The long awaited merger of LinkedIn University pages and Company pages is finally here. According to a December 12 email from LinkedIn’s product management team, you can now preview the changes to your newly refreshed University Page. LinkedIn made the official announcement back in September and subsequently transitioned all existing University pages to read-only.

Over the next few weeks, LinkedIn will start rolling out the pages to LinkedIn members. Here are the need-to-know facts and insights for higher education marketers:

What’s new with LinkedIn University pages?

• You can post sponsored content from your University Page.
  Up until now, you could only sponsor content from your company page. This is big news for schools struggling with a centralized presence on LinkedIn.
• Expanded analytics dashboard with more actionable insights.
  Centralized content coupled with enhanced analytics will help you better measure the impact of your marketing and improve ROI. Note: this change is “coming soon” according to LinkedIn.
  
• A refreshed look and easier to manage content.
  Dedicated administrative experience, which includes in-line editing and more robust content/data options (i.e., General School Information, Students & faculty, and Financial Aid statistics) on the page.
• LinkedIn will automatically merge your Company page into your University page.
  You’ll have one piece of real estate to share between alumni, faculty, marketing and job recruitment. The good news is they will also merge all followers and content. So basically, your new merged page is a Company page with the look, feel and functionality of a University page.
• Only admins will be able to post updates to the new University page.
  This used to be open to members including students, alumni and staff.
• Updated tools for alumni engagement and outreach.
  A version of the Alumni Tool (allowing you to Find Alumni by fields, locations, companies, etc.) will stay, the notable Alumni section has been removed.
• You will no longer be able to edit your old University Page.

Get your team prepared for the change.

The key to success will be communication and organization between the various stakeholders at your institution. This is a good time to reposition your program/school/department to get the exposure you want and have a seamless transition. If you don’t know already, you’ll want to find out who the primary admin is for your current University page. You can also reach out to your LinkedIn Account Executive or find more on information in the Help Center.

Converge Consulting is always available to help you strategize. Contact me with questions on the transition and best practices regarding LinkedIn and all of your digital marketing needs.

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