In today’s fast-paced digital world, social media platforms have become indispensable for businesses. LinkedIn, specifically designed for professionals and organizations, is a powerful tool for building networks, generating leads, and enhancing brand visibility. One of LinkedIn’s most valuable features for businesses is the LinkedIn widget. By embedding this widget into your website, you can drive engagement, showcase your professional network, and increase your business’s reach.
This guide will walk you through how to effectively use the LinkedIn widget to grow your business, focusing on how it can boost your online presence and marketing efforts.
1. What Is the LinkedIn Widget?
Understanding the Basics
The LinkedIn widget for website is a simple yet powerful feature that allows you to embed LinkedIn content directly onto your website or blog. It can take the form of a LinkedIn profile, company page, or even specific posts. This widget enables you to create a seamless connection between your website visitors and your LinkedIn network, providing a more interactive and engaging user experience.
Types of LinkedIn Widgets:
- LinkedIn Profile Widget: Embed LinkedIn profile, encouraging website visitors to connect with you directly.
- LinkedIn Company Page Widget: Showcases your business’s LinkedIn company page, driving visitors to follow and engage with your brand.
- LinkedIn Share Button: Enables users to share your website content directly to their LinkedIn network.
- LinkedIn Posts Widget: Embeds specific posts from your LinkedIn profile or company page into your site.
2. Why Use the LinkedIn Widget for Your Business?
Benefits of Integration
The LinkedIn widget offers several advantages for businesses, particularly small businesses and digital marketers looking to expand their online presence. By embedding this widget on your website, you create multiple points of contact between your audience and your LinkedIn page, encouraging more interaction and engagement.
Here’s how it can benefit your business:
- Increases Visibility: By having your LinkedIn profile or company page embedded on your website, you expose visitors to your professional network and expertise.
- Boosts Credibility: Having a professional LinkedIn presence on your site adds legitimacy and trustworthiness to your brand.
- Improves Engagement: The interactive nature of LinkedIn widgets encourages users to follow, connect, or share your content, increasing overall engagement.
- Enhances Lead Generation: LinkedIn is a hub for professionals, and embedding your profile or company page can attract high-quality leads relevant to your industry.
- Streamlines Social Media Strategy: The widget creates a seamless bridge between your website and social media efforts, enabling visitors to explore your business from different angles.
3. How to Add the LinkedIn Widget to Your Website
A Simple Method for Beginners
Now that you understand the benefits of the LinkedIn widget, let’s go over the steps to integrate it into your website. It’s a straightforward process that anyone can follow, even if you have little technical experience. You can also use a social media aggregator. This is a tool that collects and displays content from multiple social media platforms, including LinkedIn, in a visually appealing and interactive format on your website. Social media aggregators make it easier to manage and showcase multiple LinkedIn posts, company updates, and other social media feeds all in one place.
Here’s how you can embed the LinkedIn widget using a social media aggregator:
Step 1: Choose a Social Media Aggregator
Select a reliable social media aggregator that supports LinkedIn, such as Taggbox, Tagembed, or EmbedSocial. These tools allow you to aggregate content from various social media accounts, including LinkedIn profiles and company pages.
Step 2: Connect Your LinkedIn Account
Once you’ve chosen an aggregator, sign up and connect your LinkedIn profile or company page to the platform. This step usually involves logging into your LinkedIn account and granting permission for the aggregator to access your profile or page.
Step 3: Customize the LinkedIn Feed
Most social media aggregators allow you to customize how the LinkedIn content is displayed. You can choose to:
- Display individual LinkedIn posts.
- Showcase your entire LinkedIn company page feed.
- Set filters for specific types of content (e.g., only display posts with images or videos).
You can also adjust the layout, design, and style of the feed to match your website’s branding. Some aggregators even provide options to moderate content, ensuring only the most relevant posts are displayed.
Step 4: Generate the Embed Code
After customizing the feed, the social media aggregator will generate an embed code for your LinkedIn widget. This code is typically HTML or JavaScript, making it compatible with most website builders.
Step 5: Add the Code to Your Website
Log into your website builder or CMS, navigate to the section where you want to display the LinkedIn feed, and paste the embed code into the HTML editor. You can add the widget to various areas of your site, such as your homepage, blog, or contact page, depending on where it will have the most impact.
Step 6: Publish and Monitor
After embedding the LinkedIn feed, publish the changes to your website. Regularly monitor the widget to ensure it is functioning correctly and displaying fresh content from your LinkedIn page. Aggregators automatically update the feed as you post new content on LinkedIn, so there’s no need for manual updates.
4. Best Practices for Using the LinkedIn Widget
Maximizing Its Impact
Adding the LinkedIn widget to your website is just the beginning. To truly leverage its potential, you need to follow best practices that align with your business goals.
Keep It Updated
Ensure that the LinkedIn profile or company page you are displaying is always up to date. Regularly post updates, share articles, and interact with your LinkedIn network to keep the content fresh and engaging.
Place It Strategically
The placement of the LinkedIn widget is crucial. Ideally, you want to add it to high-traffic areas on your website, such as the homepage, blog section, or contact page. You can also include it in the sidebar or footer, ensuring it’s visible but not intrusive.
Customize the Widget
Whenever possible, customize the look and feel of the widget to match your website’s design. Most website builders and CMS platforms allow you to tweak the widget’s size, color, and layout to ensure it blends seamlessly with your branding.
Encourage Interaction
Encourage visitors to interact with your LinkedIn widget by including a call-to-action (CTA). For example, if you’re embedding a company page, add text encouraging users to “Follow Us on LinkedIn for Updates.” Calls-to-action can significantly improve user engagement.
5. How the LinkedIn Widget Can Help Your Marketing Strategy
Enhancing Lead Generation and Brand Awareness
Integrating the LinkedIn widget into your website can significantly boost your overall marketing efforts. LinkedIn is a powerful platform for B2B marketing, and embedding its widget on your website helps bridge the gap between your business’s digital presence and potential customers.
Drive Website Traffic to LinkedIn
By embedding the widget, you can drive your website visitors to follow your LinkedIn page, increasing your follower count and boosting engagement. This also leads to higher brand visibility, as more people are exposed to your professional network.
Generate Quality Leads
LinkedIn is home to professionals looking to connect with industry leaders and businesses. By integrating the LinkedIn widget, you increase the likelihood of generating high-quality leads from website visitors who are interested in your industry.
Build Trust and Authority
A well-maintained LinkedIn presence showcased on your website establishes trust and authority. Visitors are more likely to engage with businesses that demonstrate credibility through a professional and active LinkedIn page.
Conclusion
The LinkedIn widget is an invaluable tool for businesses looking to grow their online presence, attract leads, and enhance brand credibility. By embedding LinkedIn widgets onto your website, you create a direct line of communication between your business and the vast LinkedIn network of professionals. Whether you’re showcasing your personal profile, company page, or encouraging social sharing, the LinkedIn widget can play a key role in driving business growth.