LinkedIn is the largest professional social network in the world, but many companies are not fully utilizing its potential for communication and building their corporate image. To maximize the benefits of LinkedIn, companies need to develop a dedicated editorial strategy and community management policy to encourage discussion and increase awareness among their target audience. This includes defining clear objectives, structuring an effective ecosystem across the Company, Careers, Products/Services, and Groups spaces on LinkedIn, and activating that ecosystem through best practices like content creation, community engagement, and measurement of key performance indicators. With the right strategy, LinkedIn can generate more business-to-business leads than other social networks and help companies attract talent and promote their employer brand.

1. SOCIAL HIVE
LinkedIn
A new territory for communications

2. Summary
Executive summary3
Avant propos4
Entretien 5
B LinkedIn, a communications tool that’s underutilized 6
C LinkedIn’s Ecosystem 7
2.1 A look at the Company space 7
2.2 A look at the Careers space 8
2.3 A look at the Products and Services space 8
2.4 A look at the Group space 9
D Which strategy should you adopt? 10
3.1 Define your objectives… 10
3.2 …and possible focus areas 10
3.3 Structure your ecosystem 11
3.4 Activate your ecosystem 12
3.5 Best practices: Dell and Microsoft 13
3.6 A content strategy in line with different types of usage 14
3.7 The Company space: using your audience to generate clicks 15
E Resources 16
4.1 Entry level: Engage employees 16
4.2 he importance of involving high potentials
T 16
4.3 The role of top management 16
4.4 Community managers and ambassadors 17
4.5 he role of community animators
T 17
F Measurement 18
5.1 Performance measurement 18
5.2 Proposed KPIs 18
Check list: how can I develop my presence on LinkedIn? 19

3. Executive Summary
LinkedIn is the biggest professional social network in the world. Most
companies develop their presence on it as part of their recruitment policy,
but LinkedIn is so much more than just a recruitment tool – it’s a professional
networking platform, and a B2B communications channel. According to a
recent study*, LinkedIn generates four times more B2B leads than any other
social network, including Facebook and Twitter.
So why are companies still not using LinkedIn to its full potential?
In this whitepaper we highlight the benefits an enterprise can reap from having
a structured LinkedIn ecosystem and outline how to develop the right editorial
approach for the ‘Company’ and ‘Groups’ spaces.
We believe that:
Most companies aren’t making full use of LinkedIn’s potential for
communications and building their corporate image
ompanies need to develop a dedicated editorial strategy and community
C
management policy to encourage discussion, and increase awareness
among their target audience (including potential employees, partners and
industry professionals)
LinkedIn offers powerful business solutions with a range of tools that
companies need to exploit if they’re to grow their influence
Employees act as potential ambassadors, and this fact should be leveraged
on LinkedIn: those ambassadors can carry corporate messaging, share
experiences and support the company’s values
When measuring the impact of your company’s LinkedIn activity, do take
into account criteria beyond traditional HR indicators: as for any other social
network (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), the commitment rate, active membership and
reach prove to be the main KPIs
* Hubspot study, 2011: http://www.hubspot.com/eBooks/learning-linkedin-from-the-
experts/
3 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

