Online marketers are aware of some major social media platforms they can use for lead generation. Despite the presence of multiple social media giants like Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn cannot be ignored. If you are not using LinkedIn, you could miss out on some major opportunities to grow your brand and revenue.
Companies in the B2B sector are finally starting to take LinkedIn seriously. But it can be difficult to use it wisely, especially to find prospects, until you use LinkedIn automation tools.
The LinkedIn search engine is not as easy to use as Google’s and requires settings to find the ideal prospects. In this post, you will discover how to put this social network at the service of your prospecting process with different methods! Let us explore how to get business leads from LinkedIn in this post.
LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy
This social network is a gold mine for business. With just a few clicks, you can considerably increase the visibility of your publications and take advantage of its prospecting system. This site is especially appreciated because it allows companies to communicate in B2B and find new customers through digital marketing campaigns. But you still have to use it well.
Many professionals make the mistake of contacting a large number of people by focusing on quantity and not quality. Indeed, the first step in LinkedIn lead generation is to know your targets perfectly. Having specific criteria allows you to target qualified contacts interested in your industry.
Enhance your Linkedin profile
Linkedin is used to find a job, develop your professional network, and boost your reputation. By highlighting your profile, you can increase the number of contacts and customers. A prospect is a contact that you target to launch a new business relationship.
To win new customers and find prospects more easily, you must, above all, stand out from the competition by offering a service and an offer likely to interest them.
Make sure you have a rich profile, always updated and containing all the details of your activity. Your experience and the quality of your CV are also two important points that the prospect consults first.
The Basics
First, opt for a professional but not too formal profile photo; a profile with a well-chosen photo always has more visitors. Also, choose an evocative title related to your activity and containing the strategic keywords of your field.
A complete and active profile
Filling in the main fields is good, but completing your page or profile in detail is better. Why? Because you are seizing an additional opportunity to stand out from the competition and therefore attract a little more attention.
Once your profile or page is complete, you have to make it active and feed it with relevant content requested by your prospects. Write or share quality content, so you will become a legitimate expert in the eyes of your prospects.
This is also valid for your description, which must be brief but effective and contain the essential information that the customer is looking for. For example, what services can you offer to the customer? What added value can you bring to their business? What are your previous experiences and the projects you have already undertaken?
Publish regularly on the platform
If you want to generate leads from LinkedIn consistently, you need to publish quality content regularly. Quality is achieved by addressing topics and issues that concern your prospects. Of course, don’t forget to offer solutions because that’s what all customers are looking for. Quickly learn how to post effectively on LinkedIn to take advantage of this platform.
Finding the right hashtags is one way to attract qualified leads. They must imperatively contain the keywords of your activity. Thus, you will be able to arouse the interest of your contacts and draw their attention to a particular point, which will be useful to you later.
Another key point, consider joining groups and following pages to expand your network. These groups should match your interests. Interacting with customers and being responsive is a great way to retain them.
Know the difference between a lead, a prospect, and a customer
Generating leads on LinkedIn requires you to know the difference between a lead, a prospect, and a customer. A prospect is a potential client who you can approach and convert into a lead. A lead is an interested client whom you can convert into a customer. A customer or client is the one who has purchased your product or service. Select the profiles during the various marketing operations you will carry out on Linkedin and from the reactions to your publications and comments.
Identify your target
Needless to remind you that making content without a target audience is not very interesting. Therefore, you are addressing qualified prospects corresponding to the profile of your ideal target. Lead generation in LinkedIn takes time and the effort to personalize each of your exchanges. Better to focus on quality than quantity.
Define content type
Each social network has its type of content. It is, therefore, necessary to know how to adapt to generate a strong commitment. So make sure your content is engaging, useful, and shared.
On your page, publish or share educational content that will provide elements sought by your prospects.
Instead, use your profile to relay information from your page, but not only. You can also start discussions with your prospects by commenting or sharing their publications. The use of Social Selling is also very popular and effective.
