LinkedIn is often considered the leading digital marketing platform for B2B lead generation. But if it isn’t giving you the leads you hoped for, there are some things you can do.
The aim is to use your LinkedIn profile to connect, engage, convert…
Before you start connecting with new contacts, here are some things to consider:
Optimise your profile
Is your photograph up to date and professional? Is your personal URL specific to your product or service keywords? Are your contact details visible? Does your bio reflect the benefits of working with you in respect of the audience you want to attract, and is it using the correct tone of voice? Are you using all the elements of the profile, or are there blank spots?
LinkedIn values profiles that use the platform, and having a fully optimised profile is not only better for your connections, it’s better for the algorithm too.
Engage
You have lots of opportunities to engage with your prospective connections even before you request connection. You could read their profile, look at their posts, react and interact on them, you can also tag them in comments of other posts, or even create your own post which you could tag them in. However you engage with your audience, make sure it’s valuable and relevant.
The other side of engagement is to be engaging yourself, attracting reactions and comments on your own posts. Again, be valuable and relevant, and occasionally a little bit of personal insight doesn’t go amiss.
Connection message
I believe it’s vital to always send a message with any connection request. However, you may look to split test this and try a connection request without a message. Tailor your messages to the situation – if you have met them, remind them where and what you spoke about. If you haven’t met in real life, consider how you can introduce yourself without sounding like spam, or too salesy – for example, do you have mutual connections or interests, perhaps you would make great referral partners…
Bonus tip: Have a few messages written out in a Word document or Notes, so you can quickly paste it and tweak it for personalisation.
Paid ads
As with any digital platform, LinkedIn has a paid ad option. This allows you to target content to a specific audience. Check your marketing spend calculator to set your budget.
So, now your profile is ready to be seen by millions of new people, how do you get it in front of them?
What is your offer?
Know your audience and what they need from you – this is where we get specific… Is there a demand or a real need for your product or service? Let’s assume you’ve done the market and competitor research, and the answer is yes. You now need to nail the details of your audience and really understand their pains, problems, fears, wants, needs or desires, and you can do that by creating a buyer persona.
Bonus tip: You may have gone through all of this previously, but it’s worth revisiting and making sure it’s specific to this campaign or offer.
Finding new connections on LinkedIn
There are two ways of attracting new connections:
1. Go and find them
2. Let them find you.
Having a prior connection with someone on LinkedIn in the real world makes it easier to connect, so take advantage of any networking you do and continue conversations and growing the relationship on LinkedIn.
If you don’t know them, but have identified them as a valuable contact, look for mutual connections (on LinkedIn, or in real life). You can then approach those people for an introduction or use that fact in your connection request message.
If you have no mutual connections, or have no way of being introduced to them, you can use your connection request message to entice them to connect. Use humour, benefits, even send a document that you think they’ll find interesting. BUT don’t sell anything at this stage!
Bonus tip: If you don’t know the name, but you do know the job title and geographic area of your audience, you can conduct a Boolean search using the words AND, OR, NOT in block capitals, and enclose an exact phrase in quote marks.
For example: “marketing manager oxford”. Or marketing AND manager AND oxford…
To attract people to your profile, you can use other platforms such as your website, YouTube Channel or other social media accounts to share your profile link. You can add a QR code to a business card or flyers, add the link to your email signature and relevant content on your company LinkedIn page, if you have one.
Converting your connections
You’ll already know that people buy from people, you know the ‘know, like, trust’ adage of marketing, so we’re working to build trusting relationships with your new connections.
Be helpful, useful, present
The content you share on your profile should be relevant to the campaign or offer you’re currently working on growing. Imagine that you have connected with 50 new people with the offer of being able to help them grow their confidence in meetings, but your posts are about how to be more time efficient. Yes, that’s helpful, but not relevant to this new audience or what they were promised…
Have a regular posting schedule and show up to support others in your network.
Give added value
Free conversations or consultations, no obligation quotes or demos, and quick/easy surveys or trials are great ways to instill confidence that you are honest, genuine and want to help. Online, if you can create a downloadable piece of added value, you can capture their email address and use your database to continue engagement away from LinkedIn. Get tips on email marketing conversion in my blog.
Arrange a call or meeting
The majority of lead conversions take place in person. Very few people will buy online without knowing the brand or the person behind the brand, so keep an eye on your new connections’ posts, and offer to talk to them in person about how to solve their predicament.
If you’d like more personalised advice and guidance on using LinkedIn, email marketing, lead acquisition or creating lead magnets and how it all fits into your plan for growing your business, let’s take the conversation offline and have a no obligation chat. Why not book 30 minutes of free business consultation today?