If we’re in business, we all love when we get a new lead or someone to walk through our doors, interested in what we our offering to our clients and potential customers.
The end result, of course, is moving them to a lead… to a buyer. Today, we will focus on helping you to gain more leads… specifically, through LinkedIn.
LinkedIn, currently, boasts 175+ million active users. LinkedIn is most known as a business and networking site, with many showcasing their personal profile as an online resume.
There are many ways to generate leads through LinkedIn but wanted to showcase a few of our favorites.
* Optimizing your Personal Profile:
This may sound self-explanatory… but not only is your profile finely detailed but also for your profile to be optimized for keywords. This is not an ‘active’ way to find leads…but for you and your company to be found in searches by others in LinkedIn.
* Using Advanced Search to Find Prospects & Leads:
Piggybacking on the first way, if you think strategically enough, one can search by company, industry, size of company, position, area or any keywords that your prospects may have in their profiles. From here, you may be able to locate the right person or type of person for your new connection. Relationship building is the key… not jumping into a selling or spammy mode.
* LinkedIn’s InMail:
The InMail service allows someone to contact a decision maker, who is not a 1st degree LinkedIn connection. Having mutual connections and then allowing your profile to be visible to the recipient makes the connection ‘warmer’ than a regular email. This type of connection/introduction definitely will be better received and may be the difference between getting a serious look and just hitting the delete button.
* LinkedIn Groups:
Another basic concept but understanding the power and why of being involved with them is why they may be underutilized by most users. Frequent quality postings to groups will allow others to see your expertise and willingness to help. They will also allow you to form strategic partnerships because of your involvement and learning the key people in a group to form alliances with.
* LinkedIn Answers:
Sometimes overlooked, this section of LinkedIn will allow your knowledge and expertise to answer questions that others have posted about a particular topic. By being a frequent person that answers questions, in your particular industry, you can promote your knowledge and expertise. The key here is not to ‘promote’ your products and try to instantly create sales. It’s still about relationships.
One other thing to consider, if a company or person is truly serious about using LinkedIn for leads and more, it is well worth the investment of a paid LinkedIn profile. There is only so much that can be done with the ‘free’ profile.
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Swish Digital: Digital Marketing Agency, Social Media