally promote the brand.
Post breaking news -- with images
The company pages now have more robust feeds that include room for images. Like Facebook, brands can link to blog posts or press releases, and LinkedIn pulls in an image from the Website and places it to the left of the text. The images are 180 pixels wide by 114 pixels high, so to optimize your LinkedIn feed, use images that are proportional to these dimensions.
Update products and services information
The company pages highlight products and services on the right side of the page. Again, these redesigned pages are very visual. Upload images to go with the products and services. These images display as 100 pixels wide by 80 pixels high.
Update the Products & Services Page
In addition to providing a space that highlights products and services, LinkedIn has a dedicated tab for them, too. The redesign allows companies to upload rotating "cover" images for that page. The dimensions are 635 pixels wide by 216 pixels high. Use it to highlight a new product or service, or promote an existing stalwart.
Start revisiting who you're targeting
LinkedIn has vague plans to allow companies to target the information that visitors see. For example, a C-level executive visiting a company page may see information specifically targeted to their position. While this feature hasn't rolled out yet, LinkedIn is kicking around ways to target information to specific groups.
Right now, LinkedIn only offers these new pages to a handful of companies, but it has plans to expand its company profile, as well as add more features. As with Facebook, this rollout may happen stealthily, so companies should start optimizing their pages now to take advantage of the features as they become available.
How are you using LinkedIn for marketing? Let us know.
— Christine Parizo is a freelance writer specializing in business and technology.
I don't believe in Linkedin. Dry data can't describe my experience, my creativity, my intellect. It happened so that for 10 years I was teaching at some provincial University, travelling around, doing different projects, but they were all at local, national level ( in Russia). So now, when I moved to Germany, and looking for a job, I am having problems with job searching, because people are interested in Corporate Brands and positions in CV, but not in personal characteristics and experience. Just a bit of complaining, sorry.
I was curious as to where you obtained the 39% and 61% stats. I would like to use them, but your post does not indicate where the first one came from. And I do not see where the 61% is used in the link you created.
Companies can really use images as a way to connect with members on a more personal level. I can see HR photos of new hires who got their jobs through LinkedIn and testimonials about what the experience was like to go through the process. Closer relationship connections in the process of hiring could actually improve the experience and offer insight into what the culture is like for prospective job applicants.
The new company pages sound like an improvement. It would be very nice too if audience targeting was part of the new offering. I would think recruiting is a big function of a LinkedIn company page. I don't know what else it could be used for really.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Last week's official US release of the BlackBerry Z10, the BlackBerry 10 touchscreen device, on the AT&T network marked the official entry of BlackBerry as a player in the formidable US smartphone market. While most consumers may not be swayed from their shiny, sleek iPhones and Android devices, businesses may still have a compelling reason to deploy BlackBerry 10. However, BlackBerry needs to do a few things before businesses will jump on the bandwagon, including opening up their management API and luring consumers to their device.
Whenever I whip out my BlackBerry Bold in public, someone will undoubtedly say, "Oh, how cute. You still use a BlackBerry." Yes, I do, and I'll use it until the day I die.
As legacy applications outlive their usefulness, companies look toward the cloud for maximum efficiency and minimum expense. But nothing is as simple or easy as just “moving to the cloud.” Legacy applications need to be modernized, and data has to be migrated. It’s the kind of headache that makes any seasoned IT pro reach for the coffee maker -- and a fistful of Advil.
Social integration, mobility, and the cloud -- with a side dish of social media -- are becoming evermore critical elements of enterprise content management (ECM).
A recent release of the popular TweetDeck app for Twitter power-users gives new life to software that had previously taken a wrong turn. Here's a quick walk-through of the new TweetDeck, to show you why it should be at the top of your Twitter toolkit.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
Project management and marketing don't generally work well together, but now the cloud delivers PM software that is more compatible with marketing's creative and spontaneous nature.
A growing number of HR managers are suspicious of individuals who do not take part in social media and view them as anti-social in real life as well as online.
Michael Brutsch, a.k.a. Reddit's Violentacrez, is a creep who posted borderline kiddie porn to the Internet anonymously, and got fired when outed by a media outlet. It's a cautionary tale even for people who aren't jerks and predators.
"Social Enterprise" is an increasingly trendy term, and Salesforce.com has been leading the way. At its Dreamforce conference last week, the theme was clear: From here on, enterprise applications must have social capabilities built in.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Email This
