As a B2B marketer, if you were to concentrate on just one channel for your lead generation, it has to be LinkedIn.
When implemented correctly, LinkedIn lead generation strategies will help you drive consistent and reliable revenue for your business.
Statistics show that the channel is not just a great choice for B2B brands—it’s the best.
93% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation over other major social media platforms to generate qualified leads. 77% of marketers also ranked LinkedIn as the best channel for B2B LinkedIn lead generation.
Image via Content Marketing Institute
This shows just how potent LinkedIn can be in helping you acquire B2B sales leads.
In this post, we discuss the strategies that will supercharge your LinkedIn lead generation efforts.
Table of Contents
The Benefits of LinkedIn Lead Generation
Why should you bother with LinkedIn lead generation?
Simply put, LinkedIn is where the top professionals assemble to learn more about their industry.
The average user logs in to stay informed about the latest developments in their industry, connect with other professionals, and seek out tools to optimize their company processes.
If you have a product that solves their needs, LinkedIn is the right platform for gaining their attention.
Here are the factors that make LinkedIn such a wonderful platform for B2B lead generation:
- LinkedIn’s users are professionals that make the big decisions for the companies.
- LinkedIn has more than 800 million users, and most of them are active on the platform.
- LinkedIn’s ability to generate quality leads is unmatched. Most B2B marketers rank it as the top channel for generating new leads.
- Many LinkedIn lead generation strategies are free, but even if you use paid LinkedIn lead generation tools, you will still get a good ROI.
7 Proven Strategies to Generate Leads on LinkedIn
Here are the most effective strategies for LinkedIn lead generation.
1. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Your LinkedIn profile acts as your landing page. It’s the first thing people notice when you send them a connection request.
Use these tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile;
- Add a clear headshot
- Add a headline that defines your role in the company and area of expertise
- For brands, use your company logo as the profile picture
- Use a high-quality image that highlights your company’s branding for your cover photo
Image via LinkedIn
Next, use the “About” section to showcase your accomplishments, expertise, and work results. Use these tips to make your “About” section pop.
- Keep the summary brief and to the point
- Only highlight the important professional details that includes:
- A brief overview of your business
- Awards and accomplishments
- Your skills and specialties or a description of your business's products and services
- Data and numbers to prove your expertise
- Use relevant keywords to improve search discoverability
- Add a call to action
In the example below, Attrock has a brief “About” summary to highlight what we do as a business. We use keywords to improve discoverability and a CTA to encourage our users to act.
Image via LinkedIn
2. Post Relevant Content
With your profile optimized, you now need to focus on improving your visibility for LinkedIn lead generation. LinkedIn favors users who are active on the platform. So to maximize your visibility on LinkedIn you need to post regularly.
Post content that is relevant to your target audience and is useful in solving their challenges or problems.
That’s why we recommend creating a research-backed content marketing strategy before you start posting on the platform.
Here’s how to do that:
- Define your ideal reader
- Set your content marketing objectives
- Identify the important metrics to track
- Define your brand’s editorial strategy
- Create the type of content that appeals to your target users
- Measure results with social media analytics tools
If you're looking to build your thought leadership or establish yourself as an expert in your field, LinkedIn Pulse is a great platform to start with.
LinkedIn Pulse is a content platform that allows professionals to share their insights and ideas with the LinkedIn community.
Pulse articles are generally shorter and less formal than blog posts, and they offer a quick and easy way to share your thoughts on a particular topic.
And because these articles are easy to read and share, they can help you reach a wider audience.
Here are a few tips to write great content to publish on LinkedIn Pulse:
- Choose a catchy headline and write in a clear, concise style
- Use images, infographics, and videos to break up your text and add visual interest
- Make sure your articles are well-researched and sourced
- Use keyword-rich tags to help your articles get discovered
- Update content on a regular basis
- Post content between 10 am and noon on Tuesdays when engagement levels peak. Wednesdays and Thursdays are also good days to post, according to a Sprout Social study
Image via Sprout Social
- Share your content on other social media platforms
3. Interact on the Platform to Boost Visibility
What else will improve your visibility and optimize your LinkedIn lead generation? Interacting with the content published by other people on the platform.
If you are following the right accounts on LinkedIn, you will come across great content that resonates with you. Don’t just consume the content and scroll to the next post.
Leave a comment to show your support. If the content is that good, reshare it on your timeline for your followers to see it.
Such simple acts will improve your visibility among users who are not even following you. These activities will make you an active participant on the platform and help gain favor with LinkedIn’s algorithm.
However, it isn’t just the content you should interact with. To boost your LinkedIn lead generation efforts, you will need to engage effectively with others.
How? Here are some tips:
- Search manually on LinkedIn to find prospects and invite them to join your network
- Invite your connections on other social networks to follow you on LinkedIn
- Find opportunities to generate leads via other users’ networks
- Diversify the types of content you post
- Offer expert advice and insights to questions posed on LinkedIn
- Join relevant groups and actively participate in discussions
- Share helpful articles, blog posts, and other relevant content
- Endorse and recommend others for their skills and expertise
- Send a personalized message to professionals you would like to connect with
- Participate in LinkedIn events and webinars
Wait, there’s another way to boost the visibility of your posts and optimize your LinkedIn lead generation efforts. This is with tagging.
