LinkedIn has become a powerful tool for businesses and professionals to connect, network, and generate leads. LinkedIn provides a unique platform for B2B marketing and lead generation but simply having a LinkedIn presence is not enough to generate leads.
Increase the probability of success by having well-planned and executed LinkedIn strategies to effectively connect with your target audience, build brand awareness, and generate quality leads.
Unleash LinkedIn's capabilities and provide actionable tips for creating one that works.
1. Optimize Your Profile Ensure that your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and optimized for lead generation. This means showcasing your skills, expertise, and achievements to attract potential leads.
Use a professional profile picture and background image.
Write a catchy headline that reflects your area of expertise.
Customize your LinkedIn URL to make it more memorable and professional.
Write a summary that highlights your skills and experience.
Add relevant work experience, education, and certifications.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to optimize your profile.
Why this is important
First impressions matter and in a digital world, you can establish trust quickly within a few scrolls of your profile. In my opinion, a professional photo reflects your level of commitment to yourself and signals to prospects that you are capable. Using a low quality cropped photo from a Christmas party from 5 years ago signals (to me anyway) you don't care enough. Almost all information your prospect is looking for can be found by skimming your profile so the more relevant information you can fit, the higher the chances of being considered to solve that prospect's problem.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Understand who your target audience is and what they are looking for on LinkedIn. This will help you create content and messaging that resonates with them.
Define your ideal customer persona.
Use LinkedIn's search filters to find people who fit your ideal customer persona.
Research your target audience's pain points and interests.
Tutorial: Read LinkedIn's guide on how to define your target audience.
Why this is important
While it is ideal to create content for everyone, resources are limited. Once you can identify the decision maker, the champion, and the gatekeeper, content creation becomes clear. The gatekeeper's immediate problem may differ from the decision maker; but knowing which asset to serve each group increases the likelihood of brand awareness and recall.
3. Share Valuable Content:
Share valuable and relevant content on your LinkedIn profile and company page. This could be in the form of articles, videos, infographics, or industry news.
Create or curate valuable and relevant content.
Use visual elements to make your content more engaging.
Share content regularly, but not too frequently.
Use relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to create and share content on the platform.
Why this is important
Valuable content generates engagement and earns free views. No one cares enough about your product update to send it to their decision makers unless it can clearly show it solves a problem. Does your blog offer actionable tips the end user can implement? Does it show how it will save the company time, money, or both? Will it make the person sharing it look good among their peers? If yes, then publish and promote it. If not, It's just throwing money away.
4. Engage With Your Network:
Engage with your target audience by commenting and liking their posts. This will help build relationships and establish credibility.
Like and comment on your connections' posts.
Share other people's content and tag them.
Respond to messages and comments promptly.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to engage with your network.
Why this is important
Current customers who are also active on LinkedIn can be the biggest supporters of your company. A company LinkedIn business page engaging with an individual positions itself as a company that cares. A social media manager simply liking posts, tagging others, and showing appreciation is free brand awareness and reach.
5. Join LinkedIn Groups
Join industry-specific LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions. This is a great way to connect with like-minded individuals and potential customers and help establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
Search for groups related to your industry or niche.
Join groups that your target audience is a part of.
Participate in discussions and share valuable content.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to join and participate in LinkedIn groups.
Why this is important
LinkedIn groups offer a plethora of knowledge but it does come with a bit of noise. For me, I generally encourage in-house product marketers to help out with LinkedIn groups as they are experts in the product being sold and can understand the end user. LinkedIn groups are not meant to be advertising channels for your company but instead a source of information, establish connections, and when it makes sense, posting a solution to problems that your company specializes in.
6. Offer Free Resources
Offer free resources such as e-books or white papers to entice potential leads. This will not only help establish your authority but also capture their contact information.
Create valuable resources such as e-books or white papers.
Promote your resources on your LinkedIn profile and company page.
Use LinkedIn lead generation forms to capture leads' information.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to create lead generation forms.
Why this is important
Free resources such as trading a work email for thought leadership content allows your businesses to collect leads at all hours of the day. Help your sales teams with contact leads from a valuable piece of content. This is especially true when running LinkedIn Ads as campaigns can not be all brand awareness.
7. Leverage LinkedIn Ads: Leverage LinkedIn's advertising platform to target your ideal audience. This could be in the form of sponsored content or targeted ads.
Choose the type of ad you want to run, such as sponsored content or sponsored InMail.
Define your target audience and set your budget.
Create engaging ad content that reflects your brand and offering.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to create and run ads on the platform.
Why this is important
LinkedIn is in business to make money and they are following the Facebook blueprint. You can not possibly reach your entire audience organically and it is incredibly difficult as well as unpredictable to create viral content. A quick and scaleable solution is allocating marketing budget to serve ads to people who fit your ICP.
8. Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Use LinkedIn's Sales Navigator to find and connect with potential leads. This tool allows you to target specific industries, job titles, and locations.
Define your ideal customer persona.
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find leads that match your criteria.
Connect with potential leads and start a conversation.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to use Sales Navigator.
Why this is important
LinkedIn's Sales Navigator is a wonderful tool for your sales teams. They can reach out to their targeted user in their territory. As for the marketing side, it is a nice to have but there are other ways of reaching prospects without spending too much time digging through individual profiles.
9. Connect With Influencers: Connect with influencers in your industry to increase your visibility and credibility. This could lead to potential leads and partnerships.
Identify influencers in your industry or niche.
Connect with them and share their content.
Engage with them in discussions and offer value.
Tutorial: Read LinkedIn's guide on how to connect with influencers.
Why this is important
Influencers in your industry have followers that are interested in that space. Of those followers, there are opportunities to get in front of the gatekeepers, champions, and decision makers. Although not as laser focused compared to LinkedIn ads, influencers push products to their followers who may welcome solutions as they consume content.
10. Personalize Your Outreach: When reaching out to potential leads, personalize your outreach message. Mention something specific about their profile or company to make a connection.
Research your potential leads' profiles and company pages.
Personalize your outreach message to reflect their interests and pain points.
Offer value and start a conversation.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to personalize your outreach.
Why this is important
Another strategy for sales teams is personalizing outreach for potential leads. As a prerequisite to the next point below, implementing a more personalized approach can lead to higher conversion as messaging is tailored to a specific person. By knowing your potential lead, sales people can better gauge which type of marketing content will work as a first message.
11. Use LinkedIn Messaging: Use LinkedIn's messaging feature to follow up with potential leads and build relationships.
Follow up with potential leads using LinkedIn messaging.
Offer value and start a conversation.
Avoid being spammy or pushy.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to use messaging.
Why this is important
By having LinkedIn's Sales Navigator, members have messaging feature which allows a certain number of credits to message users outside your network. Once research has been done, sending the prospect a customized message increases the chances for a booked meeting.
12. Host Webinars: Host webinars on LinkedIn to share your expertise and attract potential leads. This is a great way to capture contact information and establish credibility.
Choose a topic that reflects your area of expertise.
Promote your webinar on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Use LinkedIn lead generation forms to capture attendees' information.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to host a successful webinar.
Why this is important
Create an event on LinkedIn and add budget to promote it to your target audience. Webinars are great to capture new and upselling business to a targeted audience. Even if users forget to attend, simply by them registering allows sales teams a lead to pursue.
13. Use LinkedIn Live: Use LinkedIn Live to share your expertise and attract potential leads. This is a great way to build relationships and establish credibility.
Choose a topic that reflects your area of expertise.
Promote your LinkedIn Live event on your LinkedIn profile and company page.
Use LinkedIn lead generation forms to capture attendees' information.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to use LinkedIn Live.
Why this is important
Live streaming is another strategy similar to hosting a webinar but less polished and more interactive. Using the same strategy as above, even if users are unable to attend the event, if they provided an email upon registration, sales teams can reach out!
14. Offer Free Trials: Offer free trials of your product or service to entice potential leads. This will give them a taste of what you offer and increase the chances of conversion.
Offer a free consultation related to your area of expertise.
Promote your consultation on your LinkedIn profile and company page.
Use LinkedIn lead generation forms to capture potential leads' information.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to offer consultations.
Why this is important
For subscription based solutions, if possible, offering a freemium version can lead to a conversion later on. LinkedIn ads can deliver your solutions via lead generation, website conversion ads, or a general brand awareness campaign to drive users to free access to your solution for a trial period in exchange for a company email.
15. Attend LinkedIn Events
Attend LinkedIn events such as virtual conferences and meetups to connect with potential leads in real-time.
Search for relevant events on LinkedIn.
Attend events and network with other attendees.
Share your experiences and promote your brand.
Tutorial: Follow LinkedIn's guide on how to find and attend events.
Why this is important
Like attending webinars and groups, other companies host events on their platform. Events is a great channel to network with other individuals or at the least, get insights on updates in your industry.
16. Collaborate With Other Businesses: Collaborate with other businesses in your industry to attract potential leads. This could be in the form of a joint webinar or content collaboration.
Find users in your industry or niche who have a similar target audience.
Collaborate with them on a project or offer a joint service.
Share each other's content and tag each other.
Tutorial: Read LinkedIn's guide on how to collaborate with other LinkedIn users.
Why this is important
If your marketing team has someone in partnerships, coordinating campaigns and promoting through LinkedIn is great to get in front of each others' audience without competition.
Overall, LinkedIn is a powerful platform for digital marketing lead generation, but it requires consistent effort and a clear strategy. By implementing these 16 tactics and exploring the tutorials provided, you can increase your chances of generating quality leads and generate growth.
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