How to Generate Leads Using Linkedin

Linkedin is full of high-quality leads

There are plenty of ways to do B2B lead generation online, but by far the best platform to use must be Linkedin.

LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals. It’s designed to help you make connections with people in your field, find new opportunities and stay up-to-date on the latest industry news.

But even if you’re not looking for a job or an opportunity, LinkedIn has plenty of tools that can help business owners with marketing and help to generate laser-targeted leads with the aim of increasing sales and profits.

In this post you’ll learn how to:

– Get more exposure for your company or product line with LinkedIn advertising.

– Build a professional network of contacts to establish credibility, connect with influencers and increase sales leads.

– Measure the ROI from using Linkedin professionally.

You will also learn how to use these tools to generate leads on Linkedin for both personal and professional success!

Linkedin Lead Generation Strategies:

1. Create a LinkedIn account

2. Find people to connect with in your industry using Linkedin’s search tools

3. Use Linked Paid Search Tools

4. Use This Proven Step-by-Step Connection Process

5. Build your professional network of contacts by following these simple steps

6. Be Active on Linkedin

7. Use Linkedin advertising for increased exposure and ROI

8. Measure the success of Linkedin by tracking how many sales leads you aquire each month!

Let’s dig into each of these to ensure you generate qualified leads every single time.

1. Create your LinkedIn account

If you’re not already on LinkedIn it’s time to get started.

Sign up for an account here: linkedin.com/signup.

Once your account is set up, confirm that your profile is complete by adding information like your education, employment history and skill set as well as uploading your photo and completing your profile.

It’s important to take the time to fill out all of these fields because it shows potential clients, employers or sales contacts that you are a credible source of information.

Your online resume needs to be carefully crafted in order to reflect well on yourself and your business

Follow these steps to complete your profile:

• Add a professional background image (1584 px x 396 px)
• Add a professional profile photo (400 px x 400 px)
• First Name & Last Name
• Headline (this is your elevator pitch)
• Current Position
• Education
• Your current Location
• All you Online Profiles, Websites, Phone Nr etc
• The About section (write this as a sales letter for your offer AND add a landing page URL to generate quality leads)
• Experience & Education (as much as possible)
• All you Skills * Endorsements (Ask others on Linkedin to boost this for you)
• And Lastly, get as many recommendations from others on Linkedin as possible!

There are other things you can do to make your profile even better, but this is the absolute minimum to start with if you want to start generating leads.

2. Find people to connect with in your industry using Linkedin’s search tools

While there are many ways to use Linkedin to generate leads, the easiest is simply searching for decision-makers who work in your industry.

You can do this by either doing a full name search or by specifying keywords.

Once you find someone, be sure to click on their name and view their LinkedIn profile which will include detailed information like what company they work for, where they live, what skills they have and more!

From here you’ll have two options:

A) Request connection

B) Contact them directly

If you want to get on their radar and make an impression as a potential service provider you may want to consider requesting a connection first before sending them messages.

This way you indirectly “ask” them for permission to be contacted.

When you use strategy as a digital marketing tool to generate b2b leads, there’s no need to spam your connections, so by making this simple request first you can be sure that the person on the other end is aware of your intent and will actually consider responding to any messages or calls from you in the future.

3. Use Linked Paid Search Tools for B2B Lead Generation

Linkedin, like most social networks, offers a few paid options to connect with potential clients.

The best, paid tool in my opinion is Linkedin Sales Navigator.

With Linkedin Sales Navigator you get advanced search functionality, send personalized messages to new connections and connect with more people per day.

As a rule, Linkedin limits your maximum daily connections to between 80 and 100.

When subscribing to this Linkedin service all your daily connection requests will have a personalized message PLUS you can send 20 InMail messages per month.

You will also have a highly sophisticated search tool that includes filters such as

• Industry,
• Geography,
• Seniority Level,
• Years in Position,
• Company Name,
• Company Headcount
• and more…

This ensures you only connect with the correct person and do not waste your daily connections on people that are not your ideal client.

