In November 2013, LinkedIn announced the arrival of Showcase Pages on their blog. This new feature is causing a lot of buzz on the web, particularly with bloggers debating its functionality. While the trend has yet to totally catch on, Showcase Pages seem to have some great benefits to help promote your business and keep your customers informed.
What are LinkedIn Showcase Pages?
LinkedIn Showcase Pages allows you to highlight different products or services that your company offers. Instead of having all of your content on your Company Page, you can customize Showcase Pages, and allow your customers and followers to easily access information that is of interest to them. This is a great tool for filtering unwanted material.
For example, Adobe has a company page, but they also created a Showcase Page which highlights their Adobe Creative Cloud. The only updates on this page will pertain to the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Advantages of Showcase Pages
- A great way to target specific audiences if your company offers a wide range of products or services
- Your LinkedIn followers can choose what they want to receive updates about
- Filters unwanted material
- A great tool to stay connected and keep your customers informed about upcoming products
- Companies have the ability to advertise on their Showcase Pages
Disadvantages of Showcase Pages
- You have to create a following again, your followers don’t carry over from your Company Page
- Showcase Pages and your Company Page are not linked, meaning you will have to do updates on both
- Showcase pages can only be deleted by contacting LinkedIn
- If you don’t have time to update your Showcase Pages or have the content to maintain them, they can look bare
Companies doing Showcase Pages right
It seems that Showcase Pages have yet to catch on with many companies, but some larger companies have taken full advantage of this new feature and are doing it right. These companies include:
Are LinkedIn Showcase Pages right for your business?
After reading other blogs I have to agree with Tray Sestili of SocialStrand. I don’t think Showcase Pages are a good fit for smaller companies and non-profits. Save your time and keep your Company Page updated. Showcase Pages don’t have tabs for careers, employee details, or products and services so in the end your followers are able to get all of the information they need in one place by visiting your Company Page.
For a 5 minute tutorial on how to create a Showcase Pages, here’s step by step video.
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