I’ve written on this blog before about the importance of being present on LinkedIn for those of us who work in public administration, such as in this article written in 2015 with 8 advantages of LinkedIn for civil servants.
If you asked me which social network I would choose right now and I had to choose just one, it would definitely be LinkedIn.
A few weeks ago, also on this blog, I referred to the transformation social media has been undergoing since its inception as social media platforms, becoming what it is today: entertainment platforms that seek to capture our attention and then sell it to companies and advertisers.
LinkedIn has always stood out as a social network focused on the professional world, and it is precisely this commitment that has allowed it to consolidate.
If we look at the data provided by the platform itself, at the beginning of 2024 LinkedIn had more than 1 billion users worldwide, 18 million of whom were in Spain.
Here are some other facts about LinkedIn that will give you a better idea of the platform:
- LinkedIn was founded in late 2002, so it will be 22 years old this year.
- It has more than 19,000 employees spread across 36 offices worldwide.
- Every minute, 140 job postings are posted on LinkedIn, and 6 people are hired through the platform.
- 700,000 companies use LinkedIn to post their job openings.
- 45% of LinkedIn profiles are those of senior executives.
- 30% of engagement on company page posts comes from their own staff.
And as a curious fact, the LinkedIn profile with the most followers is Bill Gates’s with 35 million (I admit that I follow him and read his newsletter “Gates Notes”), while the company with the most followers is Amazon with 31 million followers.
As I mentioned in my book on “Personal Branding in Public Administration,” LinkedIn is a network where we, as professionals, must be present, even if our sector is public administration.
But what happens in the case of public administrations as an organization?
A few weeks ago, someone asked me this question on LinkedIn and suggested that I write a blog post about it.
And said and done.
Here are 10 reasons why your public administration should have a LinkedIn company page.
1. It is the “natural” platform for companies, brands and organizations
When social media was born, it was with the intention of connecting people, hence the name social media. However, over time, companies and brands realized that they were the ideal place to make themselves known, as they were the space “where” people were.
The fact that businesses operate and have different objectives than individuals has led to the gradual introduction of two types of profiles on all social networks: personal profiles, and company profiles or pages.
Different platforms developed different features and tools for these company pages so they could leverage their presence on these social networks.
In the case of LinkedIn, the growth of company pages was much slower because the companies themselves didn’t quite know how to focus their presence on this platform. They didn’t see it as the best platform to boost their image or gain more sales or clients; it was seen more as a place to find new employees.
However, it has gradually become clear that this platform is one of the best showcases for companies, as reflected in the more than 58 million company pages on LinkedIn.
For public administrations, being on LinkedIn can be an opportunity to showcase the work you do with a much more serious and professional image than other platforms allow.
2. Talent acquisition
We’ve been talking about attracting talent in public administrations for some time now, and I propose that there’s no better way to do it than where the largest number of professions are concentrated.
As we mentioned earlier, more than 18 million people in Spain have a LinkedIn profile, so having a public administration page will allow us to give greater visibility to our vacancies, whether they’re public job postings, service commissions, job boards, etc., not only because it can reach interested people directly, but also because it can reach their contacts.
LinkedIn permite publicar ofertas de empleo de forma gratuita con algunas restricciones pero que puede ser una opción interesante para ver cómo funciona el sistema de LinkedIn Talent Solutions.
3. Assistance for public procurement
When a public administration wants to make a contract, it publishes it on the Public Procurement Platform and on the contractor’s profile on the website. But why not also publish it on a platform like LinkedIn, where there are more than 200,000 pages of Spanish companies?
And not only that, there are also many professionals working in companies who, even if they don’t have a profile on this social network, can be transmitters of that information, helping to spread it.
The same can be used for public administrations to locate companies. How many times have we searched directly for companies online? Well, searching through LinkedIn allows us to access much more information about the company, its work, its contacts, and the people who work there.
4. Share content
If there’s one thing we, as public administrations, are good at, it’s generating quality content. I think it’s one of our strengths, and one we don’t know how to leverage, since much of that content isn’t shared with the society it could be of great benefit to.
LinkedIn has a section called SlideShare that allows you to upload presentations, documents, and infographics, and it contains a repository of more than 17 million documents.
Many professionals use this tool and search for information in this repository, so it’s a good opportunity to share the information and content we generate in a professional environment where we can find people more interested in them than if we did so on Instagram or Facebook.
As a note, the most successful documents are those in PDF format.
5. Offer training
Another tool developed by LinkedIn is a learning platform called LinkedIn Learning, where companies and professionals offer both free and paid courses.
Currently, we can find more than 21,000 courses on business, technology, marketing, design, and more.
In recent years, public administrations have created online training courses, sometimes open to the public, available on their platforms. Sharing them through this Learning platform would also allow for a wider audience.
Once the work is done, the goal is to achieve the widest possible dissemination.
6. Be able to conduct surveys
LinkedIn company pages allow you to conduct surveys that can help you gather information on various issues, and they can also be done in a very simple way.
We can share this survey on other platforms and networks, helping to spread the word.
