How to use LinkedIn for Lead Generation?

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LinkedIn is a hugely powerful platform for B2B businesses. There are over 700 million people on the site, yet only 3 million users post weekly content. What an opportunity! It is perfect for building relationships and securing leads for your business – what are you waiting for? 

What about B2C businesses, I hear you ask, is it worth their time? Yes, LinkedIn will increase sales for your eCommerce business. B2B business folk are humans and they buy products. It also allows you to showcase the story, mission and passion behind the brand. Just check out Ben Francis (Gymshark’s Founder) very active LinkedIn feed.  

So, you know you need to post on LinkedIn. Where do you start? Company page…or personal page? Let’s explore both. 

LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

“A company page is a waste of time” – some person on LinkedIn.

Wrong. 

That isn’t the case. Company pages add credibility to your business. It acts as another touchpoint for your leads to see if you know what you are talking about, what your team is like and any relevant information you share. 

My advice to you, incorporate a business page in your Marketing strategy. Even if it’s once a week. Add content that adds value to your audience (blogs, podcasts, tools, tips and advice) and you are on to a winner. 

Should you focus all of your time on creating content for your business page? No. Your strategy needs to incorporate both your company and personal page.

Personal pages are fantastic for creating your personal brand, showing the person behind your job title and building relationships. 

However, I feel that creating content is much harder from a personal page. Do you know why that is? It makes us more vulnerable and that’s a good thing! Vulnerability shows you care. Share your wins, highs, lows, learning points and your personality. 

As long as your content isn’t offensive in any way shape or form, it’s ultimately your choice what you want to share.

Make sure you are consistently posting. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your engagement.

People buy from people and that’s the key to marketing in the B2B world. 

LinkedIn Tips for Driving Engagement

There is nothing worse than wasting time. Imagine spending hours on your LinkedIn post. You have designed a creative that Banksy would be proud of. Copy that resonates with your audience, adds value and flows like a well-oiled machine.

You click “post”…One hour goes by and there is no engagement. Five hours, still no engagement. Twelve hours go by and still no engagement. What the hell went wrong?

Why is it that some LinkedIn users can post utter rubbish (in your opinion) and still attract more engagement than you?! 

Fear not, implement some of the tips I am going to outline below to help your content get the attention it deserves.  

1. Post at certain times

Honestly, every marketer goes on about this and it’s because it works.

Post when your audience is using the platform.

Posting at 10pm when your audience is no longer active is a complete and utter waste of time. While LinkedIn is great for keeping posts appearing for longer, the initial one hour window for maximum reach has finished by the time people are on it. 

One hour window, what is that? I hear you ask. Right, I will tell you as long as you keep it between us. 

The LinkedIn algorithm will push your post out more if people engage with it in the first hour. This shows the platform that the content adds value. Comments are gold mines but reactions do help. 

It is important to note that there isn’t a “one time fits all” for social media posting. It’s important to experiment to find out what works for your business. Let the data determine your strategy, with a bit of common sense too. 

Here is a rough guide on what times are best for posting on LinkedIn:

Photo credit – Search Engine Journal and CoSchedule

2. Ask questions

Humans love talking about themselves, it’s just psychology.

Use that to your advantage. Ask them to share their opinion, ask for feedback and get a conversation started. After all, that is the key to building anything worthwhile. 

Another beautiful thing about human nature is that a vast amount of people want to help. If you are struggling with something, ask your LinkedIn connections for advice. That shows you are human, allowing you to build a relationship with your followers.

3. Write how you speak

Yeah but, no but, yeah but…in year 8 my History teacher told me that I wrote like Vicky Pollard. You know, the questionable character from Little Britain. Chaaaaarming.

It’s funny how you get told to write professionally and use complicated words when you are younger. However, as George Oswell says, the key to writing is concise simplicity. 

Think of it this way. You know when you are at those networking events and you are speaking to potential clients, write how you would talk then. Show your personality, remain respectful and make sure the copy has value – win, win. 

That is why it is SO important to understand your audience. 

4. Be vulnerable

Vulnerability is scary but BOY is it powerful. Everyone in life has conquered challenges. Surprisingly, a lot of business people have faced failure.

In my opinion, social media in 2021 is starting to become real. A few years ago, people only ever posted their “best bits” which added pressure and comparison to people’s everyday life on a global scale. 

LinkedIn is finally getting there. It’s not embarrassing to fail. It’s a learning opportunity and a bloody good one at that. So, don’t be afraid to share challenges with your connections. You will find a lot of people who will relate. You will get the nod of approval that every copywriter aspires to get.

5. Showcase your personality

Nobody wants to feel that they are talking to a robot, so don’t make it sound like a machine wrote it. You are talking to humans. B2B business people are humans. The copy doesn’t need to be boring. 

Your LinkedIn content can be whatever you want it to be. Mix it up. Make some posts funny, others educational, inspirational and personal. 

Don’t listen to the people who say, “this content should be on Facebook” because it’s your choice. 

Whenever I read that comment on people’s posts. ⬇️⬇️

Yaaaawnnnnnnn. 

6. Write an eye-catching headline

Those first few seconds are so important for the success of your copy. Tease em. Make them a promise. Ask a question. Evoke emotion. Make sure your readers read on. A great free tool for analysing your headline is CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer tool.

How to Measure Success

Success from LinkedIn can be determined in several ways. In my opinion, these are the two KPIs you should be measuring to determine your efforts. 

1. Leads

Your main objective on LinkedIn is to secure new leads for your superstar sales team to turn into clients. Am I right? So, that’s why you need to measure your success on leads. Not likes or the number of connections…leads! 

Don’t expect to get a lead from your first post. While it’s not impossible, it’s highly unlikely. You need to educate your connections, put yourself as an authority in your industry and build relationships – more on this point in a minute. 

This takes time. All the most successful people on LinkedIn say the same thing, stick at it, be consistent and it works. 

2. Relationships

Did you know that on average, it takes eight touchpoints for a prospective lead to become a client? Crazzzzzzzzzzzzzy. 

However, this isn’t just eight LinkedIn posts. They could see an email, then an Instagram post, then a LinkedIn post and then on Google…you get my gist. 

So, how is it possible to determine success through relationships? While it’s hard to put a number on it, you know if you are building relationships.

Do you engage with each other’s posts, chat through messages or signpost them to helpful resources. You may not get a return straight away but people always remember when you help them. When they are looking for someone in your area of expertise to help them, who do you think they will turn to? 

Another great thing about business people is that they tend to have business friends. You are more likely to secure a client from a lead talking to his mate down the pub about how good you are than through a Facebook Ad with poor targeting. 

Relationship building adds trust, credibility and shows the humans behind the job title. 

So, here we have it. A rough guide to Lead Generation on LinkedIn. Ultimately, be yourself, experiment and add value to your audience and you can’t go wrong. If you have any questions about anything I have mentioned in this blog, contact me at carrianne@seotrafficlab.com.

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