You’re probably already familiar with some of the most important social media platforms for lead generation as a marketer. You’ve probably already heard how important Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are, and if you use them all as part of your lead generation plan, you might assume you’re good to go.
Yet, if you’re a B2B company and you’re not utilizing LinkedIn, you may be losing out on a significant chance to increase your brand recognition and revenue. According to surveys, LinkedIn is the best sponsored and organic social channel for B2B companies, and 82% of B2B marketers say they have had the most success there.
These numbers make sense, especially when we take platform-specific demographics into account. The typical Instagram user scrolls through their feed, comments on friends’ pictures, watches the Stories of their favorite celebrities, and occasionally utilizes the app to look for and buy things.
In contrast, the typical LinkedIn user visits the website, particularly for content that is oriented toward professionals. You should approach them where they are as they are already looking for information to expand their company.
“Naturally, it’s simpler said than done. The work of lead generation on LinkedIn can seem difficult if you don’t have a clear plan in mind – Guy Sheetrit”, CEO and Founder of OTT SEO. For more information on how to use LinkedIn for lead generation, read the rest of this article or take a look at the complete interview series here.
LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy
To review, lead generation is the collective term for all of the methods you do to draw in potential clients. Creating leads is crucial since they can be developed into paying customers who use your products and increase sales.
Professional decision-makers with purchasing power make up the majority of LinkedIn’s readership, which enables you to speak directly to prospective clients who might end up becoming paying clients. We’ll go over how to use LinkedIn to generate leads in the section below.
1. Make sure your executives have a strong LinkedIn presence.
Knowing where to focus your early efforts on LinkedIn might be challenging when you first start out. Should you immediately start uploading information to your company’s feed after creating an appealing LinkedIn Page? To recruit new talent, should you start by publicizing all of your job openings?
Sheetrit offers a different approach: “We certainly want to support the expansion of small enterprises that aspire to expand and have developed a playbook that enables them to accomplish so. The strategy always begins with a look at the individual LinkedIn accounts of the company’s employees, and in particular, its executives.”
Take into account the executives at your firm and their existing LinkedIn profiles. Could they post more frequently to their feeds or participate more meaningfully in LinkedIn groups in your industry? Very likely, your executives may be taking additional steps to increase their LinkedIn following.
Consider reading Sallie Krawcheck’s profile, she is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest.
Krawcheck makes smart use of LinkedIn, promoting her own investing company’s content there while also favoriting or sharing other pertinent, female-targeted financial content. In the end, Krawcheck uses LinkedIn to establish her personal brand and guide her followers to insightful articles about investment and female entrepreneurs. Your executives ought to be acting similarly, ideally.
2. Create a powerful LinkedIn Page for your business.
It’s time to build an impressive page once you’ve made sure that your own executives have a significant LinkedIn presence.
Make sure your page is active, has thought-provoking content, and participates in existing LinkedIn conversations.
Sheetrit observes: “The next stage is to consider your company’s presence on LinkedIn after you’ve developed a strategy for your leaders and their online presence. We have a product called LinkedIn Pages that has shown to be highly effective for companies looking to make a name for themselves in the global professional community.”
He goes on, “Thus, if you visit a decent LinkedIn Page, you’ll get details about the business’s activities as well as some current thought leadership. In addition to written content, there will be video content, executive comments, and frequent information that has been carefully selected from other sources. It’s not necessary for it to come only from an internal source or the marketing department.”
3. Post Relevant Content and Updates.
Consider providing a range of content types, including videos, to make sure your LinkedIn page and profile are solid. You may present yourself as an informed source and build relevance and credibility with potential consumers by showcasing this industry-relevant content.
You’ll start to build relationships with like-minded experts that match the profile of your ideal client after you’re known as an intelligent, valued source. If you post frequently, you’ll establish yourself as a regular on their page, and familiarity facilitates starting new conversations.
If you think that the LinkedIn friends you have are business people in your sector, they may be able to introduce your content to new audiences. A new lead’s feed may display a post you’ve published if one of your connections clicks “Like” on it. This lead will notice that your shared connection liked your post, attesting to your authority and credibility, and may be prompted to send a connect request as a result.
