Generating leads on LinkedIn may sound a lot harder than it is. While it does take some time to get everything in order if you do it correctly these strategies below should help you generate more leads for your business.
Think of your LinkedIn profile as a digital business card and/or an online resume. It’s no secret it’s the first place many new businesses visit to research a new business contact or to hire someone. If you do it correctly, LinkedIn is a good way to generate leads.
Getting the Profile in Order
When setting up your profile and you are learning how to generate leads on LinkedIn make sure your profile has a quality headshot, strong headline, your experience, education, and good content.
Publish Top Quality Content
Speaking of content once someone has perused your profile to learn more about you, they will most likely search even more to see your recent updates or content posts.
There are basic types of content distribution channels on LinkedIn: updates, images, and posts.
Think strategically about the type of content you want to share on LinkedIn. It should be a good balance of organic content and curated content pertinent to your target audience. These tips will help as you consider how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
Don’t create your LinkedIn profile like Facebook meaning forget about posting funny pictures, odd content, or anything else that will steer visitors from your professional image.
The amount of content you publish and how often you share is also key. In general, post one of the above once per day Monday through Friday.
One of the most powerful features of LinkedIn is its publishing platform that could help as you learn how to generate leads on LinkedIn
You can publish content on LinkedIn Pulse, or you can republish posts from your business blog. Either way, it’s one of the best strategies for generating leads. It allows you to show your expertise to potential customers. This is a good way to convert a customer and show them how knowledgeable you are in your field as you discover how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
Content Marketing Takes Time
While this is true, you won’t find another audience as open as the network on LinkedIn. The platform is hopping with professionals waiting for you to educate them. They are ready and willing to do business which ultimately helps as you learn how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
So, if you publish helpful content, you’re on your way to generating the kind of leads that could turn into lifelong customers.
If you are short on time, you can also repurpose content you’ve already published on your blog.
Advice for Publishing Content on LinkedIn
- Always leave a call to action and a link at the end of each article.
- Publish content readers can implement to experience right away.
- Only create content that will help your ideal prospect.
- Promote your LinkedIn articles on other platforms; and
- Publish evergreen articles that can be used anytime.
Your Name and Profile Photo
Don’t use nicknames, but your real full name and use a profile picture that is a professional headshot as you learn how to generate leads on LinkedIn. If this is not an option don a professional outfit and have someone take a picture with a Smartphone against a plain white wall.
Your Title
LinkedIn calls it a “professional headline,” so when you’re logged in, you can click it and add what you want to say.
For instance: add current job title(s) or any other impressive titles you have. Think about the type of people you’ll be connecting with; for smaller companies, you’ll probably be targeting CEOs so go with the CEO of (your business).
If that’s not accurate, look for a term that describes what you do like CTO, CMO, Founder, or President.
Be Sociable But Not Annoying
LinkedIn is a social network and excellent for ways on how to generate leads on LinkedIn therefore be sociable and connect with others as you work toward expanding your network.
There are several methods to help you be sociable:
- Recognize others.
- Comment on other profiles’
- Endorse others:
- Connect with others; and
- Congratulate others.
Be genuine when you are communicating but never use the default LinkedIn text. Be thoughtful and sincere as form new ways on how to generate leads on LinkedIn
Use Sales Navigator
Like many applications, there are free versions that supply basic access and premium tools. LinkedIn is no exception.
If you are serious about using LinkedIn as a business development tool, Sales Navigator should be on your list. This feature-filled level of access gives you all kinds of ways to find, follow, and connect with important prospects when deciding on how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
Develop a Strategy; Don’t Stray
During your business development or if you are a sales professional looking for leads, make sure you have a strategy. Most common mistakes include publishing lackluster content on an inconsistent basis, using standard LinkedIn text, and having unrealistic expectations.
Remember LinkedIn is simply a tool and what you put into it will impact – good or bad – the results you get from it as you strive on how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
There is no magic wand or shortcut to LinkedIn lead generation. Like anything, it takes time, effort, and energy to get results and grow as you push ways to learn how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
More Tips
Here are some other ways to generate leads on LinkedIn that might help as you work to grow.
