Chatting to marketing managers ahead of any of my courses, it usually turns out they are in charge of their company’s (Company) Page and, more often than not, are interested in how to get more followers. (Often there are KPIs involved too.)
So they post regularly, use the “invite connections” option & get colleagues to share content to push the follower count up, which is all well and good. Job done? Not quite.
Leaving to one side the fact that the real power on LinkedIn comes from the people within your organisation, I also suggest they focus on what happens next.
And the first step has to be to look at who is actually following their Company Page. Because those followers aren’t just numbers on a screen. They’re real people.
Some of them could be potential customers, existing clients, business partners or people able to introduce you to your next opportunity.
Yet very few businesses seem to take the time to look at who they are? And, more importantly, fewer still do anything with that information.
So, here’s what I suggest:
1. Review your followers regularly
Make it part of your monthly LinkedIn routine. Look at the people following your page and identify those who are relevant to your business.
2. Check out the individuals
Are they in your target market? Do they work for companies you’d like to do business with? Are they people you should know, but don’t yet?
3. Take the relationship further
Look at their profile & understand what they do. If no-one in your organisation is connected to them, then you and/or the relevant manager in your team should do just that. If you’re already connected, are you talking to them? If not, perhaps it’s time to start!
4. Look for patterns
Are people from particular industries, companies or job functions following your page? That might tell you something useful about the audience you’re attracting and where you could focus your future content & BD activity
The important point is this:
Getting more followers on your Company Page is only part of the job.
You also need to think about how you can engage the people who are already there – Sales Navigator highlights this in its “Buyer Intent” section & offers you ways to segment your followers which is great (if you have it, of course).
Bottom line – there’s little point spending time attracting the right people to your business if you then ignore them.
So think of your Company Page as a source of market info, potential prospects and relationship building opportunities, not just as a place to broadcast your content.
And a question for those of you managing LinkedIn Company Pages:
When did you last check who’s following yours?
Is there a secret formula to posting on LinkedIn, a format that is guaranteed to give success under all circumstances? Well, I think I’ve found the answer!
