In this lesson, you learn how to search for companies that meet your target criteria and add a profile for your own company.
LinkedIn’s Company Profiles feature provides an opportunity for companies to present their products, services, and job openings to LinkedIn’s vast audience. In addition, company profiles offer extensive data that’s particularly useful to job seekers, recruiters, and members searching for potential clients and partners.
Company profiles aren’t just for large corporations. If you own a small business, even a one-person business, creating a company profile can help you gain visibility on LinkedIn.
Remember, however, that a company profile isn’t an advertisement in disguise. Stick to the facts and avoid hype. Read other profiles in your industry before creating your own to understand what is and isn’t appropriate.
Figure W2.1 shows a sample company profile.
Figure W2.1. Learn more about a particular company through its profile.
Company profiles can include
• A company summary
• A list of specialties with keyword links
• A follow link that enables you to follow a company’s activity on LinkedIn
• A list of current employees, including those in your network
• Former employees in your network
• New hires
• Recent promotions and changes
• A list of employees with the most profile views
• Data about related companies
• Key statistics including top locations, company size, website link, common job titles, and median age of employees
• Links to open jobs posted on LinkedIn, if any
• Links to company news
• Stock information
• Detailed information about your company’s products and services, including YouTube videos
The company profile icon to the right of any company name in a member profile indicates that the company has a listing in LinkedIn Company Profiles. Click the company link to view the complete profile or hover over it to view a preview. Figure W2.2 shows a sample preview.
Figure W2.2. Preview a company’s profile from a member profile.
If a company doesn’t have a link or a company profile icon, no company profile exists yet.
There are several ways to search company profiles on LinkedIn.
If you know the name of the company you want to find, follow these steps:
Figure W2.3. Select a profile to view from the search results.
If your initial search didn’t locate the profile you want to view, edit your criteria in the Modify Your Search box. This box duplicates the fields found on the Companies page, described later in this lesson. It’s also possible that a profile doesn’t exist yet for the company you’re searching for.
A quick search works well if you know the company profile you want to view. At times, however, you might want to search Company Profiles to find companies that fit target criteria rather than locate a company you already know. To search for companies based on criteria you specify, follow these steps:
Figure W2.4. Specify the exact criteria of the companies you want to find on the Companies page.
You don’t need to complete all the fields on the Search Companies page to perform a search. In fact, you’ll generate the best results by starting with your most important criteria and then modifying your criteria only if your initial search doesn’t yield the desired results.
In addition to entering search criteria, you can also browse companies by industry by clicking the Browse Industries link on the Companies page.
If your company isn’t listed in Company Profiles, you can create a profile for it. Creating a company profile is a particularly good option for small businesses or solopreneurs seeking to promote their business on LinkedIn.
To add a profile for your company, follow these steps:
Figure W2.5. Create a profile for your company for added visibility.
Figure W2.6. Enter information about your company, including a detailed description.
• Basic details about your company, such as your website URL and industry
• Standard and square logos
• A company description and your specialties
• Your Twitter ID and blog feed
• A news module that displays media mentions of your company
Now that you have a basic company profile, consider the following options to make the most of this useful LinkedIn feature:
• Click the Follow Company button on the right side of your company profile to make tracking your profile easier.
• Click the Careers tab to list current job openings on your company profile.
• Click the Products & Services tab to add detailed information about your products and services (see Figure W2.7 for an example). Listing your products and services is a great way to showcase what your company has to offer. Your listing can include an image, detailed description, website link, and even a YouTube video.
Figure W2.7. Adding products and services to your LinkedIn company profile is a great promotional tool.
• Click the Analytics tab to get more information about page views and visitors.
LinkedIn associates employees automatically with the company profiles of the current employers that they list on their profiles. If LinkedIn doesn’t list you correctly as an employee of your company, follow these steps to edit your company information:
If LinkedIn members incorrectly identify themselves as employees of your company, contact LinkedIn’s Customer Service to have them removed.
If you added your own company profile, you can edit it if you log in using the same account used to create your profile. You can edit a company profile that you didn’t create only if the person who set up the profile designated you as an admin or allows anyone with a company email address to edit.
To edit a company profile, follow these steps:
In this lesson, you learned how to use LinkedIn’s Company Profile feature to search for companies that meet targeted criteria, add your own company profile for exposure on LinkedIn’s network, and update existing profiles.
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