Optimize Your Profile for Connecting
This topic may seem like a no-brainer, but your profile is front and center. Typically, you’ll be connecting with people you don’t know and have never connected with. This means you need to make sure your profile is optimized as much as possible, or you could be viewed as a spammer as well as generate bad results in the end while focusing on how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
What Users See When You Request to Connect
To understand the most important parts of your profile, observe what LinkedIn users see. For example, when you send an invitation to another user, they can see it in various ways. In their notifications bar, they will view a mini-preview with your name, title, and the beginning of any message you sent.
Since these people don’t know you, you most likely won’t get any invitations accepted simply for this reason. However, if you’re lucky they will want to learn more about you and this is where and why you need to start optimizing.
Profile Is Key
Assuming you get an answer to your invitation, the person you invited will probably look further at your full profile. Most likely to see if you are legitimate. List all your past jobs and the things you accomplished at each job.
Targeting the Decision-makers
Consider the sales cycle when you’re hoping to pick up tips on how to generate leads on LinkedIn and include the entire process it takes for you to sell a product or a service. i.e., generating a lead, nurturing that lead, and finally making the sale.
For some it's faster than others, regardless of which you fall in terms of the sales game, there is a simple solution to shorten the sales cycle. Find the decision-maker first as most businesses have select people who make the purchasing decisions.
However, the decision-maker is not always the CEO which doesn’t mean you should target CEOs. It depends on what you’re selling, what business needs it will serve, and your goals.
Let’s say you’re a freelance marketing writer looking for new clients. The best people to target when prospecting would be marketing managers or the like. Anyone else isn’t worth the time or effort most likely.
The decision-makers usually have the following positions:
- HR director
- Marketing director
- Sales director
For the most part, these are B2B leads, but the overall ideas don’t alter when you’re targeting individual consumers and looking for how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
There’s usually but not always an individual they have to meet with before making a purchasing decision. Alter your efforts and your messaging to take this into account.
Follow-up with Older Leads
Since lead generation is a numbers game, if you target enough people, it’s thought that eventually, you’ll land a sale and be successful when hoping to learn how to generate leads on LinkedIn. While this is true to a degree, the quality of these leads is important.
Many salespeople collect a ton of leads, initiate contact, and then stop. Then, they restart the process. The issue with this method is there is no follow-up and follow-up is indeed important.
Did you know 80% of sales need five follow-ups, but almost 50% of people only send one? Why? Signals get crossed, a message could be missed or a prospect could get distracted. All of this is true and then some especially on a social media platform.
If you don’t send a follow-up message, you miss out on a potential customer and may not be able to succeed when finding ways on how to generate leads on LinkedIn. You also waste the time and effort it took to generate those leads.
When is the right time to send a follow-up message? Some say three days is good for the first follow-up. But don’t stop there, you should check in with your prospects several times.
If you want you can cut time by being automated with your follow-ups. If you’ve collected email addresses, you can set up an autoresponder series.
Businesses that use marketing automation experience a 451% increase in qualified leads. Don’t hesitate to put lead generation on autopilot with content marketing
Join Groups Where Prospects Belong
There’s no better way to find quality prospects quickly and easily than by LinkedIn groups when discovering how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
You can also create your group, but that takes time as you need to build the group and then keep it updated.
If you want to save time, join an existing group. Select groups relevant to your industry and again have an idea of your ideal prospect. This way, you can target those who will be receptive to your message and, eventually, your product.
When joining groups on LinkedIn consider group size – you want to target those groups with a good number of people so you have a large enough prospect group.
Level of engagement, meaning group members, should be active i.e. interacting with content, starting conversations, etc. Don’t forget group rules as most groups have rules of engagement; many are sterner than others and don’t go for pushing promotional content.
Finding These Groups
Conduct a group search via LinkedIn as it already is one of the best platforms for lead generation as well as individual ways as you navigate the waters on how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
If you know how to work it, you could gain some quality prospects ready to become paying customers.
But as worthwhile as finding ways on how to generate leads on LinkedIn can be it is also a big task that takes time. If you don’t use the correct strategies to target the appropriate people, it is easy to spend a lot of time and not seeing results.
Hopefully, with these strategies, and tips, you’ll attract more leads in no time to grow your business and succeed as you maneuver ways on how to generate leads on LinkedIn.
