The LinkedIn professional networking platform has more than a billion members in 200 countries worldwide.
Designed to put entrepreneurs, professionals, and talent in touch with each other, it can be an invaluable business tool when used correctly.
In this article, we’ll look at how it can benefit your business – no matter how big an outfit you are – and the best ways to use it, even if you’re short on time and resources.
What is LinkedIn?
In a nutshell, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform.
While it’s well known for job searching, it’s also a useful place for small business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs to connect with clients, partners, employees, and industry experts.
It helps small and medium businesses get noticed by letting owners share their expertise, tell their story, and engage with clients or partners who care about what they do.
With over 1 billion members worldwide, LinkedIn gives businesses a huge network of professionals and decision-makers to connect with and grow their reach.
Where to start with LinkedIn
The first thing to know about LinkedIn is that there are two main types of profiles you can create – personal and company.
Personal pages – this may seem obvious, but personal pages are all about you. Of course, they’re not a place to share snaps of your holidays (unless you learnt something about your work during that time). They are, however, a platform to share any feelings and opinions you have about your business and career, from achievements and proud moments to musings on lessons learnt and the hurdles you’ve overcome.
Company pages – these pages are where you share company news, but often from a less personal/emotive angle. You can also share job postings, information about new product launches and services, and details of campaigns and events.
Just be aware that you can’t set up a company page without already having a personal one.
How to set up a personal profile on LinkedIn
Setting up a LinkedIn personal profile is a simple way to show off your professional experience and connect with others in your industry.
Follow these easy steps to get started:
1. Sign up
Just enter your first and last name, email address, and create a password. Click ‘Join Now’.
2. Add your basic information
Follow the prompts to add your location, most recent job title, and company name.
3. Upload a profile photo
Use a clear, professional headshot to make a positive first impression.
4. Fill in your ‘About’ section
This is the area to sell yourself. Highlight your skills, talents, and write a sentence or two about what you offer that others can’t.
5. Add experience and education
Include your work history, roles, and educational background for credibility. Adding your places of education may also help you display that you have things in common with the people you want to connect with or those who want to connect with you.
Optional step: Verify your profile
Once your profile is live, you can choose to verify it. This means proving that your identity matches your profile. It’s not a mandatory step, but verified profiles have been shown to get up to 60% as many profile views as those that haven’t.
You’ll need a form of ID like a passport or driver’s licence to complete verification.
Now it’s time to start building your network
Start connecting with colleagues, clients, industry peers, and other professionals. A strong network helps you stay visible, share your expertise, and open doors to new opportunities.
LinkedIn will suggest people you might know based on your profile, but you can also search for connections using names, company names, or job titles.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for B2B marketing and lead generation. Around 9 in 10 B2B marketers use it to find leads, making it one of the most effective ways to raise your brand’s profile and reach the right people.
How to set up a company profile on LinkedIn
To set up a company page, follow these steps:
1. Go to your personal profile
Click the ‘For Business’ icon in the top right corner, then select ‘Create a Company Page’ at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
2. Choose the right page type
Click the ‘Company’ option. (Other choices include ‘Educational Institution’, if that’s relevant.)
3. Add your company details
You’ll be asked to fill in your…
- Company name
- LinkedIn public URL
- Website address. Not set up a website yet? Search for your ideal web address on 123 Reg’s domain name pages. Then simply design and launch your own website – without any technical knowledge – using the 123 Reg Website Builder.
- Industry
- Company size
- Logo & Cover images
- Short description/tagline – make it punchy and clear!
Top tip: Your profile photo will overlay the cover image on your page, so it’s usually best just to place your logo there alone.
For the cover itself, you can get creative — a brand-related image, team photo, or product shot, either with a smaller logo or perhaps no logo at all. Make sure both images are clear and high-quality to keep your page looking professional.
Need to build your own website in minutes? Check out 123 Reg’s Website Builder.
Is it better to invest time in a personal or company page on LinkedIn?
In an ideal world, you’d want to put time into both your personal and company LinkedIn pages, because they complement each other.
However, there’s no such thing as an ideal world in business.
If you’re limited on time, the overall consensus is that it’s generally best to funnel the minutes you have into your personal page.
Here’s why…
The nature of linked inLinkedIn: LinkedIn says its own mission is to ‘connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful’. It wasn’t designed to be an advertising platform.
