10 Tips for Generating Leads on LinkedIn

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We’ve all heard of Facebook and Twitter, and it’s common knowledge that they are both social media networking sites.  In order to create a visual image in your head, picture Facebook and Twitter as being wild fraternity and sorority parties where everyone is out of control.  At these events, friends and strangers mainly exchange red Solo cups.  On the other side of campus, there’s another event being held, but it’s less than a party.  Instead, it’s a social—yet professional—gathering with the purpose of networking.  Can you guess what social media platform it is?  No, it’s not Pinterest, and it’s not Tumblr.

It’s LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a network for businesses and business professionals with over 200 million users.  The amount of profiles continues to expand with 120 new users joining each minute, according to an article on Social Media Today. LinkedIn is the best social media platform for generating leads and producing the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, as determined by HubSpot.  That’s almost three times higher than Twitter and Facebook’s rates combined.

If you have a business, you want to generate leads and expand upon your foundation, right?  In order to expand your corporate reach, you must network.  Don’t worry; you don’t have to focus on keeping your hand from trembling as you offer someone your business card at a networking seminar.  Instead, you can network from behind your computer and generate leads on LinkedIn.

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 Tips for Generating Leads on LinkedIn

1.     Create & Customize  — Firstly, create a page for your business.  Add the name of your business, your logo, and all of the basic contact information.  After covering your generic bases, you can customize the overview of your business (as well as specify your industry), the services you offer, career opportunities, and include a link to your website.  In addition to creating your profile, be sure to keep it updated.  For instance, if your business was given an award, that would be something to promote on your profile.  In order to capture the attention of potential leads and hold it, your information must be fresh and current.
 
2.     Join Groups & Connect  — There are a plethora of groups on LinkedIn, all geared toward one industry or another.  Join the ones that you are comfortable with, have knowledge about, and have actual experience with said industry.  Nevertheless, don’t feel pressured to pigeonhole yourself. Spread your corporate wings and expand your professional network.  LinkedIn is famous for being the pivotal factor with making business-to-business (B2B) connections.  Even if a group is focused on an industry that is somewhat out of your comfort zone, you never know what knowledge they have to offer that will benefit you and your company (and vice versa).
 
3.     Participate in Class  — You probably remember being told to be active in your classes as you were growing up and were encouraged to raise your hand.  You might have not raised your hand, even if you did know the answer, perhaps due to shyness.  However, on LinkedIn, it is crucial to participate in LinkedIn Answers and share your knowledge and expertise.  If you offer answers on a regular basis, you can be established as a thought leader.  Furthermore, if a question is asked and you have content or a blog post that answers the question, utilize it!  Make sure it is optimized with a call-to-action and link to it in your answer.  This will help generate leads as well.
 
4.     Share Content, Don’t Sell It  — Instead of advertising your products and services through the content you share, create or share posts that are educational, informative, and relevant.  By having a company page, you are able to offer specialized content based on the profile information of the user visiting your company’s page.  Depending on where you are sharing your post (in a group rather than on the company’s profile), keep in mind to tailor the content to a group’s industry, and always include a call to action.
 

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5.     Positive Connections  — Let’s say you posted an amazing article about the benefits of investing in real estate, and the revenue you can receive from your investment (you can read more about returns on investments, also known as ROIs here).  The excellent article—give yourself some credit; you are the expert, after all—in this hypothetical situation received positive feedback in a comment posted by another LinkedIn member.  Firstly, you should reply to their comment publicly with a polite “thank you”.  Secondly, follow-up with the member by sending them an invitation to join your network.  If they accept, then bingo, you’ve developed a new connection and a possible lead.
 
6.     Etiquette 411  — We are all most likely guilty of sending random requests to recommended friends/connections on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  If you think back on the beginning paragraphs, you’ll remember reading that LinkedIn is a social networking site for business professionals.  In the real world, if you want to network successfully, you have to be professional about it and introduce yourself online (without mentioning your business’ services right off the bat) to the potential lead respectfully and with proper etiquette.

7.     Stand out with Banners  — With a company profile, you’re able to add up to three original banners that link back to your website in the products and services section of your page.  Many companies and small businesses don’t take this extra step, so make a good impression by adding aesthetically pleasing banners to your page.

8.      Wise Money  — You might consider advertising in the future for your company.  Before you shovel out all the money you have, consider trying out the LinkedIn Lead Collection widget.  It lets you test out possible budgets for advertising campaigns and can save you a headache (and an empty wallet) in the future.
 

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9.     All About Apps — Of course, LinkedIn isn’t all about apps, but they do have some available to enhance your page.  If you want to highlight some of your company’s work on your LinkedIn profile, all you have to do is install the Google Presentation app.  The app is designed to showcase a Power Point presentation of your company’s finest jobs.

10.   Email? No, InMail!  — To be fair, the fact that LinkedIn’s InMail feature isn’t free should be stated first.  However, if you want to reach the CEO of a large company but have no connections, you’re out of luck, right?  Wrong.  All you have to do is upgrade your profile and let InMail do the rest.  This special feature on LinkedIn gives you all of the opportunities in the world to connect to anyone, regardless of the existence of mutual connections.  It does cost a pretty penny, but it can be worth it to boost your company to the next level.

As you can see, there are many ways to generate leads on LinkedIn, grow your business, and expand your network.  Try them out and see how well they work for you.  If our Orlando Digital Marketing Firm and SEO Company can help you generate leads or grow your business with social media, visit our website or give us a call at (321)-236-BUZZ (2899)!