4. LinkedIn – a neglected
communications tool
Today, the world of social media and digital communication is heavily
focused on Facebook and Twitter, based on the significant audience
and creative communications campaigns seen on them. LinkedIn by
Digital Identity comparison is considered a somewhat humble and understated social
network. But don’t be fooled - a look at some factoids about the global
Stanislas Magniant, professional network tells a different story:
EMEA Head of Social Hive,
• More than 161 million members, across 200 countries
MSLGROUP
• Since December 31st, LinkedIn has seen it’s fastest growth within the
student and graduate demographic
Twitter account: • Two new members join LinkedIn every second, - that is 1 million new
@msl_group members every week
• Recruiting solutions proposed by LinkedIn are used by 82 out of 100 of
Fortune’s 2011 largest companies
Sites:
• More than 2 million businesses have a corporate LinkedIn page
www.mslgroup.com
• As of 31 March 2012, more than 400,000 unique domains actively use the
LinkedIn «Share» button from their web-sites in order to share relevant
SOCIAL HIVE
content on the LinkedIn platform
LinkedIn is a corporate communications platform that is
at once both deeply efficient and significantly undervalued
• LinkedIn has evolved and grown significantly over the past few years. It
is no longer just an HR platform that caters to recruiters, candidates and
professional networking.
• With the development of LinkedIn Enterprise, LinkedIn Today, and
a slew of social applications, LinkedIn has become a corporate
communications platform, as effective as it is undervalued.
• Communication directors, marketing directors and even sales
departments should focus less on how to grow their fanbase on the
company Facebook page and more on the opportunities that LinkedIn
presents. They can share their company’s activities, develop expertise
and thought leadership, leverage a network of employees to develop an
e-ambassadors program and even generate commercial leads using
LinkedIn.
• In short, companies can replicate what they currently do on Facebook,
but in a more professionally appropriate and effective way to engage
employees, business partners and potential candidates.
• This whitepaper is not meant to be a detailed manual, but an introduction
to the opportunities that LinkedIn offers corporate communications and
B2B professionals.
• It is also a guide for community managers who wish to develop the
right editorial strategies on LinkedIn. If you’re looking to develop your
company’s presence and reputation on social networks, we invite you to
take another look at LinkedIn’s potential using our whitepaper.
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 4

5. L au r e n c e B r e t
MARK ETING DIRECTOR,
L i n ked I n E U R O P E
Interview
a platform for
editorial content
LinkedIn has significantly evolved over the last year and product called the LinkedIn Talent Pipeline that allows
added apps such as the newsfeed and LinkedIn Today. Can recruiters to integrate external sources into this working
you share with us the reason behind this increased focus environment such as a candidate’s or an employee’s CV.
on content?
Among other reasons, LinkedIn members log on to the In addition, in the area of employer branding, we offer
network to access information about the sector they work in. the Careers space, which allow businesses to promote
Information plays a key role in the decision making process, themselves and disseminate job offers. And we fully
and we need to offer quicker access to it. That is why LinkedIn contextualize this space based on recruitment needs and the
offers information applications such as LinkedIn Today, company’s targets.
discussion groups, company spaces and members’ status
updates. In addition to these products for recruiters, we offer the
opportunity for advertisers to communicate through our
There are more than a million groups on LinkedIn today. 81% marketing solutions. This offer includes both “classic”
of our members subscribe to group discussions and 50% products such as text ads and posters as well as social
are active participants. In addition, 47% of our members use networking opportunities offered exclusively through
LinkedIn to find and understand the latest trends in their LinkedIn.
industry.
What benefits might one expect as a result of developing
Tell us more about the editorial feature ‘LinkedIn Today’. a content management strategy for a Company and Group
LinkedIn Today is a fairly revolutionary tool in terms of space on LinkedIn?
content curation: it automatically selects and distributes to Creating a Company space helps increase visibility on
each user the information that is most relevant for him or the network. This space can then include paid marketing
her. services. The company space helps in marketing the brand,
both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer
Articles are selected based on popularity amongst members (B2C). You can also use our advertising solutions to reach
on LinkedIn and what fellow industry members are reading. a very specialized audience, by targeting your campaign
This allows our users to stay up to date with the current based on member profiles.
trends and receive a continuous flow of information about
those trends. LinkedIn Today is a popular feature that builds Companies can publish articles and status updates on their
visitors’ engagement. space and allow members to follow their content. Since
LinkedIn is a professional network, following a company
Do companies use LinkedIn more as a source of information on it brings more opportunities to engage in a professional
rather than a communications tool? fashion, than on other social networks. This allows
companies to create more involved communities around
LinkedIn’s activity for recruiters is based on two pillars: their brands and services.
sourcing and employer branding. The latter evolves around
communication campaigns. In terms of sourcing, our
flagship product is the Recruiter, which provides unlimited
access to the entire network as well as the ability to post job
announcements. We have also recently launched another
5 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

