Product pages are the newest element to be added to a LinkedIn company page arsenal of opportunities. It’s part of a continuous push to make LinkedIn company pages relevant, useful and to keep people on the platform to learn more about a contact and their company.
This is the third kind of product and service page on the LinkedIn corporate profile, and it takes the heat off the showcase pages which have been a catch-all for a variety of uses, be it product exposure, service ideas, video collections and more.
Here’s a rundown of how company, showcase and product pages are meant to interact on LinkedIn:
LinkedIn company page
This is a page much like your personal page but for your corporate identity. It’s your signpost for the company on LinkedIn and provides corporate information – as well as a news feed – to the LinkedIn audience.
If you have a business, you need a LinkedIn company page. It’s the parent page to information about the culture and people of your business. It houses any paid job postings. It’s also the parent to your showcase or now product pages.
Showcase or Affiliated pages
Showcases are a valuable tool to provide focus on a particular aspect of your business, whether it’s a service, a secondary brand, a capability or solution. But it’s broad and really hasn’t proven to a primary definition for use.
You can create multiple showcase pages and they reside in the right-hand sidebar of your company page. A showcase page is much like your parent company page, as you can add posts list events or add video. Visitors can follow the page.
Product pages
The new product pages resident in the left-hand menu of your company page. They are currently been rolled out (10,000 now in use according to LinkedIn) but are not yet available everywhere.
The product page will appear below the nameplate of the company with the other actionable tabs like about, posts, people, etc..
The must be product-specific, meaning no services. It gives you the capability to provide posts, videos and typical focused product information whether for a B2B or B2C consumer.
One of the more intriguing elements will be the ability to accept and curate reviews. This can be another opportunity to provide that personal use glimpse of a product, that’s so valuable for the customer or client. Bad reviews can’t be removed by the page admin, however, LinkedIn will consider a review removal if it is libellous, filled with provable false facts or created by a biased individual like a competitor.
The truth of a review is tested because reviews link back to the LinkedIn profile of the person leaving the review.
Again, these are pages with a heavy focus on products. LinkedIn does promise to roll out a service showcase feature in the near future.
As always these elements take resource to maintain and put together. More than one showcase page has been left to rot with old information – not unlike pages on so many platforms when a company takes on more curation that it’s capable of maintaining.
But the value of maintaining a focused product page with reviews and be significant, if curated and kept current. Watch for them, coming to a LinkedIn page near you.