Checklist To See If Your Business Is Using LinkedIn Correctly

LinkedIn is currently the only social media network for business-only communication, although after reports last week Facebook could be soon releasing their own rival product, “Facebook at Work”. There are over 15 million people in the UK with a LinkedIn profile, connecting with their networks online and building new business relationships. There are also more than 22,000 other companies worldwide including 76 of the FTSE 100.

But when was the last time you assessed your profile, and those of your staff? It’s important that your personal profile accurately represents you and your business, or it could be damaging to your professional reputation. Think about when you go to a business meeting. It’s likely the person you are meeting has Googled both you and your business, and found your LinkedIn presence. Is the information they find in LinkedIn correct, up to date and does it paint you in a good light?

Here’s a checklist to assess whether your business is correctly using LinkedIn:

1. Your profile picture: Check your profile picture and those of your staff. Do they look friendly and professional? Some LinkedIn users do not use the correct image dimensions leaving their photo looking squashed or tiny. The ideal pixel size for your photo is between 200 x 200 to 500 x 500. There’s also nothing worse than a LinkedIn user posing with a cocktail or a beer bottle – not professional!
2. Company description: Within your LinkedIn profile and your staff’s profile there is an opportunity to put a couple of sentences about your business in your current job role. This is a great space to introduce what your business does in a nutshell. If all your staff input the same sentence, this looks uniformed and has positive SEO benefits. Typically, users haven’t filled out this section because they don’t know what to say or they haven’t got the time. If you provide them with a paragraph they can easily upload, they are much more likely to do this.
3. Company pages: Is your business using a LinkedIn company page? If so check there an engaging banner image, a good description and clear links to your website. We like Sanderson’s LinkedIn Company Page, which has nearly 3,500 followers. A Company page is a great place to keep your business connections updated on your latest product news, any press or publicity and any job opportunities. They are free to run, and you can set one up here at LinkedIn for Companies.
4. Old colleagues: A common issue we are always finding with our clients is when an employee leaves a company, they forget to update their LinkedIn company profile so it looks like they still work there. This can cause a few problems in terms of client relations and the company getting calls for that individual. We’d recommend keeping an eye on how many people are listed as working there, which you can do by looking at the Company page and looking at the employees on the right hand side. If you find people haven’t updated their profiles, then send them a quick message or give them a call. More often than not they have simply forgotten!
5. Random Pages and Groups: It’s recommended that you do a quick search every few months for your business name in the search box at the top of LinkedIn. If you find random Company pages or Groups, which have been setup by employees or past colleagues and are no longer in use, then you can report them to LinkedIn to be deleted. It’s best to just have one Company page in LinkedIn to avoid confusion for your customers.

Sanderson Recruitment’s Linkedin Page:

We hope this checklist gives you a clear guide to using LinkedIn correctly for your business. If you have any future questions or want to chat about how Fifteen Ten could help, then don’t hesitate to get in touch.