LinkedIn Showcase Pages

LinkedIn’s ‘Showcase Pages’ are designed to help businesses build audience engagement around the different products and services they offer.

Showcase Pages were introduced when LinkedIn removed the ‘products and services’ tab on company pages. Now, Showcase Pages are the only option for businesses wanting to display their products and services on the LinkedIn platform.

And while the Showcase Page feature can be beneficial for businesses with an established product line, just because the feature is available doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the right fit for you.

Here are some of the benefits and problems of the feature to help businesses decide whether they should use it as an extension of their company page.

Benefits

• Showcase Pages are extensions of your Company Page

If your business has multiple products or services, each with their own unique customer segment, then Showcase Pages allow you to separate your communication for each audience without cluttering up a single Company Page. At the same time, customers will visibly see the link between the service or product they use and your business’s company as a whole, allowing them to explore other products or services your business has to offer.

• Showcase Pages have some similar features to a Company Page

You can post updates, feature LinkedIn groups connected to your product or service, and see detailed analytics on your updates. Unlike a Company Page, businesses cannot add any “specialties” of their product or service, or allow team members to connect their personal LinkedIn profiles to a showcase page.

• You can engage with specific customer segments

If you have clearly defined target audiences or are trying to encourage particular customer behavior, the ability to segment users and the messaging your business delivers to them on LinkedIn can be a big help.

Problems

• No more user recommendations

A benefit of the products and services tab on a business’s Company Page was that LinkedIn users could “recommend” the business’s service. User-generated content like that is gold for marketing your business online, as it can increase your business’s credibility and demonstrate that your business isn’t the only one who thinks highly of your services.

• Starting from the beginning, again

Another obstacle with creating a Showcase Page for your business’s product or service is the one you had when you first started your Company Page—you have no followers. This is particularly problematic for small businesses who are already strapped for time and resources.

• Reconfiguring your content strategy

Creating Showcase Pages creates the need to reconfigure a business’s online content strategy. If a business was regularly posting updates on their Company Page to an engaged audience, it would now have to consider what that looks like going forward. Having multiple Showcase Pages means there are now more channels that require their own messaging.