There are currently 830 million LinkedIn members worldwide, and there are many ways companies can expand and optimize their brands in today's digital world on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. This is often achieved by using different profile types to market your business in a time-effective and concise way. 

LinkedIn has three main profile options, each offering a unique way in which you can take advantage in regards to branding and showing potential clients and candidates why they should take notice of your company. 

Today, we will look at these profiles, how to utilize their functions for company reach, and understand how the use of marketing strategies can impact employer branding with LinkedIn profiles. If you need help with building your company’s brand using LinkedIn profiles, continue reading our guide below:

Using Employee LinkedIn Profiles to Advocate Company Culture 

Employee advocacy is when you use success stories, day-to-day work achievements, and incentives of employees to promote your company. Essentially, your workforce is marketing your business by showing their work lives on social media and sharing company posts and job opportunities. All of these things go a long way in showing your intended audience that your staff are happy at work and are actively promoting their role to others who may be interested in joining. 

Why should you use this as a marketing and branding tool? 

The short answer - attracting new business and talent. 

Employee satisfaction goes a long way in terms of how potential clients and candidates view you as a brand and a company. If your employees are satisfied and willing to publicize company news and achievements on their own LinkedIn profiles, this shows that your company has something that other businesses do not — staff retention and loyalty. 

A more personal approach would be to encourage employees to share their experiences within the company, like how they started within their role and where they are now. Below are some examples to use: 

• Day-in-the-life posts or videos to show what life is like at your company and how it differs from other businesses 
• Company events or meals to share with your audience how your employees engage with management and colleagues in an out-of-work setting 
• Competitions and raffles that employees take part in for charities or prizes
• Regular success stories of employees who have worked their way to management and leadership roles to show how your company values in-house progression 

Employee advocacy can be a great tool to raise brand awareness and increase profile engagement. Utilizing success stories is a particularly strong way to socially engage your employees and audience to help boost the brand to wider networks. This brings social circles together to celebrate a mutual person on their achievements within your company, allowing more people to see what makes your business a great place to work in and with.    

Targeting Your Executive LinkedIn Profile to Share Company Insights with Audiences

Those in leadership or executive roles are responsible for the community where the business is based because your company has an impact on opportunities for community success. By having an engaging business presence, those following you on social media would be interested in joining your team or collaborating as a client.  

Sharing executive or leadership teams' roles in the company or community is a way to build an audience that is familiar with the company on a more personal level and attract followers who are interested in your story, achievements, and news. 

Things you can to do to optimize your Executive Profile:

• Fill out the skills option on LinkedIn so that people provide endorsements, including testimonials that potential clients and candidates can view

• Share your ‘rags-to riches’ story or why you created your business to make your audience understand your passion for your product or service 

• Focus on your Unique Selling Point as the CEO to narrow in on what makes your company different from competitors   

Now that you’ve optimized your profile, let’s talk about questions you need to answer so that your company tone and brand is consistent.

1. What is your goal?

Your LinkedIn profile and activity should align with your goals, whether it’s business expansion or attracting clients.

2. Who is your target audience?

Are your followers the same people you are hoping to attract business from? If not, be more concise with your posts and engagement, and ensure that you use the correct hashtags, groups and content to bring in the right audience.

3. What is your key message? 

As an executive or leader, you have a clear personal brand to maintain that should align with your company values. Narrow down your end goal to one basic point and sell that to your audience. Perhaps your message is to bring your company to the community in order to reduce unemployment? Sell that message louder than the rest. 

Showcasing Character on Important Topics Through Your Company LinkedIn Profile 

Showcasing the company's character on important community or social topics is a great way to show your audience that your business is interested in tackling matters impacting the public or a specific sector. These topics can range from political to environmental and humanitarian, all of which allow your audience to see what issues your company is trying to raise awareness for or actively get involved in. 

A report released this year found that, out of the majority of American consumers, “73% say to win their support, companies must show how they are supporting communities and the environment”. This figure shows that consumers are more likely to work with and buy from companies that showcase character on crucial topics.

There are many ways to show support via LinkedIn, such as sharing important posts and news articles, joining relevant groups or discussions, and incorporating schemes and procedures into company policy.  

Conclusion 

Attracting the right people has always been challenging, but strategic use of LinkedIn profiles can deliver meaningful results to your brand visibility. Using these three profiles to grow your audience and target potential candidates and clients will help you deliver your vision, product and service to many. Now that you have the right tools, why not go over your LinkedIn profiles and implement what we’ve given you? See how it transforms the way you build your brand and how your audience engages with you.  

At Inlytics, we provide you with vital growth insights that help you take your influence to the next level. Check out how to supplement a strong company page with an attractive individual LinkedIn profile and don’t forget to sign-up for a free inlytics to track LinkedIn analytics.