6. 1
LinkedIn,
a communications tool that’s underutilized
Most companies have a LinkedIn pages of the 10 most followed companies* as of 10/05/2012
very practical approach to
LinkedIn, using it primarily to
hunt for potential employees. Number of Status Links to Online
Company
However, LinkedIn has also followers Updates blog discussions
proved itself as an essential
communications tool both IBM 649,210
from an HR communications Hewlett-Packard 485,641
perspective and in terms
of a company’s image and Microsoft 473,197
influence.
Accenture 467,689
Google 457,638
Oracle 321,910
Deloitte 317,242
Apple 286,192
Cisco Systems 264,104
Dell 277,892
* According to The Tecnica http://thetecnica.com/2012/04/top-10-most-followed-companies-on-LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a communications
platform that the majority of
companies have not yet fully
integrated into their communications
strategies.
The 10 most followed companies on
LinkedIn* animate their space with
status updates (in most cases with
new hires and job announcements),
but only five update their space
with blog posts and only three have
a proper community management
strategy, which involves generating
discussions on the page.
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 6

7. 2
LinkedIn’s Ecosystem
N Y SPACE
PA 2.1 A look at the Company space
M
TH E CO
A Company space is created LinkedIn offers information and
automatically as soon as a statistics for your company’s
LinkedIn user declares herself presence on the network, as well
an employee of a given company as a News space which is open for
The Company space on her profile. So your company other users’ comments. Certain
on LinkedIn can be might already be present on types of information are managed
compared with fan pages LinkedIn, but you’re perhaps not by the company, others are not.
on Facebook : it acts aware, and may not control that
as a hub for all the presence.
company’s activities on
the network There are two types of LinkedIn
users to target: your employees
and users who follow your
company.
Logo and company branding
Statistics :
• Number of employees,
demographics, data
and history
• Number of followers
LinkedIn members
who show up as employees
of your company
A space dedicated to
your subsidiaries
More space for
If your company has a blog or a Twitter information about your
account, you can promote these links company
on your page
This space shows activities on
LinkedIn, including: job offers,
new hires and appointments,
blog posts and any other
communications published
by the company. This space
can be managed to a degree.
Messages published in
this space are visible in the
information flow of members
of the page. One can like the
news, comment and share it in
the same way as on Facebook.
7 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

8. SPACE
RS 2.2 A look at the Careers space
EE
CA R
The Careers space
showcases your recruitment This space is completely under
activities on LinkedIn: new your control. It’s possible to
job announcements, HR personalize it by adding your
The Careers page is communications and other company’s colors and your
usually integrated into information about your company objectives. The space can be
the Company SPACE. You can add value to the space. further modified to match the type
can have access to your of visitor, so a communications
Company SPACE without professional would not see the
viewing the Careers same home page as an engineer
SPACE. for example.
The Careers space is paid for and
is not mandatory
Personalized banners for
different types of visitors Links to the
Company’s
A personalized introduction career site
depending on the type of visitor
Statistics
Job offers at your company -
personalised for
different types of visitors
Video campaigns
2.3 A look at the Products and Services space
LinkedIn offers all Company including expert points of view.
spaces a special tab to promote Think about managing what you
their products and services. post here, keeping in mind the
content should be consistent with
Like in the Careers space, you the story you want to tell about
have full control over the the your business.
content under this tab and you
can target your content in line The only social aspect of this tab
with your visitors’ demographics. is that LinkedIn members can
recommend your products and
The space is fully customizable: services.
you can add banners and a
video to showcase products or
services. Rather than adding an
advertisement, consider more
personal and original content
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 8

