If you have any social media presence at all for your business, make it a LinkedIn company page.

This may seem like a controversial statement; why not Facebook or Twitter? They’re the most widely used, generate the most traffic when utilised carefully, and have the most public recognition and support.

But if you’re a small business, chances are 1) you’re pushed for time and 2) your business isn’t a nationally recognised name (yet). If either – or both – of these things is true for you or your clients, read on…

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No time?

LinkedIn company pages don’t require much work. As long as you post occasionally – even once a month – and log in fairly regularly to check notifications, it’s pretty minimal in terms of upkeep. Best of all, you don’t need to worry about a learning curve or setting time aside to look at advertising, page options and functionality, etc., and worry about keeping on top of changes. It’s all very minimalist and easy to set up; once you’ve added your company information, a logo and a header image, you’re up and running.

If you’re not pushed for time, you can of course take this a lot further by interacting with customers and potential customers, joining groups and answering questions to build your reputation, liking other pages, sharing content regularly, and so on. It’s flexible enough for you to be able to be as hands on or as hands off as you like.

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Building your company reputation

What most small business owners don’t realise is that LinkedIn acts like a reputation checker for potential customers. If you have Google Analytics set up for your website, you can see how many referrals you have from LinkedIn, and how many of those people go on to buy (check out Kissmetric’s guide to conversion funnels for more information and a set up guide.

It’s likely you’ll find that LinkedIn appears fairly late on in the decision-making and buying process; potential customers will often compare packages and deals between providers, and then check to see if the company is legitimate. There are plenty of checks for this, including searching Companies House, looking at the domain’s WHOIS, finding other mentions on the web, and of course checking social networks. An illegitimate business is far more likely to have a Facebook and/or Twitter account with thousands of paid-for followers (basically automatically generated spam accounts), and very little or no interaction, or no social presence at all. Few scammers or fly-by-night business owners set up a LinkedIn page, and they certainly don’t want it associated with their personal profile and real details, so then it becomes more of an effort to cover up and maintain.

On the other side, having a LinkedIn page for your company actively shows you care about it. LinkedIn gives you the option of adding the number of staff who work there, so if you have any employees – even if they are part-time or based abroad – include them in your total…but don’t worry about the overall number. Being small isn’t a disadvantage, but being seen as a potential scammer is, so make sure you add yourself as an employee too so people can see your profile and recommendations.

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Take it a step further by using groups to your advantage

If you ever find yourself with a spare fifteen minutes, use it to develop your reputation on LinkedIn groups. There’s a huge range on offer, with everything from niche local meetups to industry-wide groups consisting of hundreds of thousands of members. Rather than direct advertising, starting interesting debates, posting links to useful third party content and answering people’s questions will help you build your reputation. There’s far less competitive than on other social networks, and as this is done from your ‘personal’ profile (as opposed to your company page), you instantly have a much friendlier and personable first impression than if you were using your page. As you’re listed as an employee (cofounder, owner, etc.) of your company, anyone looking at your profile or even seeing your name can easily click through to or search for it. Many potential customers are looking for a company that offers a hands-on, personal experience from someone knowledgeable about the industry, regardless of what field you’re in. You’ll soon find that people are messaging you and adding you as a contact because they’re looking for advice on buying your products and services. The other advantage is that you can keep an eye on changes in the industry, upcoming news and so on…all from reliable, professional sources who have sorted it and discussed it for you.

There are so many groups that if you find one isn’t working for you, there are plenty more to choose from. One of the best strategies is to look for groups that complement the services you offer rather than being full of competitors. For example, if you’re offering SEO, join groups based around small business marketing and promotion rather than SEO professionals.

How are you using LinkedIn to build your business? Let us know in the comments.