Lead generation using LinkedIn is the process of finding leads — people interested in your products and services — on the business networking website and converting them into bonafide paying customers.
LinkedIn is the 19th most-used website in the world and the No.1 site for business networking, making lead generation on the platform critical for your business. Find a more comprehensive answer to the question, “What is LinkedIn lead generation?” below!
Linkedin Lead Generation
LinkedIn lead generation means sourcing leads on LinkedIn and converting them into customers. It might involve messaging people on the platform about your offerings, increasing awareness about your company through LinkedIn’s advertising and marketing tools, building relationships with LinkedIn users, and moving these leads through your sales and marketing funnels. The primary goal of LinkedIn lead generation is to turn users on the website into people who purchase your products and/or sign up for services.
You might create a LinkedIn lead generation campaign from scratch or use the website’s various tools to assist with the process. These technologies include profile filters, which let you find people on LinkedIn using different categories, and sponsored ads, which market your business via paid marketing on the platform. By creating a tailor-made lead generation campaign for your company, you can generate more leads using LinkedIn and increase the number of paying customers in your business.
A Step-by-step Guide to Using Linkedin Lead Gen
Lead generation using LinkedIn is easy when you follow these steps:
Define your lead generation campaign
Determining the objectives of your lead gen campaign on LinkedIn involves picking a target audience on the platform based on your offerings and company values. For example, you might want to reach out to leads on LinkedIn who are small business owners in the United States. Using the website’s profile filters will help you source leads in this category or any classification you choose.
Creating content
One of the most essential steps for generating leads using LinkedIn is creating click-worthy and compelling content that resonates with users on the platform. This process involves writing blog posts about niche topics in your industry that attract your target audience and encourage them to learn more about your company and its offerings. For example, you might want to write a post about finding the best software tools if your business specializes in software development. Including a strong call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the writing — such as “click here to learn more about our software products” — might improve click-throughs to your website and generate more site traffic.
Sending direct messages to target audience members
Communicating with members of your target audience on LinkedIn via the website’s private messaging system will increase awareness about your products and/or services. This type of LinkedIn lead generation is similar to email marketing lead gen, where you send multiple marketing messages to potential customers over time via email. With regular communication on LinkedIn, you can keep targets up-to-date with your offerings and encourage them to learn more about your company on your website — the end destination for successful LinkedIn lead gen.
Lead generation using LinkedIn: Determine ad formats
LinkedIn allows you to create advertisements on the platform in various formats. These formats include single-image ads, native video ads, interactive stories, event ads, and document ads. Choosing the right ad type will help you market your offerings to different sub-sections of your target audience. For example, using video ads can increase brand awareness among members of your audience who respond well to videos compared to plain text. I can also increase the chances of these individuals clicking through to your website and learning more about products and services.
Measuring LinkedIn campaigns
Tracking key metrics and performance indicators (KPIs) about lead generation provides insights into your campaigns on LinkedIn. You can either do this with the platform’s analytics tools, which are free to use, or with a third-party analytics tool like Google Analytics. (However, you’ll need to use a service like Zapier to integrate data from both LinkedIn and Google Analytics to achieve this goal.)
Sharing real-time lead generation performance intelligence with your team members and stakeholders means everyone connected with your company knows about your LinkedIn lead gen efforts.
Omnichannel marketing
Lead generation using LinkedIn should only be one part of your marketing campaign and not the total sum of it. Don’t forget to market to target audience members on other places on the internet, including social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. You should also reach out to leads via communication channels like email, text message, WhatsApp, and even direct mail — a type of marketing that, despite popular opinion, isn’t “dead.”