LinkedIn shows brands their page followers
Remember that time when Sally Field won an oscar and in her acceptance speech she tearfully gushed, “You like me, you really like me!”?’*
It was a moment that even 35 years later we (old people) still remember. Perhaps even the younger folks know about it as it’s become a meme. Her words and the sentiments behind them are felt every day on social media. Whether you’re posting a video of your baby on your own Facebook page, or you are a major brand posting an announcement about a new product that’s been underway for a year, when someone likes your post it feels, well, good.
Being liked gives us a little boost and proves that someone thinks what we’re doing is cool. It’s validation.
For a brand, when a person likes (or follows) your page on social media, it’s even better. They’re not just a fan of one post, they’re telling you, indirectly, that they like you so much that they want to see all the things you post.
In other words, they really REALLY like you.
And that’s not just a little boost, that’s like a shot of adrenaline that can send you skipping around the room. Or, in some cases, have you standing up awkwardly at your desk and exclaiming “you like me, you really like me,” between sobs.
Just a few days ago LinkedIn gave those of us who REALLY like it when our brands are liked (aka followed) a special new treat. We can now see a list of the specific people that FOLLOW OUR BRAND PAGE! What’s more, the list shows their titles and the companies where they work.
While you can not download the list, or message directly to the entire list, it does provide new invaluable insight. Knowing who follows your LinkedIn page is fantastically important because:
- It helps you know if you’re just screaming into a vacuum. If you look at your list of followers and find it’s just friends and family, sure they like you, but they are not your customer.
- It can help you find out if that hot lead at that big company likes you (really, really likes you).
- It can help you determine if the content you are publishing is the right content for the people that follow your brand.
I encourage you to have a look. If you are a page administrator, you can find your brand’s list by:
- Logging into LinkedIn
- Opening your company page (use the search tool or look under the “Me” drop-down)
- Click on the “analytics” sub-menu item ad, choose “Followers” You’ll see your list of followers in the middle of the page.
Regardless of how you use this new information, I bet you’ll find a few interesting followers that will give you ideas for how to harness the information.
I was hoping that the list of Duft Watterson’s followers would include Sally Field. Wouldn’t that be the perfect ending to this post? No such luck, but I was excited to see who is on the list—clients, prospective clients, competitors, friends, family and a few I’m still trying to figure out. All in all, learning who likes us, I mean really REALLY likes us, has given me a fresh perspective on how and what we post.
*A note for trivia fanatics and the Sally Field fan club – we know, that’s not what she really said. She actually said, “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!” But since that’s not what people remember, we went with the words everyone, incorrectly, remembers. Keep reading, I think you’ll see that the point is the same.