Follow your page analytics to determine what resonates with them the most and generate content in response to that information to make sure you’re producing stuff that people want to see.
4. Join LinkedIn Groups Your Clients and Customers are in.
At its foundation, LinkedIn is a social platform just like any other. Users can form groups based on interests related to their field, just like on Facebook, and you should join these groups to interact with other professionals.
You can share updates and articles to promote debates on pertinent subjects or just promote the services you provide. Your future clients can notice what you say and start to perceive you as a source of insightful information if you’ve joined groups appropriately.
Groups are another tool you may use to understand your audience better. Identify prevalent industry pain points and how leads want these issues solved by listening to your active members. Use this knowledge to your advantage and develop hyper-targeted value propositions that address your customers’ demands when you make contact.
5. To make sure your content reaches the people you want it to, use sponsored products.
Small businesses with limited marketing resources can be hesitant to invest in paid LinkedIn ads. We have a limited marketing budget, and we want to make the best use of it, they frequently ask. What should we do with it? Spending money on the platform would be worthwhile given that LinkedIn is the leading sponsored and organic channel for B2B enterprises.
We have a number of commercial solutions into which you can then transition that enable you to integrate information into the LinkedIn feed, he continues. You now have a group of fans or members who are specifically interested in you. There are some incredibly rich ways to convert that engagement into actual behavior when people start to see your material in the feed itself.
Although LinkedIn has a native ad management service, you can also build, plan, and manage ad campaigns on LinkedIn using HubSpot’s ad management platform. Also, you’ll have access to excellent data that detail ad performance and assist you in tailoring your strategy to your target audience’s requirements.
6. Make sure your marketing and sales strategies are well-aligned.
You’re probably all too aware of the recent change in consumer purchasing habits. Customers now conduct preliminary web research and frequently use marketing materials to guide their purchasing decisions before even contacting a sales representative.
“What you’re seeing now is consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about learning about products and services that they need and moving far into the sales process before they reach out, raise their hands, and indicate that they need help,” says Sheetrit of the change.
“It’s becoming critical for marketing to actually address the demands of customers who are researching and exploring, and then effortlessly handing that off to salespeople so sales have context on the path customers have already walked,” the author continues.
On the other hand, marketers naturally have a bigger impact on closing a purchase. Sheetrit said to me: “Consider the situation where you are trying to negotiate a contract for procurement. Traditionally, a salesperson would handle that, but today’s astute marketers understand that it depends on where you are in the sales cycle.”
Read Also: Four Ways Businesses Waste Their LinkedIn Profile Potential
7. Use your connections with present clients and customers.
The networking aspect of LinkedIn is its key selling point, so you should take advantage of it for lead generation.
On LinkedIn, make relationships with your present clients and customers and find out about their industry connections because they can be important to you as well. Ask for referrals, and references, or just find out how to get in touch with someone they know who fits your customer profile if you have connections with existing clients.
Such solicitations are less intrusive, invasive, and sales than cold contacting someone after discovering their phone number online because LinkedIn is a professional network. Leads can view your profile, accept your request to connect, and view your shared connection as a seal of approval.
8. Continually be present on the platform.
LinkedIn requires consistency, just like all of your other social media platforms do. You are not establishing yourself as a consistent presence with your contacts if you upload an article once a week and then log out. Also, you should stay in constant contact with your leads. It’s not professional to leave a conversation in the middle of it and does the opposite of increasing their desire to conduct business with you.
As previously noted, use platform analytics to discover your audience’s interests and the times when your posts are most popular in order to develop a strategy that will keep you continually active and noticeable on LinkedIn.
You Can Attract Your Perfect Clients With LinkedIn.
In the end, you’re probably missing out on important opportunities to expand your business if you aren’t utilizing LinkedIn or aren’t using it frequently enough.
Whether you run a little firm or a major corporation, Sheetrit said, “We’ve really tried to go through the complete spectrum of what you would care about, from developing a brand to generating leads — and we designed playbooks that address you where you are, and enable you to reach where you’re going.”
Access a series of unique interviews with Guy Sheetrit and other advertising thought leaders on LinkedIn, Google, and Facebook.