LinkedIn is an oft-overlooked social media platform for lead generation, which is too bad. For B2B companies, and especially companies that offer professional services (like mine!), it can be a great source of clients.
I’m sure you’ve heard that at least once, but be honest: do you really take the time to use LinkedIn to your advantage? The more active you are on LinkedIn (don’t forget that the people in your network are alerted to any changes or updates to your profile), the better a source of leads it will be.
The beauty of LinkedIn is how quickly you can network from the comfort of your office. No getting up early to attend a breakfast event, no interrupting your day to attend a lunch, no battling rush hour traffic to attend an evening event (when you’d rather be home with your family). Time to stop ignoring LinkedIn and start using it!
Here are six ways to use LinkedIn for lead generation:
1. Join Groups and Engage In the Conversations.
If you don’t belong to any groups yet, it’s really easy to join. Click on Groups in the top navigation bar on your page and do a keyword search to find relevant groups to join. You can join groups in your industry/field and groups in your target market.
Once you’re a member of a group, make sure you engage in the conversations that are happening, and maybe once a week or once a month, start your own. The more other people in the group see your name pop up, the better. They’ll begin to associate you with the topics you address and come to think of you as an expert in your field. Great way to build thought leadership!
2. Answer Questions.
Click on More in the top navigation bar. The drop down menu will include Answers. You can ask a question, answer questions posed by people in your network, or answer questions by people who are not in your network. Filter by industry or keyword. Again a great way to get your name out there and develop a reputation as an expert in your field and trustworthy source of information!
3. Keep Your Profile Updated.
Easy to forget to do this! Be sure you include the keywords you use for search engine optimization in your profile so people who are conducting a LinkedIn search will find you.
4. Post Content.
Share news, blog posts, white papers, articles, press releases, and any other content your network may find useful. You can connect your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to automate the process since you will probably be sharing that same information on Twitter anyway.
5. Prospect!
You can quickly conduct a search to find people in your target market. In a box on the right side of your profile page is “Your LinkedIn Network,” which shows the number of people you are connected with as well as the number of new people in your network. Click on the link to the new people in your network and you’ll go to the Find People page. You can conduct a keyword-based search filtered by location, industry, relationship to you, company size, Fortune 1000 and more.
Once you have your list of prospects, ask for an introduction from the people in your network who are 1st connections with both you and the prospect. It is very bad form to contact a stranger on LinkedIn (but it’s amazing how many people do it anyway!).
6. Get Recommendations.
It is so easy to forget to do this, but routinely ask for recommendations. When you finish a project or sale, ask your main point of contact for a recommendation (after connecting with them, of course!). Recommendations lend credibility and authority—when someone is conducting a search on LinkedIn, they’ll get to see how awesome your clients think you are.
Have you succesfully used LinkedIn in other ways to generate leads?
Image by Flickr user BinkieXXX (Creative Commons)
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