You know you should have a personal LinkedIn profile, but your business should too. Image: Flickr / mariosundar / CC-BY

When it comes to social networking for you or your business, which networks to belong to can be a strategic decision. The “big three” sites for personal networking have been Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. LinkedIn Company Pages are often forgotten, but they are important to your company’s public identity.

LinkedIn’s Company profile philosophy

Since they were first introduced, LinkedIn Company profiles have been intended to “show the human side of a company.” Company pages list the individuals employed by a company as well as “highlight how members use your products.” In short, the philosophy is that companies are driven by people, and personal connections will always be the most powerful.

Starting out with a LinkedIn Company page

To start a LinkedIn Company page, you first need a LinkedIn account. Visit the Add A Company page. Enter the company name and your email address. Confirm your information through the email that will be sent to the address you provide. Once you have confirmed your information, you can fill out the Overview, Products and Services sections. The Careers section is intended as a job-listing and job-hunting section. The rest of the information will auto-populate, including analytics, popular profiles, recent changes and new hires.

Keeping your LinkedIn profile updated

Maintaining social networking profiles is incredibly important. LinkedIn is the most professional social network, so you should tailor your updates and communications should be targeted to the more professional audience. If you are limited for time, you can link your Twitter and LinkedIn updates or make use of multi-network management tools such as HootSuite or TweetDeck to keep everything in one place. No matter what you do, set an update schedule you can stick to — and stick to it. An abandoned company page does not necessarily do any more good then lack of a company page.