Finally, you also have the possibility of entering into a direct relationship with your prospects. Once your request to add a contact has been validated, you can start a conversation with him. Again, several methods are possible and adapted according to the prospect you have in front of you. This can range from a simple thank you message to sharing content that may interest them to a message presenting what you can bring them.
Integrate your new prospects into your overall strategy. Depending on the interaction with your prospects, you will be able to determine their level of commitment and their stage of maturity.
In most cases, they will not be mature enough for an appointment, even on the phone. In this case, consider integrating these prospects into your overall strategy process, such as your automated scenarios, to move them forward in this buying journey. Sending automated yet relevant content will help you achieve your goal.
LinkedIn will have been the first pillar to attract your lead in this situation. It is then your overall strategy that will take care of the rest to feed the reflection of the latter.
Remember to add each of your LinkedIn prospects to your CRM; it’s very important to create a sound CRM strategy on LinkedIn.
Your profile is optimized, you feel more and more comfortable with the use of LinkedIn, and you would like to move up a gear. Because yes, publishing articles and sharing your expertise is good, but if there is no one in our network who is interested in our content or likely to become a prospect, what’s the point? It is, therefore, high time to enrich your network by adding targeted people.
Directly on Linkedin
You have two options to search (and find) prospects: your existing network and the LinkedIn search bar. However, before you start actively searching LinkedIn, it is essential to identify your target. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:
- What position does she hold?
- What is his industry?
- Where does she work (or any other kind of geo-targeting)?
- What keywords are likely to represent it?
Once you have all the elements in hand to best target your prospects, you can use the means available to seek them out.
From your existing network
It is usually made up of hardcore people who know and like you. These can be family members, friends, former co-workers, etc. Although not necessarily corresponding to your target, these people are essential in that they have their network, among which there may be prospects. And what better way to contact a prospect than by first being introduced by someone who knows you? So take the criteria you previously established and search the network of your acquaintances to find people who match them. We will see a little later how to contact them effectively.
With the LinkedIn search tool
Let’s say that we are trying to contact web editors to offer them a tool created especially for them. Our first instinct is to type “web editor” in the LinkedIn search bar. Unfortunately, we often come across results that lack precision or do not even correspond to our expectations. To make sure you find the right people, those who will be interested in our product. Otherwise, you may also plan to buy likes to get more audience attention.
Use the search options.
Quotation marks: allow you to display results containing the exact terms. Thus, putting quotation marks to “web editor” avoids that we end up with results containing the word “editor” than others containing the word “web,” without them necessarily being linked to our target.
Title: Finds people for whom this is the current position. Ex: Title: “web editor”. This avoids people who have had a similar position but no longer exercise it.
AND: displays results containing terms A and B. Ex: Title: “Web editor” AND “Translator.”
OR: displays results containing terms A or B. Ex: Title: “Web editor” OR “web editor.”
Used well, these elements allow us to target our prospects better and then contact them in the most personalized way possible.
Use the filters at your disposal.
Locations: this allows you to select the geographical location of your prospects.
Relations: this allows you to search for your prospects among your relations of 1st level (your direct network), 2nd level (the network of your network), or 3rd level and more (potentially all subscribers to LinkedIn).
Current Companies: Search for prospects currently working at the selected companies.
With all this, you have plenty to expand your prospects list. However, do not forget that social networks such as LinkedIn are tools that allow you to create bridges between the web and real life. Don’t neglect networking events!
By taking advantage of networking events
It is not, strictly speaking, a means of researching prospects on LinkedIn. On the other hand, we can only strongly advise you to add the prospects you have met in this type of event to your network as soon as possible. Why? Because LinkedIn members can stay connected and informed, advance their careers or work smarter. What do we do with all the business cards collected when we come back from a networking event? Using LinkedIn is that you can add these people to the tool and stay informed of what these people are doing, their projects, etc. More useful than a pile of cards that sits in a drawer and doesn’t connect with your contacts.
Conclusion
Generating leads on LinkedIn is not an easy game. It takes time to find the right prospects, target them, create relevant content, and make connections, leading to conversions for your products or services. So, you need to upgrade your profile and research the target prospects to find the right clients for your business.
