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Increasingly, I'm finding the people that I do business with are on the popular business networking site, LinkedIn. But did you know you can also create a profile for your business on the site?

So, how do you know if your business is listed on LinkedIn? Simple, visit the web site and, rather than searching for people, select from the drop down box "Search for Companies" and type in your company name. If your company is in LinkedIn, the listing should look something like this page for Sundin Associates (my day job).

As you will see, the profile includes some background about the company, the number of employees, links and headlines from our newsroom. If you are a member of Linked In, you can also see all the employees of our agency who have LinkedIn accounts.

The good news is if your business isn't listed, LinkedIn has made it easy (and free) to list your company information. Think of it as a free ad for your business on the information super highway.

The bad news, is any current employee can create, or edit a company profile. And, if an organization is big enough, LinkedIn will create the profile for your organization - without asking for permission or checking the accuracy of the included information. Even more worrisome, LinkedIn may be asking your employees to complete your company's profile, without your knowledge.

Case in point – I have three jobs listed on my LinkedIn profile: Sundin Associates, Manic Mommies and Real Simple. Every time I visit the Company section of LinkedIn, I'm presented with a request to complete the company profile for Real Simple (see picture at right). A profile that, as a freelance blogger, I'm clearly unauthorized to update.

But why does the system ask me to complete the Real Simple profile, and not the Manic Mommies profile? Because Manic Mommies is complete where Real Simple still needs additional information.

And that, a complete company profile, is probably the best way to protect your company from unauthorized updates. (Out of sight, out of mind).

So what should businesses be doing to protect themselves?

First, check to see if you have a company profile on LinkedIn. If you do, make sure it's accurate and that the employees listed are actually employed by your company.

If it's not, create a profile and make sure the information is complete.

Then, regularly check the profile to confirm no unauthorized changes have been made.

Is your business (large or small) on LinkedIn?

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