LinkedIn

With nearly 500 million members in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is the leader in professional social networking sites. It provides a platform for members to network with other professionals in their industries, potential employees and employers. Additionally, LinkedIn offers other features such as Groups and Company Pages to enhance and organize brand awareness, as well as allow users to connect with brands they would like to work for or learn more about. Over 40 million students and recent college graduates have a presence on LinkedIn, in addition to alumni, prospective students and employees, making it a powerful marketing tool actively used by many units within our university.

Groups

Groups are designed for interactions with a known audience. Much of the conversations center around careers, with additional discussions around university news, alumni connections and general news. Verification is required to participate and encourages discussion and connection between individuals and occasionally page administrators.

Company pages

Brands can create pages that users can “follow” in order to interact and receive updates. Many major organizations use Company Pages to attract and recruit potential employees, share news and connect with consumers. Associated analytics highlight performance based on impressions, clicks, interactions and engagement. Graphs are also available for reach and engagement and can be broken down through organic and paid. Companies can also see the demographics of their followers by seniority, location, attended universities and current employers, and view their follower counts against their competitors. If you desire a LinkedIn page, please contact the digital engagement team. 

Questions to answer before getting started

Who will manage this page?

University Communications recommends having a dedicated person oversee all social media efforts, including LinkedIn. That person should check the page daily for comments that need to be answered. 

How often should you post and interact?

Twice a week at a minimum is recommended. 

What will your content be like?

Like any social network, LinkedIn requires unique content that your targeted audience will find interesting or valuable. 

Do you have an established brand voice?

The university has an established LinkedIn presence as well as several sub-university pages and groups. In most cases, it will be in your unit’s best interest to send your content directly to the school and college level or official university pages that possess established audiences. Focus on providing great content and visuals, and let us handle your audience-building through our official channels. 

Posting on your LinkedIn page

If your unit is already active on LinkedIn, keep the following in mind when creating content for your page.

• Be consistent. Your post should accurately reflect the university brand and voice of your department or unit.
• Speak in one voice. Whether your page has one administrator or 10, always speak in a consistent brand voice.
• Consider your audience. Your audience may not have a presence on LinkedIn, thus, your unit will not need an individual presence on LinkedIn and can provide content to the pages with larger followings.
• Create a content calendar. Creating a content calendar will ensure you have enough content to fill your LinkedIn page. We recommend two posts per week of original content. If you do not have enough content to fill your page, you can re-evaluate your strategy and instead opt to provide content to the official university page.