New Features on LinkedIn – How can your company take advantage?

Here’s a question we get asked often: “Can our LinkedIn Company Page share posts from our employees?”
Our answer has always been the same…No… until a couple months ago. At the end of 2018, LinkedIn announced it was rolling out its next generation of Company Pages.  Enhanced features from this update include the ability for companies to participate in conversations happening in relevant hashtags or groups as well as expand the reach of employee messaging.
Pretty exciting, right? Now, let’s dig into what these updates mean for your business and how to ensure your LinkedIn Company page is optimized for the new enhancements.
Hashtags
The first thing to do is choose 3 hashtags to include on your Company Page. You will notice this option when you’re viewing your Company Page as an admin. Once you select the Hashtag Communities button, you’ll have the option to select your hashtags.
It’s a good idea to choose a hashtag that aligns with your business as well as one that is popular with other users in your target audience. For example, the hashtag #marketing has more than 18 million followers. If that’s a hashtag that makes sense for your company, you can add it as one of your hashtags. This will give your company page the ability to engage with anyone else on LinkedIn using the hashtag #marketing.
One thing to note: While the size of the hashtag following is important, it’s equally important to be as targeted as possible with your hashtag. Being too broad with your choice of hashtags may see your messaging disappear into a clutter of noise. If there’s a hashtag with a smaller following but a very engaged audience, you may see stronger results than a hashtag with millions of followers.
Groups
The other feature added by LinkedIn is the ability to add Groups to your Company Page. Groups have been around since LinkedIn’s early days.
Companies can now add up to 10 Groups to feature on their About page – giving them the opportunity to promote any groups that align with their company. When you search for groups to add, be sure to ask your employees who are also avid LinkedIn users about groups they belong to. If they participate in a Group where the conversation aligns with your business offerings, it could be the perfect place for your company to engage with other members.
Now that we have the basics covered of these two new features added to Company Pages, testing and measuring the results of your efforts is equally important. Here’s a final bonus tip:
When you set your Company Page hashtag communities or groups to follow, your choices are not written in stone. You have the ability to adjust them as many times as you want. In fact, when you’re starting out it may be a good idea to test which hashtag communities or groups are generating the most engagement for your Company Page.
Should you have any questions or if you’re looking for best practices on how to optimize your LinkedIn Company with these added features, give us a call. We are here to help!