LinkedIn

Say Goodbye to the Products and Services Tab on LinkedIn

Published On: March 31, 2014 | Categories: Social Media |

If your company has a LinkedIn page, you may have seen that on April 14 the services tab will be removed from your page. In its place, LinkedIn launched Showcase Pages late last year as a different way for companies to highlight their products and services.

There is a lot of controversy about the change and the investment that many companies have already made optimizing their Products and Services tab. However, you can take this opportunity to review your company page and make sure you are optimizing promotion of your products and services.

This feature is beneficial for organizations that have a family of companies as it allows individuals to follow specific brands or divisions that are most relevant to them. It will also allow you to target your messages to various audiences and segments. You can provide status updates to the Showcase Pages as well as Company Pages.

With just a couple weeks before they take down the tab, what do you need to do to prepare for this change?

    1. Pull the information currently on your Products and Services tab. Be sure to copy all of the information that is currently on your LinkedIn Products/Services page if you would like to reference it later. LinkedIn is allowing you to request copies of any recommendations that you had on your page, but you must do so by May 30, 2014.
    2. Make a list of what you may want to highlight on a Showcase Page. Right now, LinkedIn limits the number of Showcase Pages to ten. This may include:
      • Brands
      • Products
      • Services
      • Departments
    3. Identify the target audience for each of these pages.
      • Who are the targeted followers?
      • What information will they want to see?
    4. Create your Showcase Page. You’ll need:
      • Name of Showcase Page (Brand, Product, etc.)
      • An image that helps represent what you are showcasing
      • Description of the page
      • A website URL that relates to the Showcase Page
      • Industry
      • Identify a Showcase Page administrator
    5. Encourage followers to visit and follow your Showcase Pages.

Once you launch your Showcase Pages, let your followers know by sharing a status update on your Company Page. Your followers won’t automatically be signed up to include Showcase Page updates in their feed, so be sure to drive traffic there initially to get interest.

What are your thoughts on the change?

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