The evolution of Linkedin at the time of Microsoft

The creation of a company page brings with it some advantages, such as:

• bringing traffic to the corporate website, through the sharing of content from your site
• give visibility to products and services through dedicated cards
• receive references from users, which allows you to increase your authority within the network
• refine your marketing activities thanks to the information provided by statistical insights

As for the other social networks, also in LinkedIn the company page is basically composed of a home that provides a presentation of the company, collects announcements and news and allows friends and colleagues to connect to the company itself to follow its developments. Unlike other networks, however, being on LinkedIn does not just mean having a profile: the key to success lies in knowing how to build and manage an ad-hoc company profile, so that our brand acquires authority within the web and stands out from other competitors.

The company’s marketing strategies on LinkedIn are basically two:

• advertising (linked to sponsored posts and direct InMail messages)
• networking (i.e. the network of contacts you can create, which is composed not only of profiles of people you already know, but also of all those professionals that the features of Groups allow you to meet)

LinkedIn supports two advertising modes:

• i LinkedIn Ads which are text ads, aimed at a specific target, for the promotion of their own page or particular services. People click on the ads and visit your website. You can specify to which users LinkedIn target your ads by selecting recipients based on their qualification, job function, industry, region, age, gender, company size, company name or group of LinkedIn. Manage your advertising costs by defining a budget and pay only for clicks or views that you have registered
• i InMail messages, i.e. personalized emails where to include a text part, images and links of particular interest, to reach any social subscriber. InMail messages can be used to contact anyone on LinkedIn, even people who do not belong to your network. Customization plays a key role, so make sure you refer to a specific relevant detail in your contact profile. Also, include a link to the offer/promotion so that the candidate can easily get more information about the opportunity you offer. The InMail feature is also a paid service, in fact it requires the activation of a premium account that is linked to the payment of a monthly fee.

The other great opportunity offered by the platform is closely linked to participation in Groups, i.e. the communities within the platform, dedicated to specific topics of discussion or professional areas. Attending them allows you to get in touch with other professionals in our sector, to work on brand awareness and to weave new business opportunities. A company can use this function to make itself known, for its employer branding or to do education and help create culture on its products or by creating closed groups for its employees to discuss specific topics. Closely linked to this activity is the “Questions” function, which allows you to propose surveys to your contacts or to the groups you have subscribed to: this function allows you to obtain useful information about your brand and the services offered, displaying demographic statistics on the users who have responded.

Notable features are linked to the recruiting process: this platform allows you to search for the ideal candidate among the profile database of LinkedIn, to publish job offers and to communicate your company philosophy. With powerful search capabilities, you can extend your searches beyond your personal links and access the entire network of LinkedIn. Contact candidates with InMail messages and increase the effectiveness of your messages with the ability to create templates and InMail messages for multiple recipients. You can organize, monitor and manage the talents you want to hire now or in the future with intelligent folders, reminders and ‘to do lists’. You can synchronize your team’s activities with shared projects, profiles and candidate notes. Post your job ads on LinkedIn, and the right candidates will be able to see the offers customized for them each time they visit their home page, an employee’s profile or your Career Page. The most suitable candidates for your search are automatically reached thanks to LinkedIn matching algorithms that analyze their profile data.

Referring to a statistic that reports members’ data on LinkedIn in 2013, Italy is only the sixth country in the world that uses LinkedIn to establish new professional contacts.this is the ranking of the top 10 countries according to Link Humans.

1. USA 86 million
   United Kingdom 13 million

2. Canada 8 million
3. France 5.8 million
4. Italy 5.5 million
5. Spain 5 million
6. Mexico 4.7 million
7. Australia 4.7 million
8. China 3.7 million

LinkedIn is appreciated and widely used in foreign countries, in first place in Europe is the United Kingdom where if you are not on LinkedIn does not exist.
We believe, therefore, that this social network in our country is fundamentally underestimated and perhaps still little known. If you don’t already use it, we invite you to try it and take advantage of the fantastic opportunities it offers.

Our suggestions for making the most of the potential of LinkedIn:

1. creating and maintaining a company page, taking care of the contents to be highlighted
2. design an editorial strategy, which allows the publication of content useful for engaging new contacts
3. study the statistical content of insight
4. promote services and offers through advertising tools
5. interact and develop the corporate network by participating in groups
6. find the ideal candidate through the recruiting network

Also LinkedIn brings with it significant advantages for corporate marketing and proves to be a complete tool for the promotion and business evolution in the world of web 2.0. To really appreciate it, however, you need to learn about it and use the tools that this platform offers: you will certainly get great results!