You can tag a company or a connection when you post an update to ensure the notification is sent to them. If the person you have tagged comments or reacts to the update, your post will become visible to their followers as well.
4. Drive Users to Your Lead Magnets and Landing Pages
LinkedIn is not like other platforms that limit the reach of posts that take users outside the platform. This means you can add links to your LinkedIn posts to promote your blog posts, webinars, and other lead magnets.
Check out this example where Attrock’s founder has shared an excerpt from our latest blog post to drive traffic and leads from LinkedIn to our website.
Image via LinkedIn
However, you should note that LinkedIn lead generation is not about the hard sell. Make sure your posts, updates, and promotions are educational and provide some value to your readers.
LinkedIn is also big on video, so prioritize video content in your strategy. Summarize your blog posts in the form of a video and share them on your timeline.
Also, add a link to the original blog post where viewers can interact with the content and fill out your lead generation form.
5. Participate in Groups
At its core, LinkedIn is a social media platform like any other.
Just like a Facebook group centered on a certain topic, LinkedIn also allows professionals to join groups for conversations around specific topics.
The group below, for example, is for marketing professionals. If your work revolves around this niche, you should join it to interact with other digital marketers.
Image via LinkedIn
Follow these guidelines to make your time in LinkedIn groups fruitful and strengthen your LinkedIn lead generation strategy:
- Review the rules and regulations before joining a group
- Avoid aggressive self-promotion
- Engage with others respectfully
- Appreciate notable contributions from other members in the group
6. Leverage Ads on LinkedIn
So far, we have only talked about the free LinkedIn lead generation strategies. While these are effective, you can boost the results further with a paid campaign.
LinkedIn has a variety of products that put your content before your target market.
The products are designed with LinkedIn lead generation in mind to ensure you can target users based on parameters like job title, industry, and company size.
Here’s a screenshot of the campaign manager from where you can select your goals and run LinkedIn ad campaigns.
Image via LinkedIn Business
You can choose a native ad that appears in the LinkedIn feed or LinkedIn outreach messages that are delivered straight to the target users’ LinkedIn inboxes.
Below is an example of a sponsored message delivered to a user’s inbox. The message advertises a couple of courses the user may be interested in.
The ad has links the user can click on to get a free brochure and sign up for the courses.
Image via LinkedIn
So what are the different paid advertising products that help you with LinkedIn lead generation?
Let’s take a look.
Sponsored InMail: LinkedIn InMail is a paid service that allows you to contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if you are not connected to them. These messages are similar to email, but they are sent through LinkedIn and appear in the LinkedIn inbox of the recipient.
LinkedIn contact targeting: This is the process of targeting individuals through LinkedIn based on their job title, company name, or other factors.
You can use contact targeting for LinkedIn lead generation, brand awareness, or product promotion.
A number of methods can be used for contact targeting including LinkedIn Advertising, LinkedIn InMail, or LinkedIn Sponsored Content.
To target specific users, you can use the best lead generation software to upload the list of email addresses.
LinkedIn message ads: These ads can be sent as messages directly to LinkedIn users. LinkedIn users who see these ads will be able to read the message and then respond directly to the business.
Want to know the best part? You can include a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form with your LinkedIn message ad to directly collect leads.
Sponsored Content: This type of LinkedIn content can appear in the InMail, newsfeed, connections page, or notifications page.
An easy way of creating content is by using your pre-existing LinkedIn page updates.
However, you can only reach your existing followers with these updates. LinkedIn Sponsored Content helps you distribute valuable content to your target audience outside your network.
What exactly is LinkedIn Sponsored Content?
This is a type of paid content that allows brands to extend the reach of their marketing messages to a highly targeted audience of professionals on LinkedIn.
And, you can personalize messages to each member’s individual interests.
It is an effective tool for LinkedIn lead generation whether you want to create awareness for your brand or drive traffic to your website.
Can you also create your own personalized ads?
Yes! LinkedIn makes it possible with Direct Sponsored Content. These ads are created in the Campaign Manager direclty and do not appear on the company page.
You can also A/B test your ads and optimize them without the ads appearing on your profile page.
Direct sponsored content is a great way to send personalized messages. And, you can promote a variety of content, from blog posts to video content to streamline LinkedIn lead generation.
Image via LinkedIn
7. Measure Performance and Fine-Tune Your LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy
When it comes to LinkedIn lead generation, an important step is to measure the quality of your leads. After all, not all leads are created equal.
Measuring the quality of your LinkedIn leads can help you focus your efforts and make the most out of your LinkedIn lead generation.
There are a few key factors you can consider to determine the quality of a lead. These include the lead’s engagement level, the relationship between the lead and your company, and the lead’s pain points.
By measuring these factors, you can get a better sense of which leads are more likely to convert and which ones you may need to put more effort into. This is vital to get more qualified leads and assess the ROI of your LinkedIn lead generation campaign.
