Being active on the platform and communicating with people in your target market is the basis of attracting potential business customers on LinkedIn. When a person receives a contact request from you, they will definitely come to see your profile. They are more likely to engage with you if you are an active member of the network, post regularly, respond to replies and have a strong personality.
One of the key steps on the platform should be to ensure your visibility. But if you already have an active account and a strong profile, you can confidently seek out connections and start business leads generation. Here are specific strategies in this direction, recommended by experts, that anybody can learn.
Use filters
When searching for leads, the best advice for a leads generation system is to narrow down your search by industry and name. Once you have a list of contacts in your search results, apply ‘Filters for leads generation’ to specify things like company name and region.
By limiting your search results in this way, you will ensure that you connect with the right people. Along with a request to be added, send a message to new contacts, find email address by name or do so as soon as they add you.
Either way, make sure your message is personalized. Address the person by name to start a conversation, mention something you’ve read on their profile.
It is highly discouraged to send “cold” messages on LinkedIn. You don’t want to annoy someone who might be potential leads for business, do you? It’s also not advisable to immediately talk about what you’re selling. These things are better received if they fit naturally into the topic of the conversation.
Research your contacts’ networks
LinkedIn can be used for marketing lead generation by expanding your network. Review your contacts’ contacts to find the most likely target audience among them. A contact is a means to connect with other potential customers in similar industries or with similar needs. And shared acquaintances are a natural way to melt the ice when communicating.
Sarah McIntyre of Bright Inbound Agency points out that LinkedIn filters are also good for this tactic: “Filter participants by 2nd degree connections and see if they include friends of friends or existing/old clients you could talk to. Then start a conversation.”
Use content search to join discussions
How to generate B2B leads on LinkedIn? Brian Casey of Ironpaper recommends “search for a keyword related to the discussion you want to join and then click on ‘content’. You will be shown a list of publications related to that word, which you can then start interacting with.
Including relevant and useful links in these organically generated conversations will attract traffic to your landing page, and from there, related B2B LinkedIn lead generation will emerge.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on “What people are talking about now”, the recommendation area that appears in the top right-hand corner of your profile homepage, to find active conversations. The posts under these topics tend to be owned by opinion leaders with a wide readership who are eager to engage.
Connect your entire company
Your marketing team does not have to be the only department within the company promoting content to LinkedIn leads. just as they do not have to be the only authors of that content.
Connor Gross of Lola says that the process of lead generation at LinkedIn starts with content promotion by all employees. By having staff share content on their LinkedIn pages, you expand your reach and open your funnel to more leads.
Once you’ve achieved this, start adding a simple CTA to your posts that says something like
- Like / Comment on this post to find out more;
- Get a link to download our ebook by leaving a comment below.
This will let you know who is most interested in your content and products. Let your team then build communication with them accordingly.
Use lead generation forms
The most effective way for lead generation campaigns on LinkedIn is to use forms when promoting content, promotions, subscriptions, etc. Lead Gen Forms in LinkedIn allow people to fill out forms directly on LinkedIn without having to visit a landing page on another site.
The forms are automatically populated with personal or company information already entered into the profile, so people don’t have to enter anything. They can download content with just a few clicks. because the forms are pre-filled with custom data, they provide minimal clicks and higher engagement rates.
To increase your reach, bet on quality communication
Often many people are interested in your services but do not quite fit into your target pool. Tanya Wigmore, conversion specialist and coach at InboundLabs shares an interesting fact:
“By adding them to my network and passively informing them about the great things we do for our clients, I am helping to build a belief that we are a solution provider and can be of use – to ourselves and others – when the time comes. Curiously, often these contacts who are not yet ready to convert do the bulk of the work for us, recommending to us people in their networks who are ready to engage.”
The online lead generation process on LinkedIn improves, becoming simple and natural, if you follow these guidelines:
- Identify a specific target market and potential customers in that market.
- Understand their issues.
- Look for opportunities to help them without expecting them to necessarily come back.
- Establish rapport and be genuinely interested in communicating through messaging.
- Add value to yourself with short videos dealing specifically with the issues your target audience cares about.
- Be consistent and engaging, engaging in real discussions in the comments.
- Include an entertaining element and humour, while providing useful, actionable posts.
About author
Maksym Grygoriev
Maksym has 15 years experience in marketing at B2B and B2C markets for
engineering solutions, e-commerce, products distribution in EU/US markets. He
helps small and medium businesses to build and optimize digital performance. Now
he is marketing strategist at GetProspect leads finder. If you have any marketingquestions or would like to offer cooperation, please feel free to contact at LinkedIn
