As a painting professional, you most likely have a personal LinkedIn page. But do you also have a LinkedIn page for your company? We sat down with Al Pirozzoli, a marketing consultant who has worked with numerous professional painting contracting companies, and asked him to help us understand the value of a LinkedIn company page, and how to make the best use of yours.

Is a LinkedIn company page right for your painting business?

Regardless of the size of your painting company, you live in a growing digital world. Very few painting contractors can exist on referrals alone. A digital presence is one of the best ways to build your brand and credibility.

What is different about LinkedIn company pages and why should you care?

A LinkedIn company page is simply a necessity in today’s digital age. You need to be “present.” What you write and how you write it is important.

In other words, when someone goes to a LinkedIn company page, they know they are communicating with a company or a brand. It’s not a personal page so there’s uncertainty as to who is on the other end so to speak.

The danger is that company pages, because they are passive, can have a canned feeling. You can’t send connection requests to people as a company page (but with your personal page you can). People know your LinkedIn page isn’t you, it’s an entity.

A large number of LinkedIn company pages are dull, written with buzz words, history and so on, but little emotional appeal. In short, they can be boring! However, your company page is important because it allows people to learn about your business. You’ll want to look into sponsored updates and other paid services that LinkedIn offers to build targeted initiatives.

What’s the biggest value of having a company page?

First and foremost, it provides exposure. People will know you are in business. They can’t call for a painting bid if they can’t find you digitally, and you can’t build familiarity with them either.

Even if you can’t afford to use all the paid services, you should have a presence online. It’s also a passive employment magnet for painters looking to find a job. You’ll start to show up in search results.

What other ways can it help?

It provides a profile of your company and displays your logo – not only on your company page but on your employees’ profile pages as well.

Important statistic: LinkedIn reports that companies with logo images get six times more traffic to their pages. So it really does help to promote your business.

What steps should I take to get started?

As a small business owner knows, there are limited funds to engage all the paid services of LinkedIn. That said, you will need to make time to write and post content, photos and so on. I suggest you start with some of the basics:

• • Be consistent in sharing content posts at the least once or twice a week.
• • Make your posts visually attractive by adding photographs.
• • Add videos – use your cell phone feature if nothing else – show some of your painting projects before and after.
• • Ask thoughtful questions or make interesting posts that encourage comments.
• • Add visual interest, create an eye-catching banner – rotate it at least every quarter.
• • Consider your page as an extension of your brand and a support to building your brand.
• • You must be proactive with networking by using your employees’ personal profiles and build relationships with the audience.
• • Feature your specialities.
• • Ask customers if they would offer brief written testimonials.

More resources

Learn more about how to make the best use of your personal LinkedIn page in Al’s story 10 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn.

Al Pirozzoli is a frequent contributor to PPC magazine. He is creative director at Pirozzoli & Williams, a Southbury, Connecticut-based marketing consulting company serving small and midsized businesses. He can be reached at pirozzolimarketing@gmail.com or pirozzoli.us.