LinkedIn is the most-used social media platform amongst Fortune 500 companies for a reason.

For starters, its ability to help generate 97% of your business’ social media leads and spread brand awareness is unsurpassed. Plus, with 675 million monthly users, senior influencers and decision makers all in one place, there’s no better platform for new or established businesses to build a presence.

But simply having a LinkedIn page isn’t enough to secure B2B success. You won’t get leads or achieve thought leader status just because you go through the steps of creating a company LinkedIn profile.

Instead, use this primer to optimize your LinkedIn page and set your profile up to be an exposure and engagement magnet.

1. Take advantage of your header image. We already know your LinkedIn page is 6x more likely to be visited when you include your logo. But don’t stop there. Your header image is another valuable, yet often overlooked, piece of real estate that can help you attract more leads. Whether you utilize it to offer prospects a piece of premium content, highlight a promotion you’re running or tease about some other key aspect of your brand, there are no shortage of ways to put this field to work. Still not sure what to include? Add a CTA to your banner image to help convert potential customers.
2. Convert visitors with your company description. Skip the company accolades and make it clear who you serve and how you help them within the first two lines. Sure, the rest of your company description is important too, but you only have a couple sentences before LinkedIn truncates your copy. Prioritize your unique value proposition in this high-profile field.
3. Add rich media content. Making your LinkedIn profile visually appealing can help attract more eyes and attention to your page. Slides, presentations, video content, and infographics can showcase your company and leverage leads.
4. Set up a showcase page. Creating a showcase page on LinkedIn lets you, well, showcase niche content that’s tailored to a target audience. In LinkedIn’s own words, “It makes sense to create a Showcase Page when you want to represent a brand, business unit, or company initiative. These pages are intended to develop long-term relationships with a specific audience.”
5. Post audience-focused updates regularly. According to LinkedIn, “Nine out of 10 B2B decision makers consider thought leadership important, and nearly half of all C-suite executives spend at least an hour engaging with this content weekly.” In other words, content is still king. Extu’s social publisher is a unique feature that lets you automatically schedule approved content from your email campaign to post to your personal and company LinkedIn pages.

After you’ve optimized your LinkedIn page, encourage your employees to follow the same steps. It’s a great way to amplify your company or the content you create in search results — both within and outside the platform. Every piece of company content they share and each keyword they embed helps you appear in more searches. It’s a simple way to gain a competitive edge!

It’s clear. An optimized LinkedIn page is a lead-generating machine. Taking the time to perfect your profile is a valuable B2B marketing strategy that can grow your business and strengthen your brand recognition like almost nothing else can.