The key to LinkedIn company growth is sitting (literally) right in front of you: it’s the people within your organisation.
Employees are valuable brand ambassadors, and not activating them as part of your engagement strategy is a huge missed opportunity. Let’s assume that almost everyone in your company has a LinkedIn profile—which isn’t a wild stretch since it’s estimated that about 15% of New Zealand’s entire population and 49% of Australia’s is active on the platform. Each employee has an established network of authentic professional connections, which can be tapped into for incredible organic reach. Think of it like influencer marketing, where the value lies in the engaged audience.
But we’re not proposing a one-way street that will serve only the business; the tactics we outline here mutually benefit both the organisation and the individual. As a professional, being regularly active on LinkedIn builds authority and helps your profile stand out from the crowd when it comes to career growth, job searches and industry opportunities. It’s a win-win.
So let’s get into the action items.
As a Page Admin, you have access behind the scenes to some unique opportunities that not every user has available. As a side note, adding at least two trusted internal team members as Super Admins is best practice to ensure access is never lost. However, if too many people have full access, you risk account security, so choose wisely.
Employee Notification feature: When a key post is published to the Company Page, Admins can flag this content with their employee network. This will increase the likelihood of the post being reshared by employees, therefore reaching a wider audience. (Note, only people who have properly added your organisation as their current employer will receive these notifications. More on this below.)
Be intentional with this feature and use it to highlight purposefully created content. Consider what type of post would be appealing for other employees to share and how it might benefit them. Perhaps the company has won an award for excellence, recently completed a large-scale product launch, or been positively featured in a noteworthy media source. This type of news looks good on a LinkedIn resume and appeals to internal team members.
Invite connections to follow your LinkedIn Company Page: Leverage your personal LinkedIn connections and invite them to follow your Company Page. You can filter your connections by industry to invite only relevant people, otherwise run the risk of annoying your professional connections in bulk. Every Super Admin is granted a set number of invite credits per month (generally, this is 100), and every accepted invite goes back into the balance. If internal senior team members are particularly well-connected on LinkedIn within your industry, it could be worth a conversation to bring them into the fold. Not only can these people be incredible resources for thought leadership (we’ll dive into that shortly), but this allows them to show off the organisation they’ve been working to build.
Most users fall into this category of being an employee within an organisation with a LinkedIn Profile, but not tasked with managing the LinkedIn Company Page (AKA, you’re not a Page Admin). While being active on LinkedIn is not generally a job requirement, it appeals to employers and can give you a leg up on the competition. These tips and tricks range from easy done to more advanced, depending on what level of involvement feels right for you.
Let’s start with the basics: Connect with your current employer. In the Intro section of your Profile, under Current Position, your employer’s Company Page should be linked and clickable (i.e., you should see the company’s logo, not just the company name with a blank grey logo).
Your Experience section ensures your profile is linked as an employee on the Company Page, an important element of keeping your job experience credible and transparent. This connected employee feature is also a great resource allowing you to connect with current co-workers and will ensure you’re included when the Employee Notification feature is utilised.
Repost, repost, repost: This is the quickest way to stay relevant on LinkedIn, without a doubt. There’s no shortage of stellar content out in the LinkedIn world, whether it’s being created by your organisation or an industry leader in your space (business or individual). Add a calendar reminder each week to pop out a relevant repost. Bonus points for a “Repost with your thoughts” where you can personalise the content you’re re-sharing with a short intro blurb, or weigh in with your two cents.
Thought leadership: Gone are the days when only high-level executives could be impactful in the thought leadership space; if you have an interest, a unique perspective and are willing to dedicate a solid amount of time to your LinkedIn presence, this niche is ripe for the taking.
As HubSpot points out, "Even if you aren't a CEO, thought leadership and developing connections on LinkedIn can make companies you work for look great. And, if you leave a company, future employers might identify you as an expert in your field because of how you've contributed to your online community."
Being a thought leader goes beyond publishing your own insights (though this is an integral component); it requires you to be a super-engaged expert-level LinkedIn user. First, a flawlessly optimised LinkedIn profile is a must. Go above and beyond to fill in every blank, keep things up to date, and be creative. Then, get engaged and build those connections beyond just the numbers. Endorsements and recommendations are crucial to validate your experience so think about who you would like to vouch for you, then get the ball rolling by writing them a thoughtful recommendation. You’ll also want to connect with other industry experts through authentic engagement, like commenting on their posts and then sending them a message along with your request to connect.
Now you’re set up for the main event—sharing your thought-provoking industry-leading insights with the LinkedIn community. This can include well-selected reposts with your own commentary added, such as company updates or content from other industry leaders. Not only do these types of posts enhance your own credibility, but they also keep your audience up to date with company achievements therefore enhancing brand awareness. However, the pinnacle of thought-leadership LinkedIn content lies in long-form articles, similar to a blog format.
Here are some top tips from LinkedIn experts to craft stellar thought leadership articles:
Plus, take a peek at these stand-out LinkedIn articles to get your content inspiration flowing.
Posting content is a necessary component of LinkedIn brand presence, and these strategies will allow you to further leverage the content you’re investing in. Even better, they don’t involve an additional budget or extensive training time to learn.
These approachable tips and tricks can enhance an already sound content strategy by leaning into the most crucial element of any organisation—its people.
