Whether your business is self employed or has several employees, and whatever products and services you offer you must definitely have a “Company Page” on Linkedin, not just a personal profile. Not convinced? The following reasons will!

A majority of people around you are on Linkedin (One person creates a LinkedIn login every second).
If someone “Googles” your name there is a big chance he will find your Linkedin profile or company page at the top of the results.
Linkedin is free, and it will give your business more exposure through sharing content, networking, referrals to potential clients from (trusted) common connections, and mentorship.
Your profile is private whereas your company page is public, everyone can read its content, including the search engines (good for SEO then).
Linkedin provides additional insights and statistics on the content posted on a company page (number of impressions, clicks, interactions) that are not available on personal profiles.
People can “tag” or mention your company, and you will get a notification (and monitor your business reputation)
You can “pin” your most important content at the top of your page’s updates.
Convinced now? Let’s go!
Create an impactful company page

First, if you do not have one yet (really??), create your personal profile on Linkedin (and update your education, work experience, summary…). Then create your company page (click on the “Work” button at the top right). Upload your logo and a cover image, in line with your visual identity (size for the image 1538x768) *
* Please note Linkedin displays an ugly grey overlay on the company pages cover image, it visually works better with darker colors (avoid white background!)
Link your profile with your page (in your work experience).
Write the “About us” section making sure you have used your main relevant keywords in the description of your company page (the same keywords you have identified for your website SEO).
Add a list of specialities (products or services) your business is offering (up to 20 possible).
Now get Linkedin followers on company page

Linkedin is not like Facebook, you can’t invite all your contacts to follow your company page in a simple click. You will have to really invest time and energy (and creativity) to grow your audience. The following tips will help you:
Share and tag your company page in a post on your personal profile (using the @ + name of company) and invite your connections to follow it and to share your post with their own connections.
Send a private message to each of your contacts (with the URL/link) and invite them to follow you company page. For more impact, customise your message for your most influential contacts, they will be more keen to share with their own network.
Promote your Company Page by linking to it from your emails (signature), newsletters, website, and other marketing channels.
Regularly post new, relevant and interesting content on your company page: links to your blog articles, photos of your products, press articles, Company news, special offers, tips, job offers… You can connect your company page to your Hootsuite dashboard for multiposting.
Do not hesitate to tag (with the @ again) your most influencial or relevant connections when you post an update.
Join groups related to your industry or target market, engage and contribute to these groups’ discussions.
Follow other companies and businesses of interest on Linkedin (from your industry or potential clients).
To further increase your audience and generate more leads, you can use Linkedin advertising features such as Sponsored Ads, Sponsored Inmail, Text Ads, Dynamic Ads. The pricing per click, impression or send will adapt to any budget.
If you have several products/services which target different audiences, you can create “showcase pages” and link them to your company page or website (just like different sections of a website). You will then be able to post relevant content and build engagement with each section of your target market.
As a small business entrepreneur your company page will certainly help you to grow your business and your brand reputation. But don’t neglect you personal profile either. Use relevant keywords in your job and experience descriptions, carefully select your profile picture, endorse your connections so they endorse you in return, request recommendations from them. And encourage your employees to do the same.