Professional LinkedIn Lead Generation Tips

Professional LinkedIn Lead Generation Tips

LinkedIn has proven to be the #1 platform for B2B leads today. With 400+ million members and growing LinkedIn is worth investing your time and resources.

LinkedIn lead generation takes a strategy and long term investment and if done correctly and consistently can provide unlimited leads. Here are steps to successfully using LinkedIn.

“LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher (277%) than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%)” – HubSpot

Define and Create LinkedIn Strategy

Most average users typically shoot from the hip when it comes to strategy. It is imperative if you are using LinkedIn lead generation as a prospecting tool you have a clear direction on who you want to connect with.  Ask how you will build the relationship once you connect coupled with a content strategy.

Update Your Professional Profile with these LinkedIn Lead Generation Tips

I know you have heard this countless times, but I want to point out just how important this is perhaps in a different way. LinkedIn is a platform where you visit profiles and people visit yours. The first thing people see is your name, headline and picture.  People judge you on first impressions like it or not, so getting this step right is imperative to the next steps in LinkedIn lead generation. Keep in mind when you add your title, be sure you consider the person you want to attract so when they view you name and title they will be willing to accept a connection request. If you put John Jones, Sales Rep – the person only knows you probably want to sell them something. In this example you see how developing a compelling title is so much more interesting: Jane Doe, Senior Brand Manager -Delivering Innovative Solutions to Global Brands

Having a current, professional photo should go without saying. We may be repeating ourselves where stressing significant LinkedIn lead generation tips that you will benefit most from. Perception matters – always dress for the people who you want to work with. If you deal with corporate C level folks, than wearing a suit would probably be what they expect. Know your ideal market and you will know how to show up.

Be aware that over 50% of LinkedIn users now use the platform on Mobile devices so consider how your name, headline and title appear. Consider adding your contact information at the top of your summary section because on mobile that shows on the top of your profile (see image below) will someone accept your invitation?

LinkedIn Lead Generation Tips

A strong personal brand stroy on LinkedIn is a proven source for successful B2B and B2C lead generation.

If people in fact find your name, picture& headline interesting than they will read more and the next place they will head is your SUMMARY which you should place directly under your header information. You want to develop your personal brand story building in your credibility, who you serve, what differentiates you and a call to action. I have written about this extensively and you can read more in LinkedIn Profile Tips to Boost Your Professional Reputation.

1. Actively Gain Recommendations for your LinkedIn Profile

Our world is based on the opinions of others, we all have made a decision based on someone else’s experience and that hold true if we are buying something, going to a restaurant or hiring someone for a job. We are being checked out for credibility. What that means for you is to gain and keep updating your recommendations.

A note about endorsements because people often ask me the difference, anyone can endorse you. It is a proverbial “high five” that someone gives you for a skill you have. Do they matter – yes. But remember a recommendation holds more weight in terms of someone actually writing a testimonial for a service you provided.

2. Know Who’s Viewed Your Profile

Start with the “Who’s viewed your profile” section which is the most popular feature on LinkedIn. Study who is viewing your profile, what industry do they represent, what is their title etc. Start to track, learn and update as needed to attract your prospects and have them want to accept your invitations. This is where a premium LinkedIn account is so valuable because you can see the people who have viewed your profile over the past 90 days, a free account only shows you the most recent 5 people who have viewed your profile over the past 90 days.

Be proactive with those people who view your profile. There is no harm in reaching out to them with a warm message something like this:

Thanks for taking the time to view my profile. If there’s any way I can be a helpful resource, please do get back in touch. Meanwhile, it would be my pleasure to connect with you on LinkedIn. Sincerely,

3. Use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search Feature

Learn how to use the advanced search feature to leverage LinkedIn lead generation. By narrowing your search parameters of your ideal persona will garner better results. This starts with your clear outline of your ideal buyer persona. If you are not clear on who your ideal prospect are, then who are you searching for? Remember, not everyone is your customer, so hone in on who is ideal.

According to Adele Revella of the Buyer Persona Institute, “Marketers typically gather facts about their buyers by talking to a sales rep, meeting with a product expert or conducting online research.

It shouldn’t be surprising that these sources don’t have the information that marketers really need. Your sales reps will readily admit that buyers mislead or even lie to them about how they compare and choose one solution over another. Moreover, even your product experts are unlikely to be buyer experts because they interact mostly with current customers plus a select few of your largest prospects. And mining online data leads to buyer personas that are little more than job descriptions with high-level pain points.”

Most people don’t think of LinkedIn as being such a powerful search engine that it is. When you are in the advanced mode you can refine your search by keyword, title, company, city, state and school. You have access to all of these with a free account. With a premium account you get additional filters such as years of experience, function, seniority level, interested in, company size and when they joined LinkedIn.

Incorporating Boolean search parameters also works in the advanced search bar. Boolean search has been used my many savvy internet users for many years. Boolean searches rely on specific modifiers to help you find results more.