4. Use This Proven Step-by-Step Connection Process

What is the best process to follow to connect with potential customers on Linkedin Navigator (a paid feature you can subscribe to):

• Connect with the Linked Profile with a personalized message, something like: Hi {firstname}, I want to congratulate you for your success as the owner of {business name} and for the amazing work that you and your company are doing. I love connecting with successful individuals in {industry name}. Please accept my connection request. Thanks {yourname}
• Wait for the connection request to be accepted, do NOT message the profile before this happens
• After the connections request is accepted, send a direct message, something like the following: Thank you for accepting my connection request {firstname}. We help {your elevator pitch here, similar to your Linkedin profile headline}. If your business needs any similar types of services, feel free to reach out. Regards {firstname}
• Wait 24 hours before the net response. If the profile responds, follow the conversation and see how you can mutually provide value to each other’s business.
• If no response is received after 24 hours, send the following message: Hi {firstname}, we have helped dozens/hundreds/thousands of businesses in {industry name} achieve {ultimate results} and would love to do the same for your business. Here is a link to some of our customer successes {link to a website URL with your customer testimonials. This URL will need a call to action to schedule a call with YOU}. Talk to you soon.
• Again, wait 24 hours before any follow-up is done. If a response is received, follow the conversation as before.
• If no response is received after 24 hours, send the following message: I’m just following up {firstname}. If you need {ultimate result} in your business and want to see how we can help, feel free to schedule a short call in my calendar at a time that suits your schedule here: {your online calendar link}. I’m looking forward to our discussions.

You can keep going with this process, but I would say after the above steps it is safe to say that the profile is not ready to commit to a meet just yet.

These messages will land in their LinkedIn inbox, so they will reach out later if they are ready.

As you can see this is quite a manual process so it is best to follow this Linkedin connection process properly with 20 connections a day, instead of doing it badly with 80 connections a day!

5. Build your professional network of contacts

As the marketer for your business, you’re always looking to build new relationships and expand your network. But it’s not easy these days because we are all so busy.

I suggest that you use the Linkedin platform to connect with as many industry-specific people as you can.

The more industry-specific connections you have, the better your chances of generating B2B leads and potential customers.

BUT it’s not just about connecting with other people, it’s also about providing value on the platform.

6. Be Active on Linkedin

It’s not enough to just have a profile and connect with prospects. You have to be active to be seen by potential customers.

• Post value regularly
• Write articles and provide valuable content on Linkedin
• Congratulate others on their achievements
• ACCEPT relevant connections from others
• Join a group with your target audience and engage
• Direct people to your website or blog by posting key summaries with a call to action

Not only will people respond faster to connections requests of active Linkedin account, but Linkedin will also award you with more reach and a better quality news feed.

7. Use Linkedin’s advertising for increased exposure and ROI

Linkedin ads offer an increased level of service when it comes to lead generation, which is what you should be looking for.

You’ll find that cost per Linkedin lead (from Linkedin paid ads) is higher, but so is the ROI.

On Linkedin, you will be targeting much better quality audiences (compared to social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram) and your conversion from B2B Lead generation to Sales should be much higher.

For this reason, Linkedin advertising has seen a lot of success for companies with very little experience in marketing their services online.

It is more expensive though and you will need a much bigger marketing budget to start off with compared to other social media platforms.

8. Measure the success of Linkedin by tracking how many sales leads are generated each month!

Linkedin can be a great place to find potential customers and make valuable sales leads.

One way you could measure success is by tracking the number of sales leads that have resulted from your Linkedin account or ads.

This can be done by creating a separate calendar scheduling event for Linkedin only.

That way you know that all the scheduled appointment in this calendar event is from Linkedin.

Also make sure you use UTM parameters in all the lines you post on Linkedin (example: utm_source=linkedin) and you will be able to track your traffic and conversions in Google Analytics based on the source of the traffic.

A Final Word on Using Linkedin To Generate Leads

Linkedin is a great place to find your ideal customer, but it can be hard to get them to engage with you.

The problem with Linkedin is that there are just so many features and options that it can be overwhelming when trying to figure out how to use the platform effectively.

As marketers of our own businesses we have to keep in mind that prospects will only do business with companies that they Know, Like AND Trust.

In order to build up that status, you have to provide valuable content to your audience and prospects at all times.

In Summary

B2B lead generation on Linkedin is not difficult, but it does need a Marketing Strategy to be successful.

Qualified prospects are everywhere to be found on the Linkedin platform, you just need to target the correct audience with relevant marketing and provide valuable digital content.

If you’re looking for a stable way to generate business leads, Linkedin is the perfect platform.

Unlike other social media platforms, where your friends or family are the people you need to reach, Linkedin is a site that makes it easy for marketers like yourself to create a professional network of contacts in your industry.

The more targeted connections you have on LinkedIn, the better chance you will have to generate B2B leads and turning them into potential customers.