But, what are the different ways of measuring the quality of LinkedIn leads?
Evaluate the profile: First, take a look at the lead's profile. A high-quality lead will have a complete profile with a professional photo, a summary of their work experience, and a list of their skills and endorsements.
Look at the engagement: Another way to measure the quality of a lead is to look at their activity on your company's page. A high-quality lead will have visited your LinkedIn page multiple times and engaged with your content.
They will also be a member of relevant LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions there.
See how they respond: A high-quality lead will respond to messages and emails from your sales team and will be open to meeting for a discovery call.
Leverage LinkedIn conversion metrics: There are a few different metrics you can track with LinkedIn conversion tracking, including leads, website visitors, and engagements.
Image via LinkedIn
What’s more, you can view these metrics at the campaign level, campaign group level, or account level to get granular insights. Here are the metrics the Campaign Manager allows you to track:
- Conversions: The actions your leads took in response to your lead generation campaign (signing up for a newsletter, downloading an ebook, or visiting your website).
- View conversions: Sometimes, a LinkedIn user will see your ad, but may not visit your website immediately. LinkedIn lets you know when a user visits your site or takes a specific action up to 90 days after viewing the ad.
- Click conversions: This metric tracks the number of conversions that occurred after leads click on your ad.
- Conversion rate: This refers to the percentage of conversions in relation to the total number of clicks (total conversions ÷ clicks).
- Total Conversion Value: This metric helps you measure the revenue you earned or the monetary value of each of your LinkedIn lead generation campaigns.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): The percentage of revenue per dollar spent.
- Demographics: You can see the details of users who engaged with your LinkedIn lead generation campaigns or ads.
- Leads: You can see the responses to your LinkedIn lead gen forms you used in your campaign.
FAQs
Q1. Is LinkedIn a great platform for lead generation?
A. Yes, it is. Most LinkedIn users are professionals who make the key decisions in the companies they work for such as a vice president or CEO. As a B2B campaign manager, there’s a high chance your coveted leads are already on the platform.
Q2. What are the best strategies for LinkedIn lead generation?
A. LinkedIn provides you with significant opportunities to build your business. The best strategies for LinkedIn lead generation are:
- Create a strong profile
- Be active on the platform
- Join relevant groups on LinkedIn
- Drive users to your landing pages
- Leverage LinkedIn paid promotions
Q3. What are the benefits of using LinkedIn for lead generation?
A. Here are the benefits of LinkedIn lead generation:
- Most decision-makers from different companies are present on LinkedIn
- It has a massive user base, most of whom are active users
- It’s a great platform to find leads that are targeted and of high-quality
Q4. Is LinkedIn the most effective channel for B2B lead generation?
A. Yes, it is. Statistics show that 93% of B2B marketers prioritize LinkedIn over all over social media platforms for generating leads. 77% of marketers also ranked LinkedIn as the best channel for B2B LinkedIn lead generation.
Q5. Free vs paid LinkedIn lead generation. Which ones are the best?
A. Free LinkedIn lead generation strategies are just as effective as the paid strategies for LinkedIn lead generation. However, you need to know what you are doing to get the most out of the free LinkedIn lead generation strategies.
Q6.How do I create a LinkedIn lead generation form on LinkedIn?
A. Generating leads on LinkedIn starts with creating a LinkedIn Ads account and an ad campaign. Once you’ve done that, you can create your LinkedIn lead generation form by following these simple steps:
- Log into your LinkedIn Ads account and go to the “Campaigns” tab
- Click on the campaign you want to create a lead gen form for.
- Click on the “Create Lead Gen Form” button.
- Enter a name for your lead gen form and click on the “Create” button.
- On the next page, you can start customizing your lead gen form.
- To publish your lead gen form, click on the “Publish” button.
Q7. How does LinkedIn lead generation work?
A. There are a number of ways to boost LinkedIn lead generation, but the most common is to use LinkedIn’s search function to find potential leads, and then reaching out to them through the platform’s messaging system.
LinkedIn ads and Direct Sponsored Content are paid forms of LinkedIn lead generation that allow you to target a specific audience with your ad.
LinkedIn also allows you to create a lead capture form that people can fill out when they click on your ad. From there, you can follow up with your leads and start generating sales.
Q8. Are there any LinkedIn lead generation tools that I can use?
A. There are many tools that help you with LinkedIn lead generation. They make it easy to find and engage with LinkedIn prospects. Here are some of the best lead generation software you can use:
- LeadLeaper
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Zopto
- Expandi
- Linked Helper
- Dux-Soup
- Phantombuster
Ready to Start Generating Leads on LinkedIn?
As a B2B marketer, you are more likely to find your next lead on LinkedIn than anywhere else.
The platform’s audience composition brings you closer to the key decision-makers in your target companies. However, this doesn’t mean LinkedIn lead generation is easy.
There’s a lot you need to do to make your brand more recognizable to your audience. Use the strategies above to make your profile pop and maximize your presence on the platform.
And if you need more help with your LinkedIn lead generation efforts, check out these lead generation software or leverage our lead generation services.
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