9. PACE
PS
U 2.4 look at the Group space
A
O
GR
Current job offers, information Group space is not managed by
about training sessions and best the company, but by individuals.
practices can all be shared on
Group space. In addition, most
A Group is a space for LinkedIn users tend to look for
employees to exchange expert opinions in the Groups.
best practices with
industry experts. It’s an Unlike the Company space, a
optimal platform for
exchange of ideas wit-
hin your company!
Logo and description
Launch a discussion or a poll
Group news, updates
RSS feed with the latest on new members
discussions
Ads
A list of the most active
users in the Group,
which effectively
highlights the most
The most commented on influential experts in
discussions. It’s possible to the discussion space
like a status, add a comment
and share it in the same
way you would on Facebook.
The Group’s statistics
Types of messages :
• Experience, knowledge and
best-practice sharing
• Job offers or training sessions
9 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

10. 3
Which strategy should you adopt?
3.1 Define your objectives…
Don’t only think of LinkedIn as To achieve your goals, be active
As with other social a recruitment tool. LinkedIn in on the site, and develop your own
networks, simply being fact enables companies to build tone of voice. A member connects
on LinkedIn is not an image that attracts talent to the network on average 1-2
sufficient. You need and makes people want to work times a month. The challenge is
to do more. And before for your company. In addition to find a way to be there when
that, you need to define to advertising, joining in the they are connected and have the
your objectives. discussions on LinkedIn also content you posted highlighted.
gives you the opportunity to polish You can help do this by interacting
your employer brand. So, look with more active members who
beyond traditional recruitment log in several times a day, and
goals, and make sure you set exchanging experience and best
new ones: reaching out to expert practices with them.
communities, attracting new
suppliers, influencing professional
communities, etc.
3.2 …and possible focus areas
Define a focus area that’s in line Once you’ve defined your focus
On LinkedIn, more then
with your expertise, strengths and area, you will be in a good position
anywhere else, the
the values of your organisation. to develop an editorial strategy for
best way to add value
Why would following you or each LinkedIn space.
to your company is to
participating in the discussions be
animate spaces via
an added value for a professional?
editorial content.
Are you considered a talent
incubator in your field? Is
your expertise acknowledged
worldwide? Have you adopted an
innovative management system?
These are all assets that can add
value when shaped through the
prism of your ambassadors and
your employees, and their stories
and experiences.
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 10

11. Structure your ecosystem
R TY GR
PA O
D
T Y G RO
UP
THIR
AR U
01
P
P0
TH I RD
1
TARY GR
IE
O
R
UP
PROP
01
The Company Space
The Company space is the
center of your LinkedIn
ecosystem. It should enhance
S AND SER
the visibility of the company’s CT
U
news, its views, projects VI
T H E PRO D
CE
and goals. It should also be a
S S PAC
hub for your entire LinkedIn
ecosystem.
E
The Careers Space E
The Careers space is the AC TY G RO
SP AR U
space dedicated to HR – Y
P
P0
TH I RD
N
2
A
opportunities, career paths,
MP
testimonials – a showcase
CO
dedicated to recruitment. The
THE
TY G RO
TARY GR AR U
pages are most useful for IE
P
P0
TH I RD
O
R
2
medium or large companies
UP
PROP
that have to manage a 02
significant number of
prospective employees.
The Groups Space
The Groups are the main
spaces for conversation RS
S PACE
on LinkedIn, and need a EE
R
T H E CA
targeted, clear and content-
focused editorial positioning.
A company can create and
animate several groups
based on various professional
communities, its target,
its core businesses or its
geographical locations... The
challenge is to structure
these groups so as to be able
to tap into both internal and TY G RO
AR
external audiences that are U
P
A RY G R
P0
TH I RD
broad enough to encourage ET
3
I
O
R
UP
PRO P
dialogue and a fruitful
03
exchange.
TY G RO
AR U
P
P0
TH I RD
3
11 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

