LinkedIn. The world’s largest professional network on the web, and your most valuable friend when you want to connect and engage with industry leaders and potential clients; accessing knowledge, insight and opportunities. With around 433 million users registered to the platform, 40 percent of which check their online profiles every single day, this social media giant is not one to be ignored.
In the past week, you may have noticed that LinkedIn are testing out a newly revamped Company Pages service, with a prompt to ‘Access the new admin experience’ upon clicking on your chosen company page. Here they tell us that they’ve listened to our feedback and that they have redesigned the company page.
Great! About time if you ask us! So, what does this mean for brands going forward?
Will it purely change the way we use or view it? Or will we have access to further insights that we could use to our advantage? Only time will tell.
With reports that they are utilising their biggest users such as IBM and GE as digital guinea pigs, its beta version is currently showcasing their impending layout change with a plan to roll out the concept to all brands in the near future.
There isn’t much information available to the end user about LinkedIn’s company page switch up when doing a quick Google search, so we’re not crystal clear on their proposed strategy at this particular time. But, as we patiently wait and tap our watches for the new layout to be available for us mere mortals to play with, there’s quite a few things to take note of and prepare for.
Oh, it looks good!
Okay, so straight away we immediately notice just how minimalistic and pleasant on the eyes the new design is. In fact, the content has been sorted into three separate areas: Overview, Jobs and Life. And with one little click, additional content is revealed.
This is a beautiful transition from the clunky interface we are all so familiar with.
In the Overview tab, we have access to more information about the company, with recent updates, company photos and a list of their ‘Showcase Pages’; in this case, ‘Industrial Internet’ and ‘Future of Work’. However, the real negative about this page is that company updates have taken a sideline. First, you have to click into the Overview tab and then scroll quite a way down to see them. As digital marketers that manage LinkedIn company pages on a daily basis, we know that these updates are a lifeline to enable engagement with your audience; therefore, they should be front and centre. Of course, most people will see updates in their news feeds, but this is most probably an almighty loss on the company side of things.
The Jobs tab shows you vacancies that are available within the company, which is great for jobseekers as this area of the company page is easy to navigate at first glance, and jobs are laid out in easy-to-read tiles.
The new jobs tab is a hell of an update from the previous ‘Careers’ tab that is currently being used. Simplicity is definitely key here.
Perhaps, as another way to improve this section, would be to only list the jobs that are relevant to the person searching. As you can see from the screen grab below, a lot of the jobs here are just not applicable.
Live the Life
Finally, the Life tab takes you to a snazzy drop down with the title ‘Discover GE’. This is like an access all areas hub to find out more about what it’s like to work at GE, and is the goldmine when it comes to your company page. Here, you can really shout about your company, demonstrate ethos and ethics, whilst enticing prospective employers and customers.
The pièce de résistance of this section, is that you can feature a widescreen video here, giving the user a behind the scenes insight of your business. You can also provide a snapshot of your Leadership Team, which is also a real showstopper when you think about it. At first glance, a user can see the leaders and influencers within your company and click to unveil their personal profiles.
A touchpoint to the thought leaders, decision makers and ambassadors within your business. Bonus!
What is also extremely special about the Life tab, is that you can add more detailed content to really sell your business. Here we can see the cultural insights of General Electric; including the causes they care about, the organisations they support and what languages they speak. We advise that you start pondering exactly what story you’d like to tell here, how you want to portray your company and why people should work with you, and for you.
Knowledge is Power
Okay, so last but not least, and perhaps one of the most personable touches to this segment of your company page, is the ability to feature ‘Employee Perspectives’. Now, what this does is utilises the LinkedIn Publishing feature, whereby you can post articles to your LinkedIn page to share knowledge and expertise with your peers. This allows you to showcase your employees and their wisdom, focussing on hot topics they may have an opinion on, or content from your blog that you can rework for the purpose of gaining exposure on LinkedIn. Remember, your people will sell your business and will allow prospective clients, as well as future employees, to put faces to names and familiarise themselves with exactly who you are.
Now listen up! If you’re a brand, this feature could be your golden ticket, your free ride, the jewel in the crown of your digital marketing strategy.
You must have content published by your employees to highlight; it’s an untapped resource and one that is more likely than not, going to help you position yourself in a sparkly beam of light; and let’s not forget, it could also set you miles ahead of your competitors. Use your people as your knowledge centre. John in marketing could be your knight in shining armour (or a suit) when it comes to sharing nuggets of information about SEO with your target customer, for example. This is a chance for John to really shine. Let him be one of your thought leaders.
A word of advice for when this eventually does roll out then, is to get your employees to begin talking about stuff. The topics they are most educated on, opinions on certain industry trending topics, perhaps even news about what’s happening behind closed doors. This will then all be there in your knowledge bank to tap into at a later date.
It’s a Wrap…
So, key takeaways and to conclude: this new new redesign and user experience of the LinkedIn Company Page can be bloody powerful if you get the content, messaging and imagery right. Make sure you’re utilising the new video aspect of the page, because let’s face it, every single person on this Earth likes visual stimulation and will most certainly watch a video rather than scanning through reams of text. Again, use the faces and brains of your business to share intelligence and attract your most wanted.
Fancy chatting to us more about LinkedIn and how digital marketing can help you build lead and grow you business? Give us a call on 01642 989158 or drop us an email.
