By Judith Lee

With LinkedIn, I usually focus on individual accounts rather than company pages because I’ve found that people prefer to connect with people. However, some businesses don’t want to choose a key person(s) to be the “face” of their business on LinkedIn, opting instead for a LinkedIn company page.

There are some plusses to having a LinkedIn Company Page. Company Page followers engage with your updates and share content with their own networks, earning you recurring viral reach. New research indicates Company Page followers are loyal: 64% of followers would follow companies indefinitely.

If this is your preference, I’d like to offer five tips for attracting followers to your LinkedIn Company Page.

Engage your employees

Your own workforce is the best place to start adding followers. Encourage them to create and complete LinkedIn profiles – once they include your company name, they automatically become followers of your Company Page. Ask them to include a link to the Company Page in their email signatures.

Promote the page outside the company

Link to the Company Page in all of your marketing communications such as emails, newsletters and blogs. Invite customers, partners, and other key audiences to become followers.

Place a “Follow” button on your website

Convert visitors who come to your site by making it easy for them to simply click on a button to follow your Company Page.

Take part in LinkedIn Groups

Groups are hugely popular, with more than one million established on LinkedIn. They’re an effective way to highlight your Company Page and attract more followers. You can launch your own discussions, or you can contribute to popular discussions that other members initiate.

Launch a Follower Ad campaign

Follower Ads appear throughout LinkedIn and can be targeted to members in specific industries, companies, and regions to help you attract the right followers for your company. These ads encourage potential followers to click on the “Follow” button and join your page.

When members follow your company, that action spreads through their network as an update, which motivates others to follow too.

As you build your follower community, be sure to enhance their engagement by posting daily status updates. Get started by reviewing the LinkedIn Company Page Notification Center or visiting the Company Page Best Practices resource page to learn more.

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Judith Lee is a marketing and communications professional who focuses on social media and email marketing based in Atglen. She is a SCORE Volunteer and the Chair-Elect of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce. Her posts on marketing and social media are a regular Monday morning feature on VISTA Today. She can be reached at 610-368-2058 or via email at judithlee@epix.net.

Top photo credit: linkedin logo via photopin (license)