The LinkedIn algorithm: Due to its mission, the LinkedIn algorithm favours posts that iellicit engagement and conversation. Bland statements about what your company offers and posts about deals/offers aren’t usually going to provoke as great a response as those written about passions/learnings/proud moments/thought leadership.
Trust: Polls and psychological studies consistently show that humans trust other humans more than they trust brands. LinkedIn itself has found that company posts get higher levels of engagement when they are shared through personal pages.
Top tips for making your LinkedIn profiles stand out
✓ Don’t skip any information
LinkedIn research suggests that Company pages with all the information added get 30% more weekly views than those that aren’t fully complete.
✓ Consider a professional head shot
Your head shot is the first thing people see when visiting your profile, and first impressions count. A sleek, well-lit shot is always going to give a better impression than a grainy, unclear image or one of you – say, on holiday.
✓ Update the ‘open to’ section of your personal profile
Once your personal profile is live, click on your headshot to open your page up. Beneath your name, location, and number of connections, you’ll see a little tab that says ‘open to’.
Click on this and you’ll be given a drop-down menu of options like ‘open to hiring’, ‘open to work’, ‘open to providing services’, and ‘open to finding volunteering opportunities’. Click on the one that reflects your position, and it will appear on your headshot as a little banner.
✓ Ask for recommendations
Scroll down your profile to the ‘recommendations’ section beneath ‘education’. Click the ‘plus’ icon, type the name of the person you want a recommendation from, and send your request. Recommendations from peers help highlight your skills and credibility.
✓ Connect authentically
LinkedIn isn’t a popularity contest. Connecting with the right people is more important than connecting with the most people. Whenever you send a connection request, LinkedIn will ask if you’d like to send a personal note to accompany the request. You only get to send a certain amount of these notes with a free LinkedIn profile, but it’s worth adding one if you can.
✓ Engage in industry discussions
Comment on posts, join LinkedIn groups, and participate in conversations around your area of expertise. Being active in discussions helps you build authority and get noticed as a subject matter expert.
✓ Share your expertise
Post updates, articles, or insights related to your field to position yourself as a knowledgeable professional. Regularly sharing relevant content shows your connections and potential clients that you know your stuff.
And if you do share expertise online, there are few better ways to say so than with a .info domain.
For more about .info, take a look at our article: .info: Show What You Know
Top tips for posting on LinkedIn
Make it engaging: The best LinkedIn posts will inspire reactions and engagements.
Ideas for good content include:
☐ Updates on personal growth.
☐ Posts that contain thought-provoking questions.
☐ Behind-the-scenes stories.
☐ Posts that share useful articles on your industry.
☐ Content that showcases personal work-related stories.
Use hashtags: Try to use three to five hashtags that describe your content or yourself and your business. Read our How to find the best hashtags guide for tips on how to choose your hashtags.
Make your activity two way: Don’t just post an update and leave the platform. Spend 15 minutes engaging with other people’s posts and profiles before and after you publish your own.
Use images: Data suggests that including relevant images can boost LinkedIn post reach by 15 to 20%.
Link to your website: While your LinkedIn profile can be filled in with reams of information, your profile will be laid out in the same was way as everyone else’s on the platform. Include a link to your own website on your profile and you’ll give connections a way to get to know you and understand the work you do in even more depth.
Be consistent: It’s easy to deprioritise LinkedIn when you’re busy, but maintaining a consistent presence is key to success. Posting regularly rather than in bursts and starts will help build trust, increase your visibility, and even generate leads.
In fact, LinkedIn research suggests that companies that post weekly experience a two fold lift in engagement.
If you know you will let post creation fall to the bottom of your priority list, schedule some time in once a week to pre-plan content.
Consider paid promotion: Once you get the hang of LinkedIn, it’s possible to take your Company page activity to the next level using LinkedIn ads. Find out more in this LinkedIn guide.
Related article: Why Facebook is no substitute for having your own website.
Wrap up
LinkedIn offers a powerful and accessible platform for small businesses to grow their network, build credibility, and connect with potential clients, partners, and talent.
Setting up both personal and company profiles isn’t time-consuming. Both can be done in a few steps and in the space of an hour or two.
Optimising your profiles with professional photos, complete information, and recommendations, as well as consistently sharing engaging content and interacting with others, will help boost your visibility and trustworthiness.
A LinkedIn profile is a great start, but it only goes so far. To really stand out and be found online, you’ll need your own website – start by finding the perfect domain today.
