LinkedIn claims there are almost 2.5 million companies that have company pages on their site, yet when I ask the question (which I did to eight different audiences this past week), "Does your company have a LinkedIn company page," I get a positive response from about 25 percent of the audience. 
 
I just don't get it, so I am going to stop trying to figure out how the math works (or doesn't work) and share ten reasons why I feel you should take advantage of this great LinkedIn feature.
   
LinkedIn Company Pages: The Top 10 Reasons You've Gotta Have One
 
1.  It's free!
 
2.  It will probably show up on the first page of a Google search for your company.
 
3.  It is a great way to showcase your products, services, and your most important asset -- your valued employees.company people
 
4.  With it you can send messages (status updates) to people (followers) who have given you permission to tell them about your new products and services, events, awards, honors, and, of course, special offers and promotions. (That is good old-fashioned marketing, my friends, if you haven't noticed, to a very targeted audience.)
 
5.  Encouraging all your employees to have individual profiles and attach them to your company page helps your company page ranking and LinkedIn audience reach.
 
6.  Your competitors probably already have one. Go ahead and check. With almost 2.5 million LinkedIn company pages, chances are they might have beat you to the punch.
 
7.  There are separate tabs for careers (you pay), products and services (free), and analytics (free), with some pretty cool specialization and customization options available.
 
8.  You can request, receive, and proudly display customer recommendations of your products and services.
 
9.  Your latest blog post and Twitter updates appear on the Overview tab.
 
10. They are easy to set up, but you will want to be very purposeful about what you say and how you say it, no different than the rest of your marketing strategy.  
 
If you need help either getting started with your LinkedIn company page or taking it to the next level, attend my class specifically designed to help companies with this and lots of other company-related opportunities on LinkedIn. "Unlocking LinkedIn's Corporate Marketing Potential" will be held on July 17th from 3:00-5:00pm at my office in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Get more details and register here.