Many brands group their company LinkedIn page and employee profiles together. The problem? Each one serves a different role for your audience, yet they’re used interchangeably. When both pages push out the same content, it falls flat.
LinkedIn users follow personal profiles and company pages for different reasons.
Understanding LinkedIn User Behaviors
When people follow a company page, they’re essentially subscribing to a trade publication. They want to stay updated on new products, general industry news, and job openings. By following these pages, they know they’re going to get more press releases and PR in their feed.
Personal LinkedIn profiles, on the other hand, give people a direct line. They imply that a user has been let into an area they wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise. And if one user shares an uncomfortable truth that many people gloss over, they’re bound to build even more trust and a stronger relationship with their audience.
The brands that know when to use each page on LinkedIn are the ones that win.
What Each Page Should Post About
The content strategy for each page stems from why people follow them in the first place. Here’s what company pages and personal profiles should post about:
- Company page: New hires, milestones, product launches, and industry news. These pages are typically managed by the marketing team to ensure the brand voice stays consistent.
- Personal profile: This page is more effective for covering industry trends, sharing lessons learned, and highlighting personal stories grounded in professional insights.
Who Should Post on Their Personal LinkedIn Profile?
Founders and CEOs should make a conscious effort to post on their LinkedIn pages regularly. Not only do they lead their brand, but they’re often viewed as leaders by the broader industry. When they speak publicly on LinkedIn, it gives brands a face while also signaling confidence and transparency.
Subject matter experts (SMEs) are trusted by people outside of a company. By posting on LinkedIn regularly, they will build the company’s credibility alongside their own.
Your sales team talks to customers and industry experts every day. They know customer pain points, common questions, objections better than anyone else on your team. When they address these issues publicly, salespeople can highlight their expertise before hopping on a call.
By posting on LinkedIn regularly, all of these people can build credibility that compounds over time.
Make LinkedIn Accessible to Your Team
Not everyone on your team is a content marketer, so they probably don’t use social media as effectively as they could.
Help them out.
Provide your CEOs, SMEs, and salespeople with content ideas they can run with. This makes it easier for them to draft posts that are relevant to their work and will resonate well with your audience.
In the same vein, don’t give them too many content ideas at once or a script. It’s not their job to act like a content machine, so don’t expect them to. Plus, stiff content sounds like a press release in social media form. This kills authenticity, which defeats the purpose of the LinkedIn post.
Getting Your Team to Participate
CEOs, sales reps, and SMEs are focused on their goals, and branding typically isn’t one of them. Make LinkedIn posting appealing to them rather than framing it as a favor to the marketing team.
Salespeople who post regularly get more leads, while CEOs are more likely to get press opportunities and speaking engagements. Once these members of your team understand the personal ROI, LinkedIn posting will be more attractive.
Many people avoid posting because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing or sounding uninformed. Encourage your team to start small by participating in comment sections, then make their own LinkedIn posts as they become more confident.
Don’t let your team run out of ideas. Set up a monthly brainstorming session to give your sales reps, SMEs, and CEOs topics for LinkedIn posts. This keeps the posts flowing without putting pressure on your team to come up with their own ideas from scratch.
Remember: Marketers are the content machines. Other members of your team have different strengths.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In marketing, the company page sets the stage and personal pages make it personable. These two types of LinkedIn pages aren’t competing—they’re working together to drive your business forward. But brands need to understand that personal profiles often carry more weight than company pages.
People trust other people, not company logos. A company LinkedIn page can promote your product, while personal pages can share real-world examples. A customer success story, a reflection on industry trends, and personal anecdotes resonate stronger with your audience.
The company page builds awareness while personal profiles build trust. Both pages are essential to your business, just on different levels.