7. Create a blog or newsletter
Back in 2016, I wrote an article with 12 advantages of having a blog for a public administration that you can read here https://amalialopezacera.com/12-ventajas-blog-administracion-publica/and in 2020 I discussed the advantages of having a newsletter https://amalialopezacera.com/ventajas-de-las-newsletters-o-boletines-en-las-administraciones-publicas/
The blog continues to be a valuable tool for sharing information of interest to the public in a format that doesn’t fit elsewhere on our website.
For example, if a new law is passed, we publish it in the official gazette and we can post it on our website for dissemination. But if we also write an article with the highlights of this regulation, we will undoubtedly help it reach a wider audience.
If your public administration doesn’t have a blog and you’re thinking about starting one but haven’t decided, LinkedIn allows you to write articles from your company page, using an interface very similar to that of WordPress.
If you have a blog, you can also choose to publish articles in this section, noting at the end that the original post is on your administration’s blog. This will help redirect traffic to your website, where the original blog is hosted.
In 2023, more than 130,000 articles were published on LinkedIn.
The same goes for the newsletter. If your public administration doesn’t have a newsletter, you can create one on LinkedIn. You can also take advantage of the tools available to help you disseminate it, such as inviting your Page subscribers to subscribe or automatically adding the newsletter to your Company Page so members can easily find it.
There are currently more than 63,000 newsletters on LinkedIn.
8. Help spread the word about the events and activities we organize.
LinkedIn also allows us to “create events” that we can use to help spread the word about the events we organize, whether they be conferences, congresses, or meetings, both online and in-person.
Events can be broadcast live on LinkedIn Live, although this requires using external broadcasting tools like Stream Yard or providing a link to the stream you’re hosting.
Other very interesting features include adding a registration form to the event and including speakers with their LinkedIn profiles.
9. Internal communication tool
At the beginning of this article, it was noted that 30% of engagement on posts on company pages comes from the people who work there. So, what better way to do this than by using LinkedIn to develop the internal communication efforts that we in public administrations so desperately need.
Having a LinkedIn page for our public administration will allow us, first of all, to allow people who work in our administration to include this information on their profiles and link it to our page, which will immediately give us greater visibility. By doing this, we turn these people into “brand ambassadors,” something we already discussed in this article: https://amalialopezacera.com/los-embajadores-de-marca-en-las-administraciones-publicas/
LinkedIn has also implemented numerous features that enhance the role that a company’s employees can play on its website, something that public administrations can also take advantage of.
For example, we can recommend posts from the page so that they receive notifications directly if we find them of particular interest. We can also create internal groups with only staff from that department. For example, we can create a hiring group with staff from that department, which could serve as a way to share information, ask questions, or serve as an internal communication channel. It’s certainly much better than any WhatsApp group.
10. Helps improve the institutional image
Having a presence on social networks such as X, Facebook, Instagram, or even TikTok helps to make public the public administration known to a large audience, but the image given through LinkedIn can be of higher quality and professionalism given the characteristics of the platform itself.
For example, a city council report on local tourist apartments may be of varying interest to the public, but posting it on LinkedIn will likely be more popular, as this type of information will be of greater interest to companies or professionals dedicated to tourism, real estate investment, or construction.
Furthermore, the online environment itself is much more “friendly.” We don’t have haters, trolls, or anonymous profiles that intrude on the conversation, so the conversations and debates are of higher quality.
How many Spanish public administrations have a LinkedIn profile?
Well, it’s difficult to know. I did some searches by name and found 2,900 company pages in Spain with the word “town hall”; 806 with “town hall”; 109 with “provincial council”; 19 with “public administration”; and 76 with “ministry.” But I encourage you to do your own searches to see how these administrations are managing their company pages.
In this article, I wanted to highlight some of the advantages that public administrations can gain from having company pages on LinkedIn, especially considering the growth this network has experienced in recent years.
In the case of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency page https://www.linkedin.com/company/27160801/admin/feed/posts/ in just 3 years we have gone from having barely 100 followers to currently having more than 1,900, and our publications are generating a high level of engagement and visits to the website.
Podía señalar alguna herramienta o funcionalidad más de utilidad para las administraciones públicas, cómo crear páginas específicas para departamentos como turismo o promoción económica ligados a la página general, o la posibilidad de programar tus publicaciones.
Finally, I offer a piece of advice: opening a new profile should be integrated into any administration’s communications strategy. It should be clear what content will be published, how often, and who will be responsible for managing it. To help you do this, you may find the Guide to Creating a Communications Plan for a Public Administration very useful.
Greetings, and I encourage you to contact me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amalialopezacera/
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Discover how to boost your career in public administration
The world of public administration can be both exciting and challenging. To help you reach your full potential and have a greater impact, here are a number of resources that will be helpful.
- 📋 Guide to developing a communication plan in public administration: Do you need to boost communication in your city council or public administration? The “Guide to developing a communication plan in public administration” is your perfect ally. Discover effective strategies to convey your messages clearly and effectively.
- 🚀 Personal Branding in Public Administration: Do you want to stand out in your career? The “Personal Branding in Public Administration” program will teach you how to build your own brand and create new professional opportunities. Boost your presence and leave a lasting impression.
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- 📱 WhatsApp Channel. I’ve opened a WhatsApp channel where I publish blog posts and also share information about conferences, events, tips, books, and news related to social media, digital communication, artificial intelligence, and public administration.
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