12. 3.4 Activate your ecosystem
In order to create a
Focus on the three components of your editorial policy
real LinkedIn ecosystem,
you need to create
synergies between • Corporate information and news • Thought leadership
the Company space,
the Careers spACE and 1. First off, include this on the 1. Depending on the topic, add
the Groups. The most Company space to the relevant themed Groups
effective way to do so as to encourage discussion
this is to create links 2. Add it to the Careers space, and attract people to the Group
between these spaces, if that’s in line with your through exclusive content
but at the same time company’s HR and CSR policy
maintain the particular 2. You can also add to the
identity and purpose 3. Add news to the Group pages Company space to support the
of each page. Do take only if it relates to those users corporate vision, and leverage
into consideration that the discussions and the
users spend less time dynamism of the group
on LinkedIn than on • Third-party content (*curation)
Facebook, therefore it’s 3. Add to themed Groups that are
better to concentrate 1. In the first instance, include similar to the current Group
on the quality versus this on the Group pages. This in terms of either audience of
quantity where content is essential if you’re going to subject matter
is concerned. animate conversations between
professionals interested in the 4. Add to the Careers space
same topic (warning : make sure only if the content talks to
it does not exceed 50% of your top management’s vision or
editorial content) throws fresh light on HR and
management policy
2. Include in the Careers space
only if the content focuses
on career paths within the
company
3. Add to the Company space only
if the article, which should be
available online, provides a new
perspective on the company
*Curation is the art of selecting, filtering, organizing, indexing and
commenting on content across specific topics
12 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

13. 3.5 est practices: Dell and Microsoft
B
Dell is one of the 10 most-followed Alongside the editorial
companies on LinkedIn with nearly approach, the company also engages
270,000 followers. The company in real-time community management
makes the most of this significant activity: each post is monitored
community through a content and as soon as a follower of the
management strategy: interesting page in question reacts, a company
articles, company news and an spokesperson responds. Thanks
updated calendar help to turn this to this openness, the company
potential audience into an actual has established a dialogue which
audience. helps engage people in the long-
term. Moreover, Dell is sharing its
messages and values ​​n a way that
i
brings a strong human element to the
brand.
Microsoft is one of the most active
companies on LinkedIn and its
Company page is exemplary. Followed
by just under 500,000 people,
Microsoft has embraced LinkedIn
at the heart of its communications
strategy. Working with both company
and industry news as well as
employee testimonials, Microsoft
works off an editorial strategy
focused on several new posts each
day. That said, you can’t help notice
that while their the community
manager has adopted a very
engaging way of posting articles, s/he
is somewhat reserved when it comes
to responding to comments.
Microsoft’s Company page is an
example ​​ a dynamic company,
of
looking to the future and open to its
followers’ comments.
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 13

14. 3.6 A content strategy in line with
different types of usage
Each space that
LinkedIn offers
includes a number
of complementary
features and tools.
While some content, like
news / short updates, Help on how to adapt each space according to how it’s used:
can be found in all
three types of spaces,
other types of content
are less or more Y SPACE SPACE s
N RS up
relevant to any given PA EE ro
M
R
space.
g
TH E CO
T H E CA
{TARGETED
Company News APPROACH NEEDED}
Curation
{TARGETED
Thought Leadership APPROACH NEEDED}
{TARGETED
Job Opportunities APPROACH NEEDED}
Discussions - -
14 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

15. 3.7 he Company space:
T
using your audience to generate clicks
early 2012 a new feature
enabling Company space
to target the posts
published to a very
specific category of
followers was offered.
Do you want to find
out what a community
of senior telecom
specialists, who follow
you, think of one of
your latest innovations
without spamming
others? Now you can!
LinkedIn now gives companies a legitimate way to talk directly to
their target audience…..
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 15

