LinkedIn announced the launch of a “Follow Company” button that companies can use on their sites. It’s basically like those you see from other social networks, and frankly, it’s a little surprising this didn’t already exist, but it’s here now.
A LinkedIn spokesperson tells WebProNews in an email:
LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional network with more than 150 million members worldwide – has just launched the Follow Company Button, which allows any business with a LinkedIn Company Page to easily install a button directly onto their webpages and other online marketing materials, to facilitate follower engagement. Brands’ updates will immediately be fed into the status updates of LinkedIn members’ personal homepages.
The Follow Company Button makes it easier for marketers to directly reach their target audience of professionals, amplify their messages as community members spread them to others, and for brands to expand the number of professionals from their target audiences within their follower ecosystems. The button:
- Allows LinkedIn’s professional user base to directly connect with and follow these brands straight from the brands’ webpages or other online marketing materials.
- Adds LinkedIn members who click on the button to connect with the businesses’ existing LinkedIn community.
The launch of the Follow Company Button is part of LinkedIn’s continuing effort to evolve brands’ social communications and create a rich and engaging environment on the platform where companies can easily find and identify the most appropriate and sizeable audiences in a professional context, delivering on the needs of what LinkedIn members want most. It also marks the first phase of LinkedIn’s follower ecosystem strategy that will unfold over the coming weeks
“Click on the Follow Company button and, as long as you are logged onto LinkedIn, you will automatically ‘follow’ the company,” says LinkedIn’s Mike Grishaver on the LinkedIn blog. “If you are not logged on, a box will appear asking for your LinkedIn credentials. Just type those in and you will automatically begin to follow the company. Companies will engage with you from their Company Page on LinkedIn and through status updates. Status updates will appear on your LinkedIn homepage – so check back frequently to see what’s going on.”
“Whether you are looking to stay up-to-date on company news, career opportunities or industry trends, following companies on LinkedIn is a great and easy way to gain insights and stay connected,” says Grishaver.
A recent report found that LinkedIn basically blows all other social networks out of the water for recruiting.
LinkedIn says its member research shows that: “members are more strategic in their decisions to follow companies on LinkedIn as opposed to other networks and plan to follow more in the future.”
“For example, 70% of LinkedIn’s members follow or would follow a company on LinkedIn with 67% believing LinkedIn is a more appropriate social environment for business-to-business company interactions and 60% expect industry insights as well as news from the companies that they follow,” the spokesperson tells us.
You can get the button here.