LinkedIn Groups, Company Pages Finally Arrive On Hootsuite

Social media dashboard Hootsuite has added LinkedIn Company Pages and Groups, the company announced.

We look forward to seeing how leading companies like HP connect with their customers and communicate their brand message on LinkedIn, said Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes. With Hootsuite's social media and management system, HP can now actively engage and manage conversations with their 350K+ member audience from one simple tool.

On Hootsuite, users can post updates simultaneously to their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, WordPress, Foursquare, and other social sites. LinkedIn's Company Pages and Groups are two big additions to Hootsuite, given its main user base is social media marketers.

The new Hootsuite features allow brands, publishers, and social media managers to send company status updates through LinkedIn and start group discussions around the content. Companies can also leverage LinkedIn for marketing and recruiting purposes by posting job openings and sharing interesting news tidbits.

PepsiCo, a Hootsuite Enterprise client, believes sharing company information through Hootsuite's upgraded LinkedIn functionality is an excellent way to attract job candidates.

PepsiCo is proud to be an early adopter of technologies that support engagement with our online community of consumers, employees and job seekers, said Chris Hoyt, talent engagement and marketing leader at PepsiCo. Hootsuite's enhanced LinkedIn integration serves as yet another powerful tool for sharing about the people, culture and opportunities at PepsiCo, inviting dialogue and developing meaningful connections.

Additionally, Hootsuite users will also see more information displayed in pop-ups within Hootsuite, making it easier to see more about your contacts, like their education or their past jobs.

Since filing its IPO in January, LinkedIn has been gaining more ground as a social platform. In fact, many publishers and brands find that LinkedIn sends them more traffic than other social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Since the IPO announcement, LinkedIn has rolled out some cool new products, including a revamp of its mobile app, and the homepage news feed LinkedIn Today.

LinkedIn plans to do more work with Hootsuite. Now that Hootsuite is one of four charter members in LinkedIn's new Certified Developer Program, which is a network for developers to help marketers, the two companies will be working much more together to create ways for agencies and companies to connect with their audiences through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Groups integration became available Thursday, but users have to apply to Hootsuite's private beta program in order to access the upcoming LinkedIn Company Pages function.

LinkedIn made $243 million in revenue in 2010. When the company went public in May, LinkedIn was worth $8.9 billion.