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When B2Bs are getting started on LinkedIn, the first thing to do is set up a LinkedIn Company Page. LinkedIn is one of the fastest-growing social networks and it’s becoming a lot more than just a platform for job-seekers. Sales reps are connecting with leads, marketers are sharing strategies in groups and companies are starting to experiment with new opportunities like LinkedIn Ads or Sponsored Updates.

There’s substantial evidence that LinkedIn is really, really good for generating leads. With LinkedIn Ads or Sponsored Updates, it’s possible for companies to target prospects on a very granular level, segmenting audience by factors such as region, industry, job title and seniority. Before working on converting prospects through LinkedIn, though, businesses should optimize the LinkedIn company page. That way, if someone talks to a sales rep, sees a group discussion or checks out a Sponsored Update, he or she will find more information on the company page itself.

After creating your company page, don’t forget to do the following four things.

 

1. Finish All the Fields in the Company Info Section

Make sure that you’ve added relevant information like industry, summary, company size and location. Oh, and don’t forget to mention that your company is, in fact, “operating.”

 

2. Create a Product & Services Page

LinkedIn allows companies to list products and services, but many don’t get around to it. Once a page is created, clients can “Recommend” the product or service to others and companies can directly link a product to the corporate website. This will help educate prospects about the company if they’ve found the page through a news story or ad and companies can track how many impressions each service has made.

 

3. Name Your Contacts

When you’re creating a new service for LinkedIn, you have the opportunity to add an employee contact for people who are interested. Relevant sales people, product managers and marketing managers are good contacts to put here.

 

4. Upload Some Banners

That big image on top of the services page is called a banner. When you’re editing your service page, you’ll notice you have the option to create banners and even customize which services appear for different audiences. Upload actionable items that can lead to a landing page and you can track their effectiveness.

 

Linking it All Together

By setting up and optimizing a LinkedIn company page, businesses can build a new lead generation channel. The next step is to investigate which lead gen tactics work best – should you upgrade to LinkedIn Pro so you can message potential prospects without being connected? Should you post company content in a group? Or maybe you should sponsor one of your company’s updates and track how well it engages people.

Social media marketing is all about experimenting to see what works with your audience. With a fully optimized company page, you’ve taken that first step.

 


This post was first published by Blaise Lucey on March Communications’ blog PR Nonsense.