By Amy GeorgeOwner, By George Communications @amybgeorge
Small business owners who don't have a LinkedIn page for their companies are missing out on an opportunity to do some storytelling and brand building. When potential clients or business partners look up your profile and don't see a page for your business, what does that tell them?
Creating a LinkedIn business page doesn't take long. But you want to make sure to fill in all the information, because companies with complete profiles get 30 percent more weekly views, according to LinkedIn. Here's how to build your business LinkedIn page step by step. Let's get to work.
1. Identify your page.
To start, there are three things to fill in: your company name, the URL you'd like for your page, which will begin with "linkedin.com/company/," and your company's external website address.
2. Complete company details.
It takes just a few seconds to select your company industry, size and type from drop-down menus.
3. Upload your logo and create a tagline.
When you upload your logo to your business page, you can say goodbye to the ugly gray box that appears in your experience section of your personal page -- an instant boost for your brand.
While you're at it, fill in the tagline section, which is one of the newer features for LinkedIn's business pages. Once you upload your logo and create a tagline, the initial set up of your business page is complete. From here you will go to your page to make additional edits and improvements.
4. Upload a cover photo.
Just like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has a space for cover photos. Hopefully, you already have on on your personal profile page. From a branding perspective, the best cover images are ones that will match your logo, designed by the same graphic designer using the same color specs and fonts. If you don't have that or are waiting on a designer to create such art, go to a royalty free photo site like Unsplash.com or Pixabay.com.
Search for images that make sense for your business. Maybe it's the skyline of the city where your company is based. Maybe it has to do with your industry -- rows of law books for a lawyer, a produce market for a dietitian, web code for a software developer and so on.
5. Write your company overview.
Explain what your company does, who it serves, the value it delivers and why in the overview section. A few straightforward, well written sentences is all it takes. Or, if you have an "About Us" section on your website, use that.
6. Let people know how to find you.
Fill in all of your company's physical locations. Remember to update this area each time you add a location.
7. Create a custom button.
The custom button is another newer feature for LinkedIn business pages. It's essentially a call to action for your audience. Choose the action -- Contact us, Learn more, Register, Sign up and Visit website -- and then fill in the corresponding URL. You could direct people to your website, a company video or the link to subscribe to your electronic newsletter, to name a few options.
8. Load up some content.
You're business page is complete -- congratulations. But you're not done yet. Now it's time to start uploading content -- articles you've written, stories you've read about your industry, photos of your products, company announcements, press releases, status updates and more.
So, yes, while the set up stage is done, remember your business page is always a work in progress; give people a reason to visit it and get to know your company and your brand.
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