All the leads you could wish for are out there somewhere on LinkedIn. It's time to get smart about finding them and dive into some serious social networking. In this post I'll give you some basic connection strategies and a few little used angles that will give your lead generation drive the edge.
This is the third post in the series How to Generate Leads from LinkedIn: The Essential Guide
You can read the other posts in the series here:
1: How to plan a LinkedIn marketing strategy to generate leads
2: How to optimise your LinkedIn profile for B2B lead generation
Building your network on LinkedIn is essential to success on the platform. To achieve this set some time aside each day to work on one or more of the tactics outlined below. Check out how well your LinkedIn marketing scores with our LinkedIn Lead Generation Worksheets.
Seek introductions. Solicit connections.
The LinkedIn members who make up your network are your 1st-degree connections. People they know are called 2nd-degree connections. Your route to this valuable extended network is through an introduction from your 1st-degree connections.
In other words, to expand your network, your first port of call is your existing connections. When you go to My Network from the LinkedIn toolbar, you'll see a raft of people listed, each with the number of mutual connections you share.
You can then use LinkedIn's Request an introduction function to ask someone you already know to introduce you.
Getting an introduction, will help you avoid this scenario:
Become a LinkedIn Group junkie.
One of the neatest tricks to growing your pool of connections is to look at the LinkedIn Groups individuals in your target market belong to – and join these Groups yourself.
Once accepted, you'll have access to on-going conversations on the Group's Conversation page. You can add your voice to these or start a conversation of your own.
You can also send a private message to any Group member.
LinkedIn has a stack of guidelines for Group member best practice. Among the most important are:
- Be professional and follow standard business etiquette.
- Keep any conversation on track and relevant to the group's intent.
- Hold your self-promotion horses in tight check.
As LinkedIn reminds us, Groups are not the place to promote yourself, your business and your ideas. The name of the game is building relationships through dialogue.
Set your sights on the magic 500+.
You might want to set yourself the goal of growing your total number of contacts to over 500 as LinkedIn then shows your total as 500+. This has come to be seen as an unwritten benchmark of influence.
One word of warning – always favour quality of contact over quantity.
Of course, it takes time to expand your network, so the best way to go about it is little and often. Set aside 15 minutes each day, maybe during your coffee break, and you’ll soon see the numbers heading up.
LinkedIn Premium: Is it worth it?
One of the keys to generating high quality leads is finding the right people to target. The more closely you can define your search criteria, the easier this gets.
As a LinkedIn Premium account comes with enhanced search functions, this is definitely something worth having.
You’ll also be able to see who has viewed your profile in the last 30 days – often a good indicator of potential interest and a natural way-in for you to connect by email.
Two popular Premium packages for businesses are:
- Business Plus at £29.99 a month + VAT *
- Sales Navigator at £44.99 a month + VAT *
If you are just building your network and using LinkedIn for marketing then Business Plus should be fine. If you are in a sales role, I recommend paying the extra for Sales Navigator. It’s a powerful tool and well worth the money, as long as you put the time and effort into it.
Start your own LinkedIn Group.
Another excellent pre-qualified lead magnet is a Group set up expressly to nurture strategic partnerships with your target audience.
By setting up your own group, you set up your own communication channel on your own terms.
You set the criteria for membership, along with the rules, content schedule and contact schedule. You lead the conversations and encourage engagement and productive discussion.
In so doing, you demonstrate expertise, bolster credibility and build trust and credibility among the very people with most to gain from a long-term business relationship with you.
You can incentivise LinkedIn members to join your Group through a dedicated offer. And you can add further value with on-going offers, previews and webinar invitations for members only.
Connect with LinkedIn recommended connections
After sending a connection request on LinkedIn, you’ll see a list of other people to connect to. This is a great tool, based on LinkedIn’s algorithms, designed to display people who others in your network are connected to.
Why not set yourself a target of connecting with 1 to 10 people a day through these recommendations. It's quick and easy and you can do it at any natural break in the day. You can even make the most of downtime and send out your connection requests from your mobile using the LinkedIn mobile app.
Building a strong network of relevant LinkedIn connections who you communicate with regularly, is one of the keys to success on LinkedIn.
So make the most of it and start building your connections.
Watch the LexisClick webinar: LinkedIn strategies to generate leads and sales.
Read the other posts in the series here:
1: How to plan a LinkedIn marketing strategy to generate leads
2: How to optimise your LinkedIn profile for B2B lead generation
