Guest Blog – Amanda Brown, Alterra, online marketing consultancy specialising in social media.
With 220 million active business people on LinkedIn, it is the perfect marketplace for generating leads.
Now known as the biggest online professional network, LinkedIn has come a long way from its early days as being primarily a recruitment tool. The vast majority of its current users visit because they want make new connections, gain insights about their industry or their customers, and to network.
LinkedIn has worked hard to develop rich content that encourages people to come back daily. For example, LinkedIn Today provides news and expert comment relevant to your industry, and LinkedIn Groups allows people to share industry ideas, best practice or to simply network.
Of course, the main benefit of LinkedIn is the ability to link with your peers or potential clients, through a variety of methods and, in so doing, keep abreast of their activity and communicate with them so that you stay in the forefront of their minds should they require your services.
Here’s our guide on how to best use LinkedIn to generate leads:
Build an effective personal profile
The LinkedIn personal profile is your professional identity. It ranks highly in search engine searches for your name. So make sure it’s complete and looks good. A professional looking photo is a must. You should also make sure that you state very clearly what you do and how you can help others – individuals as well as companies.
Start to share
Sharing on LinkedIn can include your own updates, or ‘shares’ of other people’s news, events or comments. Research shows that it takes about seven views for people to even start to notice you, so keep at it.
Add value
This is not the platform to blatantly sell yourself, as it will put people off. Your updates need to be interesting, valuable and helpful. But do market yourself as an expert within your industry.
Join groups
Groups are a great way to interact and connect with potential leads. There are over one million groups, and you can join up to 50. Once a member, you can participate in group discussions and connect with mutual group members, even if you don’t already know them.
Get connecting
When looking to generate leads, it is in your interest to make your network as wide as you can. You will be more visible in other people’s networks and show up in more searches. Connect with people you’ve met at meetings, conferences or events. Ensure you let them know that you will be inviting them to link with you so that it is a ‘warm lead’. Take a business card because you need an email address to link with someone you have no other connection to.
Think of anyone else you could connect to – peers, clients, industry leaders. You only need one shared connection to invite them.
Follow up connections
Once connected, send a direct message with an opening to take the relationship to the next level.
Use InMail to reach top level prospects: Whether or not you are connected to someone, you can send them an InMail and it will go directly into their email inbox. Open rates for LinkedIn are better than for traditional email marketing as members tend to trust LinkedIn.
Keep at it but don’t waste time
I would recommend you spend around 10 minutes each day on LinkedIn. It doesn’t need to be more if you keep focused and have a plan.
Consider LinkedIn advertising: This is a good way to get followers to your company page.
Ensure all your other media has a click through button to LinkedIn: Include a button for links on your website where readers can click to follow your LinkedIn company page without leaving the website. Bloggers can use ‘LinkedIn Share’ to post updates at the same time.
In conclusion, I would recommend having some training. This will get you up and running on LinkedIn in a fraction of the time it would take you to do yourself. Additionally, online marketing is just part of your overall marketing and communications strategy. So ensure your goals on LinkedIn are integrated with your overall business plan.
For more information or to book a training session email amanda@alterra-consulting.co.uk. For more information take a look at http://www.alterra-consulting.co.uk/social-media-strategy-day/
Amanda Brown is the MD for Alterra, an online marketing consultancy specialising in social media.
PS: See our blog post on Being PR savvy on social media for more tips.
Tags: connections, lead generation, LinkedIn, social sharing