Closely related to the types of profiles you need to find. You can build search strings in the keywords, Title, Name and Company fields. Click Here to download the FREE Boolean Search Tip Sheet

4. Developing Content for Your Ideal Buyer Persona

“Buyer persona development is a positive trend that, when done correctly, helps content marketers become a strategic asset and deliver a real competitive advantage to their organizations.” – Adele Revella, Buyer Persona Institute

Being an active participant on LinkedIn means coming out from behind your lurker glasses and engaging with your network. A good strategy includes sharing content that you know from your research is information your ideal customer would be interested in. This could be blog articles from your blog and other authorities, white papers, podcasts, video and webinars are all types of content.

5. Invite Prospects to Your Network

Now that you have a list of targeted prospects you will want to invite them to your network. Always send a friendly, personalized invitation. Seek out a warm introductions first from someone already in your network who is connected to the person you want to meet.  When warm introductions are not possible, when you send an invitation, make every effort to mention something from their profile. Here is an example:

Hello Jim, While doing some research on LinkedIn I came across your profile and I see we share some mutual connections. I also see we share the same Alma Mater – go Gophers! It would be a pleasure to have you in my network. Sincerely,

Note: On LinkedIn’s invitation form you will be asked how you know the individual you are inviting. If you do not have their email address I suggest you simply click the radio button next to Friend. The individual does not know that you have checked this option.

6. Nurture Your New LinkedIn Connections

When your new connection accepts your invitation, don’t let the communication stop there. Send an immediate welcome message. Resist the temptation to sell something right away – your message could include a link to a relevant article or comment on something you think the contact would enjoy. You could also send a simple message such as this example:

Hi John, thanks for accepting my invitation. I look forward to associating with you in the future. I hope to be a valued connection in your network. Sincerely,

Success is in the follow-up, so be committed to reach back out to your new connection several weeks later. I recommend if you created a spread sheet while you were compiling leads you add a column of follow-ups. If you use LinkedIn’s CRM tool or another CRM, be sure to schedule follow-up contacts and schedule time to talk and meet your new prospects.

7. Learn Why Relationships Will Drive Revenue

You may have heard the term “Social Selling” – it is more than a buzz word. LinkedIn social selling is the new revolution in marketing and sales where you want to align your tactics of prospecting with the buying journey and add value to the buyer. Social selling is NOT about selling, rather it is about connecting and serving others in a deeper, more meaningful way. To understand that concept it is important to view how the buying process has changed. Today’s buyers regardless if that is B2B or B2C are socially driven, they are searching online for a product or service well before contacting you. The decision you want to pay attention to is “will you be the one they buy from?” Those who understand and implement social selling will have a competitive advantage!

8. Engage with your network

Means adding meaningful comments to something someone in your network has shared, sending follow-up messages with nurturing messages, this is a step in the social selling process. Do not be tempted to click the ‘like’ button under a status update or a post because that really is not meaningful to the person who took the time to post. Example of a nurturing message:

Hi Jim, I came across and article today in Forbes and I thought you might find it interesting particularly where it refers to the increase buyer purchasing (their product). Hope all is well, JoAnne

Sharing a LinkedIn update

Increases your visibility with your network. Focus your sharing on topics and content that you want to be known for, your expertise people expect to learn from you. Be consistent and show up frequently. Ideally that would be once per day during business hours.

9. Create a LinkedIn company page

Build your brand with a company page. Followers of your company page will be shown your posts in their newsfeed giving you the ability to share your company information building your credibility and authority in your niche. The challenge is inviting people to follow your page. Continue to post articles of real value giving people a reason to follow your page. Include great images, stories about your company and employees along with the value of your products and services.

10. Be active in Existing Groups

Generating great leads can come from active participation in groups where your ideal prospects are members. If the group is active with great dialogue you will want to participate with your knowledge.   When you are engaging and providing good discussion naturally members will want to know who you are and they will invite you to connect. If you remain consistent you will be noticed!

11. Then Start Your Own LinkedIn Group

Starting your own group has been a great lead generation strategy – in the past. With the October 2015 changes it has become more difficult to attract people to join a group unless the group owner/manager has a large data base of quality people to invite.  If you have created and continue to create a quality list of prospects, this can be a viable lead generation strategy.

LinkedIn groups are now private won’t be searchable. Second, managing a great group takes a lot of effort and monitoring thus a long-term commitment is required. Ask yourself if you are up for that challenge and the bigger picture of knowing the goal of the group.  To learn more about starting a LinkedIn group.

12. Try LinkedIn Targeting Ads

LinkedIn allows you to hyper-target your buyer so knowing all the components of your buyer persona is critical to getting results from paid advertising.

Advertising is a lead generation strategy worth allocating a budget for and testing your ad content. It does require close monitoring and can garner results. I expect LinkedIn will continue to offer refined targeting options to advertisers.

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If you benefited from our Professional LinkedIn Lead Generation Tips, we welcome hearing from you. LinkedIn for lead generation is a strategy than will leverage your competitive advantage. Learn more about how I can help you with a One-to-One or Company LinkedIn Training