Showcasing your Company's Expertise with LinkedIn

When LinkedIn first debuted Company Pages, it was a breath of fresh air for companies and brands trying to join the conversation. Suddenly marketing professionals all over the world started to take the platform seriously as a channel to engage professionals directly.

The showcase pages, unlike product and service pages that use static content to describe your products and services, are intended to help you build dynamic, engaged audiences that share a common interest in your company. Like Adobe -- pictured here -- uses them to engage creative designers or marketers to their products and services that serve both demographics but for very different reasons, you can now segment your audience and talk to them about what interests them most!

Remember, you can only have 10 Showcase Pages. These are not intended to replace product and service pages. Rather they allow you to create active relationships with your clients and customers about the things you make and do that are of most importance to them.

Do you have a showcase page(s)? List the url in the comments to help us build examples from which to learn!

ADDITION:

I wanted to edit this post (love that we can do that!) and include my response to a very good question in the comments below:

QUESTION:

Frank Sherosky

I do not have a company page. I am an independent writer, author, as well as a day trader. My books, though, are listed on my website, authorfrank.com and at Amazon with ebook snow my main focus.

My questions are: How might a company page be used by an author, where the genres vary? A page for each book? Or a main page to represent me as an author? Or, perhaps my situation does not qualify?

Finally, it is not clear here at LI where I can learn more about usage of a company page. I recently was given the authority to write articles here. - Thanks for a timely article.

ANSWER:

Wow Frank! Great questions! Let me start with some resources:

1. "recently was given the authority to write articles here" start with this article to see the basics: http://rckstr.us/1hG1BFc

2. "where I can learn more about usage of a company page" start with free registration at the training site: http://rckstr.us/rcklinkedin

3. "How might a company page be used by an author, where the genres vary?"

I'd create a Company page with your personal branding and use the Hero Banner Image to show your image, covers of the book, and if you are available to ghost write or speak.

Then I'd create a showcase page for each genre.

Here's why:
a. you are self-described a business entity "I am an independent writer, author,..."
b. You have multiple genres, which likely means you have a variant audience interested in either one or all of your topics.
c. Company pages give you a voice as an author and the Showcase pages allow you to engage with your different fans in a focused way.

And there's more news!

ClickZ just announced:

"LinkedIn has rolled out two new features, language preference targeting and personalized page feeds, for its Company Pages and Showcase Pages."

Lisa Lacy says: "LinkedIn has introduced language preference targeting and personalized page feeds, which it says will help global brands become more effective by providing more local content and conversations."

Now THAT's great news! What do you think?