Yes, that’s right. On April 14 Linkedin Products & Services Tab will be removed from LinkedIn Company Pages!
Until then, you can edit existing products and services, but you will not be able to add new products and services.
So, on April 14:
- Your LinkedIn Products & Services pages will go away (disappear)
- Deep links (URLs that lead directly to those pages) will no longer function
- Customer Recommendations on those pages will be lost *See TIP below…
In its place, Linkedin is recommending two alternatives to share information about your products and services:
- Company updates
- Showcase Pages
1. Company Updates: You can post information on your products and services on a daily basis on your Company Updates. These Updates are seen by your followers on your Company Page as well as on their newsfeed (across all devices including mobile).
TIP: Updates are key to building relationships with your page followers. You want followers to engage and share your updates, right? Get creative with compelling interesting updates around your products and services. Stay away from the boring, standard company product and services information.
2. Showcase Pages: These are extensions or subpages of your Company Page dedicated to specific products and services, designed to allow companies with a diverse range of products or services to create pages for individual brands. This allows brands to target their marketing and build relationships within relevant communities. Individuals can then follow the pages in the same way as they would a Company Page and the two should be treated as separate entities. (See screenshot below).
TIP: As with a Company Page, you should consistently share relevant Updates on these Showcase Pages, as you do on your Company Page.
Key features of a Showcase Page:
- Cover photo or top image banner is larger than the Home Page image (fabulous real estate!)
- The two-column feed design highlights the most relevant content
- Analytics are available (Showcase Page and Company Page analytics are separate)
- You can Sponsor updates from the Page
- You can feature groups on the page
- You can manage content through 3rd party social media management dashboard like Hootsuite
- Followers are not shared between Showcase Pages and Company Pages. Followers can choose to follow as many pages they like. Followers from the parent Company Page cannot be migrated or carried over to a Showcase Page.
Note: You can create up to 10 Showcase Pages through your Company Page.
Specifications for Showcase Page Elements:
- Showcase Page name: 100 maximum characters
- Description: 75-200 maximum characters
- Banner/Hero Image: Minimum 974 x 330 pixels. PNG, JPEG, or GIF. Max 2 MB. You can crop your image once it’s uploaded.
- Logo: 100 x 60 pixels. Image will be resized to fit.
- Square logo: 50 x 50 pixels. Image will be resized to fit.
Do Showcase Pages have Unique URLs? Yes, the format of a Showcase Page URL is: linkedin.com/company/[showcase_page_name]. There is no option for customizable or vanity URLs.
What about the Customer Recommendations?
According to Linkedin: “If you’re a Company Page admin, you can save recommendations by copying them from the tab into your own document. You can also request a copy of the recommendations that were present as of March 4, 2014. The recommendations will be available through Customer Support until Friday, May 30, 2014. Note: If you want to use the recommendations in promotional or marketing materials you’ll need to get permission from the individual who made the recommendation”. Linkedin gives no indication if they intend to implement an equivalent of recommendations for Showcase pages.
That’s a little harsh! Companies have spent so much time getting these valuable endorsements and recommendations, and then – poof – they just disappear.
This basically means you can post these Recommendations now as Updates! There is not central repository where they can all live.
TIP: Create a Showcase Page, called Recommendations and put all your recommendations there, and continue to update this or not… 😉
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Showcase Pages
Optimized these Pages like your Company Page:
- Optimize the text with keywords throughout the Page
- Post quality updates often (multiple times a week)
- The more original the content posted through the Page, the more discoverable the Page will be via search
Here’s more information on Showcase Pages and here’s a step by step for creating a Showcase Page.
Here’s an example of Microsoft’s Showcase Pages on their Home Tab:
Here’s an example of Microsoft’s Office Showcase Page:
Well, LinkedIn. Showcase Pages are nice, and companies should use them, but taking away Products and Services Page with customer recommendations that we have worked so hard on? C’mon…
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