16. 4
Resources
4.1 Entry level :
Engage employees
When you’re starting out, the most cost-effective and efficient approach is to let
employees know, via your traditional internal communication channels, that your
spaces and groups on LinkedIn exist. The core of your LinkedIn community are
your employees. It may be useful to incentivize contributors so as to create a
little competition.
4.2 The importance of involving
high potentials
LinkedIn provides a forum for high potentials. Their involvement in LinkedIn’s
Groups discussions can humanize communications, highlight their talent... and
keep them in the company! They can animate one or more groups by
posting articles, links and opinions... It’s a win/win strategy : personal branding is
the motivation while you’re also helping develop the company’s employer brand.
4.3 The Role of top management
As well as average users and high potentials, the role of top management can be
crucial in bringing to life internal and professional communities. Simply posting
a «like» or commenting on a colleague’s post can be powerful, and encourage
further participation.
PARTY GR
RD
O
I
UP
TY GR
TH
PAR O
03
D
U
IR
P0
TH
3
PARTY GR
RD
O
I
UP
TH
03
16 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

17. 4.4 ommunity managers
C
and ambassadors
Creating a thriving social network is impossible without a community manager,
and LinkedIn is no exception. A question left unanswered, a post that’s been
ignored.... These are factors that can dampen enthusiasm in a community, and
cause your audience’s engagement levels to dip. Every post, message, question...
should be addressed, no matter how small or insignificant.
As far as professional communities are concerned, the level of expertise must be
extremely high. That’s why you must identify Ambassadors, high potentials who
embody excellence within their profession, their peer group, their role… These
people need to actively participate in the animation of their thematic groups –
supported by a community manager, someone who is responsible for the flow
of communications, for measuring it and helping members and followers find
their way around.
4.5 The role of community animators
Community Manager Ambassadors
• Monitoring
• Editorial planning • Sectors and topic monitoring
• Content publication • Content publication, providing links,
• Comments management, posting thought leadership…
answering members/followers • Answering questions/comments on
• Help/redirect members/followers expert topics
• Acts as a link between the • Engages the company’s employees
company and LinkedIn users • Posts in the ‘Answers’ space and thus
• Alert management should a ultimately earns Expert status on
sensitive topic come up their profile
• Moderates
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 17

18. 5
Measurement
5.1 erformance measurement
P
What are the KPIs for LinkedIn? If you decide to implement an editorial strategy,
the KPIs should be the same as those of the other social networks where your
company has a presence: engagement rate, audience, loyalty, etc. In addition, any
impact on the employer brand, the number of CVs received, and the cost of hiring
using traditional methods should be taken into consideration.
5.2 Proposed KPIs
Quantitative
• The engagement rate for the Company space posts (based on the number of
interactions with the audience)
• Visitors to the Company and Group spaces
• Internal and external reach rate
• The number of discussions where your company’s experts participate on Group
spaces (yours and affiliates’)
• The number of CVs received
• The number of information requests received
Qualitative
• The tone of comments received across the company’s LinkedIn presence
(Company and Group spaces)
18 LinkedIn Guide for Brands

19. Check list: how can I develop my
presence on LinkedIn?
1. Audit what you have
How many pages are linked to your company and its focus areas (name,
audience, employee usage rate)?
2. Define your objectives
There are three types of objectives :
- Business objectives
- HR objectives
- Image/reputation objectives
3. Define your focus areas and structure
your LinkedIn ecosystem
- Restructure your Company space, and if you have them, your Careers and
Products and Services spaces according to the objectives you’ve already
defined
- Outline your editorial strategy for spaces you manage
- Identify Groups in which your company can legitimately add comments, and
also new Groups it can create
- Identify your internal ambassadors
- Produce a guide for employees as to how they can best be part of your
company’s LinkedIn presence
4. Community management
Implement a community management strategy.
Contact us Follow us
FRANCE/ EMEA http://www.linkedin.com/company/
MSLgroup
Stanislas Magniant
stanislas.magniant@
consultants.publicis.fr http://www.twitter.com/msl_group
ASIA http://www.youtube.com/
Gaurav Mishra mslgroupofficial
gaurav.mishra@mslgroup.com
http://www.mslgroup.com/
AMERICAS
Stephen Marino
stephen.marino@mslgroup.com
SOCIAL HIVE
LinkedIn Guide for Brands 19

20. 20 LinkedIn Guide for Brands