It can be a tricky one to figure out as there are definitely pros and cons of both approaches but ultimately it has to be the one that has the most benefits for you and your business and the one that you can commit to long term.
So let’s take a look…
LinkedIn Company Page
A Company Page on LinkedIn is like your shop window where you can display your brand and talk about all the services and products your organisation offers. It helps to make your business look professional and credible – as long as you keep it up to date – and provides another way for customers to find you. Once a customer ‘follows’ your page, they can see your posts that communicate your business values and culture as well as your general news updates.
You can:
- Post updates, which can include images, video, PDFs and links in posts (note: the algorithm doesn’t prioritise links in post that direct the user away from the site – putting them in the first comment instead can help)
- Position your business as an expert in your field and establish a reliable voice for your brand
- Create ads which can get your message directly in front of key decision makers (note: ads can be expensive, much more then Facebook Ads)
- Link to your employees personal profiles so they can share content
- Effect SEO – business pages are very SEO friendly
- Invite your connections to follow the page
- Access to insights to analyse your performance
You can’t:
- Send connection requests or make connections – you can only get page follows
- Publish your original content on LinkedIn Publisher
- Have a business page without a personal page or other employees’ personal pages connected to it if you want to share content
- Expect the same level of post engagement levels as a personal page
LinkedIn Personal Page
A Personal Page on LinkedIn showcases you as an individual – your specific skills, expertise and interests. You can tell your own personal story and really allow people to get to know who you are and why you do what you do. People often want to know they are connecting with a human (i.e. your face) so always ensure you have a clear, professional image as your profile picture rather than just a logo. As an SME owner or employee, your personal page should be treated as one of your key tools for lead generation.
You can:
- Send connection requests (note: you have to wait until the connection has approved your request before they start to see your posts and you can engage with them)
- Cultivate a personal network of relevant and useful connections
- Post updates which can include images, videos and links – updates are shared directly to all your connections
- Establish credibility by showcasing your experience and capabilities
- Add recommendations and endorsements to your profile to build trust
- Publish original content directly to LinkedIn Publisher
You can’t:
- Create ads or sponsored posts
- Be too passive – you need to be proactively engaging and connecting to build your network
As you can see, there a few more ‘can’t’s on the Company Page list in comparison to the Personal Page but let that put you off! There are definitely lots of benefits to having a company page BUT it does require commitment and hard work to make your company page stand out which can be time consuming.
A company page cannot survive alone – it either needs to be connected to the business owner/CEO/employees’ personal page/s to increase organic exposure or the content you post will get lost.
You also need to manage your expectations on what you expect to achieve – you are still going to get most sales leads from your personal page – but that shouldn’t mean it’s not worth the effort
So what did I decide to do?
In the end I opted for just a Personal Page for the time being. Although I’m not ruling out a company page in the future, I felt for where my business is right now, the right approach was to build my network and establish myself in my current field which realistically can only be achieved via a personal page.
If you want to find me on LinkedIn, click here.
For any advice and support with social media marketing for your business, contact Glow Social. today on 07876136311 or emma@glowsocial.co.uk.