LinkedIn will be removing the products and services tab from all company pages on the 14th April, so as a snapshot what is going to change?
- Your products and services won’t be displayed any more
- Your recommendations for products and services will no longer be displayed
- Employee profiles won’t be associated with particular products or services
- Instead you will be able to create Showcase Pages for each of your products and services
- People can follow your Showcase Pages
- You can post from your Showcase Pages
To keep you ahead of your competitors, and make sure you’re ready for the change, we’ve detailed what you will need to do below.
What you need to know
We all know LinkedIn likes to shake things up every once and a while. Sometimes it’s a welcomed change, whilst other times it can leave you questioning if it’s the right decision.
The latest news that they are removing the products and services has surprised the LinkedIn community, especially those who have invested time and energy in getting them right.
Currently a company page has a home tab (featuring a banner image and timeline of posts) and a products and services tab (featuring 3 rotating banner images and a list of your specialities with thumbnails and descriptions).
The main benefit of this section, apart from showcasing your offerings, is that you can ask your clients/customers to recommend your services. These reviews are worth their weight in gold, as many prospects like to know exactly what type of service they are going to receive, and nothing benefits a company better than a positive compliment.
With 3 million LinkedIn business pages* there are A LOT of people that are going to be effected by this. They have taken the time to nurture their page, create or employ an agency to brand their content, and have asked their clients for recommendations.
What actions do you need to take?
It is important to note that your product and services recommendations are not going to be carried over. So, unless you copy and paste them out of your page (not great if you’ve got hundreds!!) or request a copy from LinkedIn, these will be gone forever.
But all is not lost.
As an alternative to the products and services pages, LinkedIn is now offering Showcase Pages. You might have noticed these pop up on LinkedIn over the last few months, but were in fact launched last November.
These pages allow you to create sub pages of your company profile, each specialising in a different area of expertise. Designed slightly differently with a two-column layout, these pages can be used to highlight the key services your company offers and any associated news or updates.
You will be able to post relevant content from these pages as you currently do via your company page, and users can follow your updates too. It does mean that you can tailor your content more specifically, and likewise users can choose to follow pages that are more relevant to what they are interested in.
So now you know, what do you think of the change? Leave a comment below to carry on the discussion.
Keep an eye out for my next blog pieces on how to set up a company page and how to set up Showcase Pages.
*https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-few-important-linkedin-stats/#.UzQi2scYzXw
