LinkedIn has been established as a useful professional networking site. Around the world, professionals connect via this network channel. This networking site helps to make the right business connections that help organizations for future collaboration.
With 660 million users around the world, and almost 41% of the millionaires using LinkedIn, it’s not surprising that the majority of the organizations are giving much importance to this networking site for their lead generation process. LinkedIn has gradually become a need for organizations looking for the right connection or lead.
Why Should LinkedIn Be Used For Lead Generation?
As per a study by HubSpot, LinkedIn is effective by 277% for the lead generation process when compared to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
FIn another statistical report, it was stated that, almost 80% of the B2B leads got generated from LinkedIn.
80% is a whopping huge percentage that cannot be overlooked.
The profiles on LinkedIn are also of the top-level decision-makers, who search for the relevant business opportunities. Even 49% of the buyers in the B2B industry try to understand their vendors by looking at the LinkedIn profiles.
When you connect with the right decision-maker convincingly, the right laurels will be bestowed upon you.
Find out 11 different ways in which you can use LinkedIn for better lead generation:
Identifying The Right Decision-Makers To Connect With:
Identifying the right decision-maker is necessary, if you want to generate quality leads via good connections. There are some basic steps which help you to find the right decision-maker.
You can first start by typing the name of that role such as Managing Director with the quotes, or the company name. Later, you can even search all the terms separately while reaching out to the audience.
If you also want to find a person with a specific role in a company, then you can click the people tab on the company page where a complete list of the potential contacts with the relevant job titles will be shown to you.
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Connections with people having the right job titles can propel you to generate the right leads for your business.
Optimizing Your Professional Profile For Engagement:
Optimizing your professional profile is highly required in LinkedIn. Complete the LinkedIn profile, and give it a more genuine and professional look.
Execute some of the actions mentioned below in your LinkedIn profile:
- The title that defines the role and expertise of your company
- A clear and attractive headshot
- A background image with a good resolution highlighting your brand
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In the about us summary, showcase the expertise, accomplishments to have a positive impact on the reader. You can even include the elevator pitch of your professional achievements, including the keywords that will make your profile be discovered while searching for that keyword. It will also give a broader exposure, as the leads can find you organically with the help of your profile only.
Having recommendations in your profile are some of the important pieces which confirm that you are a genuine and useful connection.
Joining Different LinkedIn Groups:
You have to join different LinkedIn groups, for attracting the right prospect. LinkedIn acts as the right platform for the B2B prospects, who have the same interest.
How to join the group & what are some other things you should consider:
There are some things to be considered while joining the group, such as the group size, group rules, and level of engagement.
Group size: Target the groups with a considerable number of people so that there is a large prospect pool for you to target.
Group rules: There are some groups that do not accept the promotional content, so try joining some flexible group.
Level of engagement: The group members have to be active, to start conversations, interact with relevant content, etc.
So, how do you find these groups?
In the search bar, you can find the right group
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Click on the work tab, then click on the groups:
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Next, you have to click discover, where LinkedIn will show a list of the relevant groups. They have been filtered as per the industry.
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So, as the selected group is marketing, you will get groups related to that field:
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You can check each of the groups and read about their group rules. After checking mutual connections, you can go ahead and connect if it fits your goal.
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There are different content that can be posted in this LinkedIn group. It has to be considered that the content posted here should not be too promotional. More knowledge sharing content is preferred on this platform. One can even make it interesting by analyzing and modifying the content aligned with the requirements of the members in the group.
Displaying Dynamic Ads:
Displaying the dynamic ads in LinkedIn is required for targeting the right prospect. Every brand has a success story.
But you have to find your success story by checking which one works best for your campaign. A dynamic ad can help to grab the right attention of the prospect as they blink on the screen with the right message. There are many types of dynamic ads, such as follower ads, content ads, spotlight ads, job ads, among others. When you have the right combination of dynamic ads, it helps to attract the right number and quality leads.
The dynamic ads work in the same way as Google paid search ads work. You have to write the headline, create the destination link, and add the relevant copy. After that, you can bid on the amount you need to pay LinkedIn with every time somebody clicks on the ad.
