Watchout Twitter, LinkedIn has just launched its “follow” company button. LinkedIn’s goal is to make it easier for consumers to stay up to date with their favorite companies, seek job opportunities, or watch competitors and industry trends. According to Hani Durzy, LinkedIn‘s director of corporate communications, “The Follow Company button makes it easy for the more than two million brands with LinkedIn company pages to attract new followers and engage with them socially in a uniquely professional context.”
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages LinkedIn has over Twitter or Facebook is the legitimacy and professionalism of the website. Instead of mixing business with pleasure, which is what both Twitter and Facebook Brand Pages try to accomplish, LinkedIn focuses strictly on industry news and trends. To the right is a snippet from Internet Marketing Inc’s LinkedIn homepage.
LinkedIn Follow Box
The follow box appears at the right of every company’s LinkedIn home page. In addition to the follow box, LinkedIn has also provided a code generator so users have the ability to add a follow button to their own webpages. To follow a company, simply click on the Follow Company button and, as long as you are logged onto LinkedIn, you will automatically “follow” the company. If you are not logged on, a box will appear asking for your LinkedIn login information. Just type those in and you will automatically begin to follow the company. So far only a handful of companies have implemented their own follow button on their websites, but you can expect a quick turnaround in the next couple of months. From an analytics perspective, search engine optimization agencies will be able to use the follow button as another indicator for tracking and analytics.
By following relevant companies, you can essentially turn your LinkedIn homepage to an industry related newsfeed and keep up with real time updates and trends. Please tell us your opinions on LinkedIn’s new follow button. What companies or industries do you keep an eye on?