LinkedIn is a rapidly growing professional social network that is largely underutilized by companies for communication and branding purposes. The document emphasizes the importance of developing a structured LinkedIn strategy that includes a dedicated editorial approach and community management to enhance corporate image and engagement. It advocates leveraging LinkedIn as a powerful B2B communication platform to generate leads, foster discussions, and create a compelling employer brand beyond just recruitment activities.

1. LinkedInA new territory for communications
SOCIAL HIVE

2. 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 The importance of involving high potentials 16
4.3 The role of top management 16
4.4 Community managers and ambassadors 17
4.5 The role of community animators 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
Summary

3. LinkedIn Guide for Brands3
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
Companies need to develop a dedicated editorial strategy and community
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/
Executive Summary

4. LinkedIn Guide for Brands 4
SOCIAL HIVE
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
comparison is considered a somewhat humble and understated social
network. But don’t be fooled - a look at some factoids about the global
professional network tells a different story:
• More than 161 million members, across 200 countries
• Since December 31st, LinkedIn has seen it’s fastest growth within the
student and graduate demographic
• Two new members join LinkedIn every second, - that is 1 million new
members every week
• Recruiting solutions proposed by LinkedIn are used by 82 out of 100 of
Fortune’s 2011 largest companies
• More than 2 million businesses have a corporate LinkedIn page
• 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
content on the LinkedIn platform
LinkedIn – a neglected
communications tool
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.
Digital Identity
Stanislas Magniant,
EMEA Head of Social Hive,
MSLGROUP
Twitter account:
@msl_group
Sites:
www.mslgroup.com

5. LinkedIn Guide for Brands5
a platform for
editorial content
product called the LinkedIn Talent Pipeline that allows
recruiters to integrate external sources into this working
environment such as a candidate’s or an employee’s CV.
In addition, in the area of employer branding, we offer
the Careers space, which allow businesses to promote
themselves and disseminate job offers. And we fully
contextualize this space based on recruitment needs and the
company’s targets.
In addition to these products for recruiters, we offer the
opportunity for advertisers to communicate through our
marketing solutions. This offer includes both “classic”
products such as text ads and posters as well as social
networking opportunities offered exclusively through
LinkedIn.
What benefits might one expect as a result of developing
a content management strategy for a Company and Group
space on LinkedIn?
Creating a Company space helps increase visibility on
the network. This space can then include paid marketing
services. The company space helps in marketing the brand,
both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer
(B2C). You can also use our advertising solutions to reach
a very specialized audience, by targeting your campaign
based on member profiles.
Companies can publish articles and status updates on their
space and allow members to follow their content. Since
LinkedIn is a professional network, following a company
on it brings more opportunities to engage in a professional
fashion, than on other social networks. This allows
companies to create more involved communities around
their brands and services.
LinkedIn has significantly evolved over the last year and
added apps such as the newsfeed and LinkedIn Today. Can
you share with us the reason behind this increased focus
on content?
Among other reasons, LinkedIn members log on to the
network to access information about the sector they work in.
Information plays a key role in the decision making process,
and we need to offer quicker access to it. That is why LinkedIn
offers information applications such as LinkedIn Today,
discussion groups, company spaces and members’ status
updates.
There are more than a million groups on LinkedIn today. 81%
of our members subscribe to group discussions and 50%
are active participants. In addition, 47% of our members use
LinkedIn to find and understand the latest trends in their
industry.
Tell us more about the editorial feature ‘LinkedIn Today’.
LinkedIn Today is a fairly revolutionary tool in terms of
content curation: it automatically selects and distributes to
each user the information that is most relevant for him or
her.
Articles are selected based on popularity amongst members
on LinkedIn and what fellow industry members are reading.
This allows our users to stay up to date with the current
trends and receive a continuous flow of information about
those trends. LinkedIn Today is a popular feature that builds
visitors’ engagement.
Do companies use LinkedIn more as a source of information
rather than a communications tool?
LinkedIn’s activity for recruiters is based on two pillars:
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
Laurence Bret
MARKETING DIRECTOR,
LinkedIn EUROPE
Interview