If you pay $1 to LinkedIn for a single click-through and then it takes 100 clicks for converting a customer, then you have spent $100 for a single customer. If your every product sells for $1000,then investing $100 for generating $1000 is not a bad idea.
The LinkedIn SlideShare:
The LinkedIn SlideShare is one of the popular ways to reach out to B2B prospects.
How do you use the SlideShare?
As a marketer, one has choose the content precisely. The best practice that has to be followed is getting the right mix of content, mainly including the case studies. Getting the best and right number of images wherever needed, can make your SlideShare an out-of-the-box idea for the right attention.
The viewer, while downloading the SlideShare powerpoint, can be asked to fill the form. The lead form or the contact form can even pop up after a specific number of slides.
Checking Out The Individual Profiles:
Checking the individual profiles on LinkedIn can help in future lead generation. You have to know their likes, dislikes, such as which tech show they last visited, or are going to visit in the future. What kind of posts do they like? What type of content did they post? All these help in understanding your prospect so that you can connect with them as per their needs.
The Showcase Company Pages:
The showcase company pages in LinkedIn also acts as the best tactic in attracting the right lead. It helps to increase brand awareness among potential customers. The key metrics to be considered here are engagement, followers, post clicks, and comments.
Make your homepage visually attractive and compelling for getting more number of followers. The below example is one of the great examples of a LinkedIn showcase page:
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The showcase pages help in segmenting the LinkedIn presence for explaining the services, products of a company to a group of audience.
There are some takeaways while creating the showcase page:
- First, determine whether you need the showcase pages. The number of buyer personas you have at the moment.
- How different is it from your persona?
- Do all the buyer persona require different content strategies?
Posting the content regularly on the page: When you regularly post the content on the feed, it helps to give more visibility and the required attention of targeted customers. The process also increases the organic search results with better engagement.
All these procedures can make your company page compelling and attractive for the follower, thus increasing engagement.
The Right Connection With The Profile Visitors:
Every time your profile gets visited, you receive a notification that a person or organization viewed your profile. As an organization, it is necessary to make the right connection with the profile visitors as they might be the right B2B lead for your organization.
A free LinkedIn profile only shows you the 5 recent visitors who have viewed the profile in the past 3 months. Make the first approach and reach out to these visitors. Reach them with a message like:
Thanks for your time to view my profile. If I can be a useful resource for your business anyway, please reach out to me. Meanwhile, we could connect on LinkedIn.
Regards
XYZ
Below is an example of a personalized invitation:
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Almost all the connections on LinkedIn will appreciate this first approach, as LinkedIn is meant to make the right business connections. So, do not hesitate and head out at the right time to outreach your lead.
Using Relevant Hashtags:
Hashtags have become popular in almost all social media platforms. The trend which started from Twitter has spread over to the other social media platforms in a short span. These hashtags are found to be useful for the B2B marketers, it helps to connect with the relevant audience, with higher chances of conversion.
These hashtags help in categorizing the specific keywords, which the user might be using as the search term. As a result, your content might get visible to the user who is unknown and not connected to your LinkedIn connection list.
Going Premium:
For generating the best leads, taking a premium package is the right LinkedIn strategy. It helps to increase the efficiency, and saves your crucial time.
The free account only helps in filtering the searches, while the premium account helps in conducting the right advanced searches. The account also helps you to message the people who are not in your LinkedIn network. This feature can significantly help you to generate the right number of leads for your business.
Staying Active:
You have to be active for generating the right number of leads for your business. Spend a minimum amount of time every day, for example, 20-30 minutes every day for the whole month, so that you can start generating the referrals and prospects from the LinkedIn. This will not only make your process effective but also facilitate in better lead generation.
A consistent and effective approach is the road to success.
Conclusion:
LinkedIn is the right professional networking site. It has even proven to produce the required high-quality B2B leads, bringing the best revenue for the organization. It does not matter with whom you are connected in LinkedIn, instead to whom your connections are connected. These connections can help to reach your leads target at the required time. So, if you are a B2B marketer and still have not adopted this platform, its better late than never.
Make LinkedIn a part of your lead generation strategy and garner the right leads.