Warum Business Netzwerke wichtig sind für Unternehmen

Nowadays, social media is an important and necessary marketing tool for companies. In order to make a product or service known in the first place and successfully offer it to potential customers, you can rarely do without social networks. In contrast to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like, the two largest business networks – XING and LinkedIn – focus primarily on business-to-business (B2B) communication. These platforms are all about business and professional networking. In this article, we explain why it is so important to be findable as a company on the social web and how you can use the popular business giants to your advantage.

Strengthening corporate presence

In the B2B sector, a company page on XING and/or LinkedIn definitely makes sense. In addition to the visibility of your own company, specialist topics can be specifically positioned in the news section of the platforms and important and relevant content can be published for the company. The visibility of your own company can be quickly increased through regular interaction and maintenance of your company profile without any major effort. You can also comment on, like or share posts from other users via XING and LinkedIn. In this way, you give your company a face and at the same time inform your prospects and potential customers about new products and topics relevant to the industry. Participating in and/or creating groups can also be helpful for professional exchange, but also for positioning your own company in the relevant business environment. This not only shows commitment and presence, but also keeps you up to date with developments in the respective industry.

Maintain contacts, find employees

XING and LinkedIn allow you to reach different target groups and quickly establish and maintain suitable contacts. This is done in a serious and professional setting. Many XING and LinkedIn users not only use the two business networks when they are looking for a job themselves, but also to keep up to date with their industry in general and to find out about relevant topics and companies. Nowadays, more and more members are also taking advantage of the opportunity to subscribe to suitable newsletters. For companies, profiles on the two business networks are also a great way to search for potential employees themselves and to position their own company as an employer brand – a form of personnel marketing or recruitment that first developed through social networks and has now even become established as a common method.

Generate leads and define target groups

In addition to maintaining contacts and a general presence, both networks are also ideal for analyzing target groups, as they provide valuable information about who is interested in the company. Who visits the company profile? Which links and videos are shared and/or viewed particularly often? And which content, which topic appeals to the members? This can be found out quickly via the business platforms and used sensibly for the company in a further step.

Conclusion and tips

Establishing a presence on XING and LinkedIn for a company is not difficult in principle. However, it is important to have an underlying strategy and smart objectives and to maintain the profile regularly. The functions and possibilities offered by both platforms are versatile and are constantly expanding. You should therefore always keep an eye out for fundamental innovations as well as paid features and ads that might be of interest to your own company. Very important: Despite the numerous offers, as a company you should always set yourself (at least) one overarching goal: e.g. increasing brand awareness or recruiting.