6. LinkedIn Guide for Brands 6
LinkedIn,
a communications tool that’s underutilized
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.
Most companies have a
very practical approach to
LinkedIn, using it primarily to
hunt for potential employees.
However, LinkedIn has also
proved itself as an essential
communications tool both
from an HR communications
perspective and in terms
of a company’s image and
influence.
1
Company
Last
year’s
ranking
Number of
followers
Status
Updates
Links
to blog
Online
discussions
Hewlett-Packard 2 1,008,406
IBM 1 970,787
Google 5 895,147
Microsoft 3 797,493
Accenture 4 751,519
Deloitte 7 584,234
Apple 8 567,314
Oracle 6 550,587
Ernst Young NEW 452,645
Unilever NEW 432,571
LinkedIn pages of the 10 most followed companies* as of 01/03/2013
* LinkedIn brands sorted by number of followers

7. LinkedIn Guide for Brands7
LinkedIn’s Ecosystem
2
A Company space is created
automatically as soon as a
LinkedIn user declares herself
an employee of a given company
on her profile. So your company
might already be present on
LinkedIn, but you’re perhaps not
aware, and may not control that
presence.
There are two types of LinkedIn
users to target: your employees
and users who follow your
company.
The Company space
on LinkedIn can be
compared with fan pages
on Facebook : it acts
as a hub for all the
company’s activities on
the network
2.1 A look at the Company space
LinkedIn offers information and
statistics for your company’s
presence on the network, as well
as a News space which is open for
other users’ comments. Certain
types of information are managed
by the company, others are not.
Statistics :
• Number of employees,
demographics, data
and history
• Number of followers
Calls-to-actions
A space dedicated
to your subsidiaries.
NEW: if you own groups,
you can feature them
here.
Logo and company branding
More space for
information about your
company
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.
THECOM
PANY SPACE
The pages the people
who visit your page also
viewed. Useful to identify
how you are perceived.

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

9. LinkedIn Guide for Brands9
Current job offers, information
about training sessions and best
practices can all be shared on
Group space. In addition, most
LinkedIn users tend to look for
expert opinions in the Groups.
Unlike the Company space, a
A Group is a space for
employees to exchange
best practices with
industry experts. It’s an
optimal platform for
exchange of ideas wit-
hin your company!
2.4 A look at the Group space
Group space is not managed by
the company, but by individuals.
Group news, updates
on new members
Ads
A list of the most active
users in the Group,
which effectively
highlights the most
influential experts in
the discussion space
The Group’s statistics
Logo and description
Launch a discussion or a poll
RSS feed with the latest
discussions
The most commented on
discussions. It’s possible to
like a status, add a comment
and share it in the same
way you would on Facebook.
Types of messages :
• Experience, knowledge and
best-practice sharing
• Job offers or training sessions
GRO
U
P SPACE

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

11. The Company Space
The Company space is the
center of your LinkedIn
ecosystem. It should enhance
the visibility of the company’s
news, its views, projects
and goals. It should also be a
hub for your entire LinkedIn
ecosystem.
The Careers Space
The Careers space is the
space dedicated to HR –
opportunities, career paths,
testimonials – a showcase
dedicated to recruitment. The
pages are most useful for
medium or large companies
that have to manage a
significant number of
prospective employees.
PROPR
IETARY GR
O
UP01
THIRD
PARTY GRO
UP01
Structure your ecosystem
THEPRODU
CTS AND SER
VICESSPACE
THECOMPA
N
Y
SPACE
THECAR
EERS SPACE
THIRD
P
ARTY GROU
P01
PROPR
IETARY GR
O
UP02
PROPR
IETARY GR
O
UP03
THIRD
P
ARTY GROU
P02
THIRD
P
ARTY GROU
P03
THIRD
P
ARTY GROU
P03
THIRD
P
ARTY GROU
P02
The Groups Space
The Groups are the main
spaces for conversation
on LinkedIn, and need a
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
external audiences that are
broad enough to encourage
dialogue and a fruitful
exchange.
LinkedIn Guide for Brands11

