When I checked my LinkedIn Company Page on Friday I noticed an alert indicating that LinkedIn
will remove the Products/Services Tab on Company Pages as of the 14th of April:
It’s not the first time that LinkedIn stops offering a functionality. As you might remember in the past it was possible to use hashtags on LinkedIn, until LinkedIn pulled the plug on this with the same message that they are giving now:
“At LinkedIn, we aim to provide a simple and efficient experience for our members. To do this, we’re continuously evaluating how our current products and features are used, and seeking new ways to focus our resources on building the best products. This sometimes results in the retirement of certain features.”
Now what exactly was this tab about? Well, on your Company Page you could either create a tab listing your ‘Products’ or your ‘Services’ like these 2 examples:
Products Tab of Henkel
Services Tab of Architects Design Group
When you click on a Service Title you will land on a landingpage like this:
If you were using this tab it might be good to copy all the content on there in a document so it isn’t lost. Of course you’ll still be able to spotlight your Products & Services, no worries! The most general way will be via your status updates on your LinkedIn Company page. But ideally you start making use of the Showcase Pages that LinkedIn introduced a while ago (which is probably also the reason that they will remove the Products/Services Tab).
When should I create one or more Showcase Pages on LinkedIn?
A lot of companies have multiple brands, or offer multiple products or services. You should see the Company Page as a general page where people can find information about all the products & services of a company, in combination with news & updates about the company itself. However some people are only interested in information about one of your products or services, and the answer to that is as you might have already guessed setting-up a Showcase Page which is also linked to your Company’s Profile.
Here are 3 examples of when you might want to set-up a Showcase Page:
- Prospects
Your products or services each appeal to a different audience > a showcase will make sure that people only get the info they want - Clients
Maybe you have both B2B and B2C clients, also in this case a Showcase Page might be a good solution for you because consumers want different information than buyers and decision-takers from your B2B segment. - Multiple products or services
You offer a range of products & services, and yes you can post news about all these products/services on your Company Page, but they wil get ALL news and maybe they are only interested in one product(line) or service.
To sum up, a Showcase Page is something that you could set-up in addition to your Company Page to facilitate following news about only a part of your business for both customers as prospects.
Important to know: you can create maximum 10 Showcase Pages linked to your Company’s Page.
Example of a LinkedIn Showcase Page:
How to set-up a Showcase Page?
First of all you need to be an adimin of your Company Page to be able to do this. Go to your LinkedIn Company Page and click on the arrow next to the “Edit”-button, and select “Create a Showcase Page” from the dropdown:
You will now be able to set-up a page. Make sure that you have the following details prepared:
- An image to use as banner / cover photo on your Showcase Page
- Description for your page
- Logo
- Website
- Industry
- Groups that you want to feature
That’s it! Don’t think we will miss the Products & Services Tab to be honest 😉
Will you make use of these Showcase Pages? If yes I’d love to know why, and if no…I definitely want to know why not so please please please hit the reply button 😉