Most social networks allow for social media marketing companies, like Hunter Marketing Group, to create business profiles on behalf of the business that contract with us. This is not the case with LinkedIn. On this particular social media network there is an additional requirement that limits our ability to create your profile and this is a domain specific email address.
While you can create a personal account with your maryjoe@hotmail.com or joetheplumber@aol.com account, you run into an issue when you decide to create a page for your business. LinkedIn wants you to have an email that is domain specific such as joe@theplumber.com or you@yourdomain.com.
Because of LinkedIn’s requirements for business page creation we often find that we must walk our clients through the creation process. Here you will see the step-by-step process on how easy it is to give your business their own place on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Business Profile Creation: A Step-By-Step Guide
Step 1: Edit Your Profile
Instructions: Log into your personal LinkedIn account as usual. From the main navigation hover your mouse over “Profile” until the drop down appears. Click on “Edit Profile” from the drop down menu.
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Step 2: Edit Email
Instructions: Now that you are editing your profile you will see the pencil icon appear to the right of many of the fields on your profile. Choose the pencil icon to the right of the “Email” field to open the option box. Hint. You may need to click the “Contact Info” box to expand this option box and see the email field. 
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Step 3: Add Domain Specific Email Address
Instructions: In the dialogue box enter your domain specific email address and click the “add email address” button to the right of the field. Note: This is the screen where you will have the ability to choose a primary email address, remove unused email addresses, and resent confirmation emails.
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Step 4: Confirm Your Email Address
Instructions: LinkedIn will automatically send you an email to the address you add to your profile. Before you can do anything else you must log into your email account (the one you just added in Step 3) and click on the link confirm button. You can exit LinkedIn to confirm your account, clicking the confirm button will route you back to the LinkedIn site.
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Step 5: Verify Your Email Confirmed
Instructions: This isn’t really an extra step. As mentioned above, once you click the confirm button in the automated email from LinkedIn you will be routed back to the LinkedIn Site. At the top of the page you will see a verification message.
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Step 6: Go to Companies Page
Instructions: From the main navigation hover your mouse over “Interests” and choose “Companies” from the drop down menu.
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Step 7: Create a Company Page
Instructions: From the Companies Page you can manage your company pages and see recent updates from all of your company pages in one place. On the right hand sidebar locate the section titled “Create a Company Page” and click the yellow “Create” button.
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Step 8: Add a Company Page
Instructions: Enter the company name, the email you added to your account in Step 3, and check the box verifying you are the official representative of the company you are adding before clicking the blue “Continue” button.
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Step 9: Enter Required Company Information
Instructions: There are seven required fields you must complete, and one of these is a 250 word description. Additional fields for location and year founded may be entered as well. You may also upload your logo and other images here as well.
It is on this screen that you can add page admins like your marketing company. To add, begin typing your connection’s name in the field and LinkedIn will automatically populate connections. Click on the one from the list that you want to add.
When you are finished on this page click the blue “Publish” button on the top right to save and create your page.
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Please do note that I always connect with my clients so that they can add me as an admin of their page. I then tell them to only enter the required fields and then I go back and clean their page up.
If you need a professional marketing company to manage your social media or online presence, contact Hunter Marketing Group today. We have the skills and experience to help you grow your audience and brand throughout the Internet.