12. LinkedIn Guide for Brands12
• Corporate information and news
1. First off, include this on the
Company space
2. Add it to the Careers space,
if that’s in line with your
company’s HR and CSR policy
3. Add news to the Group pages
only if it relates to those users
• Third-party content (*curation)
1. In the first instance, include
this on the Group pages. This
is essential if you’re going to
animate conversations between
professionals interested in the
same topic (warning : make sure
it does not exceed 50% of your
editorial content)
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
In order to create a
real LinkedIn ecosystem,
you need to create
synergies between
the Company space,
the Careers spACE and
the Groups. The most
effective way to do
this is to create links
between these spaces,
but at the same time
maintain the particular
identity and purpose
of each page. Do take
into consideration that
users spend less time
on LinkedIn than on
Facebook, therefore it’s
better to concentrate
on the quality versus
quantity where content
is concerned.
3.4 Activate your ecosystem
Focus on the three components of your editorial policy
• Thought leadership
1. Depending on the topic, add
to the relevant themed Groups
so as to encourage discussion
and attract people to the Group
through exclusive content
2. You can also add to the
Company space to support the
corporate vision, and leverage
the discussions and the
dynamism of the group
3. Add to themed Groups that are
similar to the current Group
in terms of either audience of
subject matter
4. Add to the Careers space
only if the content talks to
top management’s vision or
throws fresh light on HR and
management policy
*Curation is the art of selecting, filtering, organizing, indexing and
commenting on content across specific topics

13. LinkedIn Guide for Brands 13
Dell is one of the 10 most-followed
companies on LinkedIn with nearly
420,000 followers. The company
makes the most of this significant
community through a content
management strategy: interesting
articles, company news and an
updated calendar help to turn this
potential audience into an actual
audience.
3.5 Best practices: Dell and Microsoft
Alongside the editorial
approach, the company also engages
in real-time community management
activity: each post is monitored
and as soon as a follower of the
page in question reacts, a company
spokesperson responds. Thanks
to this openness, the company
has established a dialogue which
helps engage people in the long-
term. Moreover, Dell is sharing its
messages and values ​​in a way that
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 800,000 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 ​​of a dynamic company,
looking to the future and open to its
followers’ comments.

14. LinkedIn Guide for Brands14
Help on how to adapt each space according to how it’s used:
Each space that
LinkedIn offers
includes a number
of complementary
features and tools.
While some content, like
news / short updates,
can be found in all
three types of spaces,
other types of content
are less or more
relevant to any given
space.
3.6 A content strategy in line with
different types of usage
g
roups
THECOM
PANY SPACE
THECAR
EERS SPACE
Company News
{TARGETED
APPROACH NEEDED}
Curation
Thought Leadership
{TARGETED
APPROACH NEEDED}
Job Opportunities
{TARGETED
APPROACH NEEDED}
Discussions - -

15. LinkedIn Guide for Brands 15
LinkedIn now gives companies a legitimate way to talk directly to
their target audience…..
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!
3.7 The Company space:
using your audience to generate clicks

16. LinkedIn Guide for Brands16
THIR
D
PARTY GRO
U
P03
Resources
4
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.
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.
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.
4.1 Entry level :
Engage employees
4.2 The importance of involving
high potentials
4.3 The Role of top management
THI
RD
PARTY GR
O
UP03
THI
RD
PARTY GR
O
UP03

17. LinkedIn Guide for Brands 17
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.
Community Manager Ambassadors
• Monitoring
• Editorial planning
• Content publication
• Comments management,
answering members/followers
• Help/redirect members/followers
• Acts as a link between the
company and LinkedIn users
• Alert management should a
sensitive topic come up
• Moderates
• Sectors and topic monitoring
• Content publication, providing links,
posting thought leadership…
• Answering questions/comments on
expert topics
• Engages the company’s employees
4.4 Community managers
and ambassadors
4.5 The role of community animators

18. LinkedIn Guide for Brands18
Measurement
5
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.
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)
5.1 Performance measurement
5.2 Proposed KPIs

19. 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
Stanislas Magniant
stanislas.magniant@
consultants.publicis.fr
Dimitri Granger
dimitri.granger@
consultants.publicis.fr
Tel. : +33 (0)1 44 82 45 00
Follow us
http://www.linkedin.com/company/
MSLgroup
http://www.twitter.com/msl_group
http://www.youtube.com/
mslgroupofficial
http://www.mslgroup.com/
SOCIAL HIVE

20. LinkedIn Guide for Brands20