Generating Leads with LinkedIn

Social media marketing can help you identify your customers on the social networks where they access information. Finding them, getting them to notice you, to follow you, and then to transact business with you takes time and thoughtfully applied tactics.

Here are five ways to enhance how you’re using LinkedIn to cultivate warmer leads and potentially generate more sales.

1. Leverage your profile and company page

Optimize and utilize your professional profile and company page on LinkedIn to lay a strong foundation for connecting with customers and prospects. Make sure your presence on LinkedIn is complete with clear descriptions and other key information as well as eye-catching graphics and even videos. Get even more out of your account by being active which includes:

• Commenting, liking, and sharing posts by your connections
• Publishing regular posts to the LinkedIn feed
• Joining and participating in LinkedIn groups
• Publishing articles which are like blog posts

Be prepared to generate and post relevant content to attract attention and showcase your brand.

2. Deep dive with advanced search and referrals for better connections

LinkedIn has a variety of options to narrow down your searches and identify potential customers. You can search by job title, location, or industry. Once you identify prospects, seek out an introduction or warm referral from one of your contacts who may be connected to them.

Two features that can help you make more fruitful connections on LinkedIn are the InMail feature and the "Ask for an Introduction" feature. InMail is a premium feature that lets you send a message to someone who is not one of your LinkedIn connections.

Asking for an introduction to someone who is not one of your connections is a free feature that shows you which of your connections are connected to the person you are trying to reach. You can select which of your connections to approach with a request for an introduction. Personal referrals are warmer leads that are more likely to turn into sales.

3. Up your reputation in LinkedIn Groups

Today’s networking isn’t limited to chamber of commerce meetings and industry trade shows. Online groups and forums can be the perfect virtual places to showcase your expertise and connect with potential customers.

The key to online networking in public spaces is to get familiar with the tone and content shared in them then offering relevant information to fellow members. This can be in the form of sharing news items, offering general tips or advice, or responding thoughtfully to other posts.

If and when appropriate, invite other members to be first-degree connections with you on LinkedIn to continue conversations and begin building new relationships that can turn into sales.

4. Pay for LinkedIn social ads

If you have a budget to pay for ads, LinkedIn ads could help boost your lead generation. Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn offers a self-serve ad management tool and provides a variety of options for types of ads given your business goals. Those options include brand awareness, engagement, website conversions, and, more specifically, lead generation.

Select the lead generation ad option and you’ll see an option for Lead Gen Forms. Using this feature, you can collect quality leads with a pre-filled lead form that populates a person’s information so they can easily respond to the ad. Lead Gen Forms are available for display and message ads as well as sponsored content on LinkedIn.

5. Invest in LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator

Another fee-based service on LinkedIn is their Sales Navigator product. Paying for a subscription gives you access to tools such as Lead Builder, Saved Leads, Relationship Explorer, Relationship Map, Account Hub, InMail, and Advanced Search.

Sales Navigator is an investment with prices starting at $99 per month or $959.88 per year for their Core level. Eligible nonprofits can subscribe to Sales Navigator at a 75% discount.

Relationship Explorer recommends leads based on persona and relationship signals and the Relationship Map creates an org chart that alerts you to key leads. The system also recommends potential leads based on your saved leads, mutual connections, and buyer interest.

Social media tools and paid ads aside, applying some "old fashioned" networking techniques on LinkedIn can also generate leads including regular follow ups and check ins with connections and making introductions between your connections to generate good will. When it comes to lead generation, don’t limit yourself to finding new customers. Use LinkedIn to also identify vendors and strategic partners, both of whom can be sources of warm leads to new customers.