Business owners looking to take further advantage of the LinkedIn platform can now add a “follow company” button to their website, allowing users to take advantage of one-click following capabilities.
Announced on LinkedIn’s blog on Monday the button works much in the same way as the Facebook and Twitter follow buttons, allowing users to receive automatic updates from within their LinkedIn feeds.
So far the follow button has been placed on pages for AT&T, American Express and Starbucks and several other top brands. Users will be able to simply click the button if already logged in at which point they will follow the brand. Non-logged in users will be asked to first provide their LinkedIn information.
LinkedIn over the last year has been busily adding new sharing components to its network of more than 150 million members. For example users can share articles from various websites directly in their LinkedIn feed and the company offers a “recommend” button which many brands are already using.
According to LinkedIn the new follow brand button:
“Marks the first phase of LinkedIn’s follower ecosystem strategy that will unfold over the coming weeks.”
According to LinkedIn’s own research 70% of the company’s members follow or would follow a company on LinkedIn. More than half of those people who say they would follow a brand also point out that they would expect company brand insights to be included in their feeds.
